DECEMBER, 1971 50c - Desert Magazine of the Southwest

Indians and Spanish found in the San
Bernardinos not only beauty and shelter,
but trading commodities such as furs
and minerals.
Holcomb Valley gold, discovered in
the early 1860s, created some new geographical
problems peculiar to this northeasterly
mountain location. The great Mojave
Desert trough of Victor, Apple, Lucerne
and Johnson valleys was closer
than the southwesterly mountain slopes
into the "civilized" basins of San Bernardino,
Redlands and Riverside.
While selecting appropriate shipping
routes from the Big Bear Lake vicinity,
trailblazers and last-chance prospectors
joined forces in the 1860s and began
serious exploring and mapping of the
canyons east and north down to the desert
flatlands.
Like all venturers, these men named
areas as often by whim as by rationale.
Rattlesnakes are common in high desert
canyons leading into the mountains, and
there are no less than three canyons and
three springs in this region which still
bear that viperous name. The Rose Mine
is located in another Rattlesnake Canyon
(Burns Canyon to Pioneertown); the
Balanced Rock Mine east of the Old
Mormon Trail is located near another
Rattlesnake Spring (between Apple Valley
and Fawnskin).
By 1870, the Black Hawk and Silver
Reef Mining Districts had been established
just a few miles west of Old Woman
Springs. It is safe to assume that the initial
digs in our Rattlesnake Canyon were
made between I860 and 1880. Generous
samples of pre-automation cans and shallow
tunnels marked with hand-hewn
primitiveness hint at this.
Getting into Rattlesnake Canyon today
is not altogether simple. The westerly
entrance, via Old Woman Springs, is
through private property and prohibited.
On Old Woman Springs Road toward
Yucca Valley a set of telephone poles
flanks the road on the north side. At one
point about three miles east of Old Woman
Springs there is a support pole on
the south side of the road, where the asphalt
curves. At this bend, where a taut
cable crosses over the road, is the dirt
road leading southwesterly into the Bighorn
Mountains.
Gentle, dipping and dusty, this road
covers some four miles across the alluvial
fan toward the mouth of Rattlesnake
Canyon. The trail narrows and winds
Once used to haul ore from the wooden chute (above) the old wagon road is now
covered with weeds and shouts of the wagon masters are no longer heard. Looking
west toward the Bighorn Mountains (below) are seen the shaft, headframe
and tailings of the mining operation. Photos by the author.