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Lord Rick Rowe | Create Your Badge
 

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In 1905 Shorty Harris and Pete Aguereberry struck gold at this location which is presently the remains of a small mining camp named Aguereberry and the Eureka Mine.  Neighboring this town was another camp which boasted many mines however both locations were very short lived. Pete Aguereberry however begged to differ as he spent 45 years of his life devoted towards this mining claim. 

With that in mind borax is the white gold of Death Valley however Aguereberry did something no other prospectors accomplished which was discovering gold at this location. Death Valley is not as rich in gold as other areas in the west but whenever a claim was made this brought in many followers who built stone cabins, pitched tents and eventually that led to communities which either became towns or ghost towns. 

The house and shack you see in the photo Pete Aguereberry still remains. You can see an old stove, fridge and bed. At one time Pete used all of these as he lived in solitude here. Unfortunately during my first visit it was dusk out so we did not visit Aguereberry Point above the mining camp. That point has stellar views of Badwater Basin and the surrounding areas.

Shorty Harris who was Pete's Partners planned on turning this location into a town which would be Harrisberry which basically contained the two gentlemen's names. Well as the rumor goes Shorty tried to take credit for the claim and renamed the town to Harrisburg. When the mines production was slowed down to a halt this is due to the lack of gold found in it Shorty moved on. Pete hung around thus he renamed this location Aguereberry.

At one time when the camp was booming almost 300 miners and there families lived here. The tents and cabins were surrounding this very same house you see in the photos. Today only a few shacks remains, remanants of the cashier mill and some closed off tunnels of the Eureka Mine. The tailings, tnt boxes and other debris are heavily apparent for almost a half mile. The mine now is being used as a bat sanctuary.

I am not sure why they sealed it off if I remember reading correctly at one time they allowed people to go in and explore.  I know that from what I also read they open the mine in the summer only so this might explained why I never was able to get in. The Eureka mine is about 300 feet deep its not huge but it still is a great place to contact old Pete from the other side. The mine was  laid with mine cart tracks to haul the ore to the cashier mill it truly is a fine example of western mining history.

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Lord Rick ~ AngelOfThyNight

Founder, Author, Talk Show Host and Producer

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Pete Aguereberry at his Eureka Mine camp Pete Aguereberry was born in 1874 into a Basque family in France. At an early age he read about the wonderful gold discoveries in California and begged his father to let him come to the United States. When he turned 16 his father relented, and Pete sailed for America in 1890. For the next several years he struggled to learn the language while taking on a number of jobs. He worked as a handball player, sheepherder, cattle driver, milk truck driver, ice delivery man, ranch hand and stage driver until he wound up in Goldfield around 1902. He came out to this area in 1905, and in June of that year he almost died trying to cross Death Valley in summer heat. He was found and nursed back to health by Oscar Denton, the caretaker for the Greenland Ranch, and just a month later was headed up to Ballarat with Shorty Harris. Along their journey Pete found a ledge that looked promising, and indeed it contained free gold. Pete filed claims for himself on the north side of the hill while Shorty took claims on the south side. By August, at least 20 parties were working in the area and samples of the gold were assayed as high as $500 a ton. Three hundred men and women settled into the camp which became known as Harrisburg. Originally Pete and Shorty had agreed to call it Harrisberry, but Shorty changed the name in telling the story about it. Water was brought in from Emigrant Spring, Blackwater Spring and Wild Rose Spring. By 1907 the Eureka mine was tied up in a litigation battle that ended in 1909 when Pete got control of the claims. Pete worked at the mine from 1907 until the early 1930’s when his health was failing him. Except for some help from his nephew in his later years, the Eureka mine was built and worked by Pete alone. Pete died on Nov. 23, 1945 and he is buried in Lone Pine, California. To reach the area where Pete Aguereberry lived and worked for over 40 years, take Hwy. 190 past Stovepipe Wells and up Emigrant Campground. Turn left following the signs to Wildrose. In about 10 miles there will be a turn off for Aguereberry Point. When you turn here you will come to the Aguereberry camp a mile down the road. At Aguereberry camp you will find Pete’s original cabin built in 1907. It is a two room structure containing a gas stove and refrigerator. Pete lived here from 1907 until his death in 1945. The middle cabin was built in 1941 as a guest house and the cabin to the left was built around 1946 for an unknown reason. Around the corner is the site of the Eureka gold mine. The tunnels have all been stabilized with netting and are safe to enter but you will need a flashlight. In the winter the mine is closed with a bat gate due to hibernating Townsend's long eared bats. The mine opens again in spring. In his later years Pete would take visitors on a tour of his mine and what he called "The Great View" of Death Valley. If you follow the road further on, you will reach this view. It was later named Aguereberry Point in honor of Pete.   Pete's "Great View"

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