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Article and photography by Natasha Petrosova  The semi-ghost town Darwin , that was once the biggest town in the county , sits on the western outskirt of Death Valley in Inyo County, California.  The settlement got it start in early 1860 when prospecting expedition led by Dr. E. Darwin French set out from Visalia , Califonia in search of Lost Gunsight Mine and a place that had been referred to as "Silver Mountain".   French's expedition never found the Lost Gunsight Mine or Silver Mountain, but they did discover rich silver outcrops, staked a number of claims and headed back to Visalia to record them.  When they returned , they were followed by hundreds of others and soon mines developed and the rugged mining of Coso Junction was born.   More gold, silver, and lead deposits were discovered around 1970 in  the Coso range  and that resulted in a  formation of the New Coso Mining District in 1874.  The settlement of Darwin was soo...

This Old Darwin mine consists of straight rows of decaying company houses,  stuck on the non-level Mountain Ophir.  In 1919 major development began on Mt. Ophir, and a company town was built to house all the miners needed to work the Wagner & Company Mine.  Wagner was only the first of several lessees and owners of the property until 1942 when the mine was closed be the government order that all mines were to be closed for the “War Effort”. After the War ended, Anaconda Copper Mining Co. purchased the property and reopened the facilities, and within a couple years, the Anaconda’s Darwin Mine was the number one lead mine in California.  The mines remained in operation until the 1970s.  The remains of that company camp almost overshadow the original site of the town. The Company "Project Darwin LLC“ acquired the Darwin mines and 58 patented mining claims in 1996. The company is looking for investors to re-start the Darwin mines. Darwin  is kn...

Article and photography by Natasha Petrosova  Swansea in Califonia was once a booming "silver town" located on an eastern shore of Ownes lake  . Swansea owns its success to a nearby silver mining  operations of Cerro Gordo mines in the late 1860s.   Swansea stands about 10 miles south of Lone Pine along Highway 136.  Swansea in California is named after many experienced Welsh miners who traveled across the Atlantic from Swansea to find their fortune in Death Valley, became a hub for smelting the ore and transporting the resulting ingots to Los Angeles more than 200 miles away.    In 1872 the disastrous Lone Pine earthquake damaged the smelters and uplifted the shoreline and rendered the Swansea pier inaccessible by Owens Lake steamships.  As a result , most of the smelting and transportation business moved to a nearby town called Keeler, leaving Swansea virtually a ghost town.  T...

Keeler Beach  Article and photography by Natasha Petrosova  Keeler is practically a ghost town.  Many Buildings are falling apart,  Owens lake is dry , the mines  have been played out, yet about 50 people still live here. In 1870 and early 1980s Keeler was first used  as a stop for steamer ships such as Bessie Brady and the Mollie Stevens.  Back then Ownes lake was filled with water and the town Keeler was called Cerro Gordo Landing.  Silver mined from Cerro Gordo would be halted down to Keeler and loaded up on the steamer ships for transport across the lake on its way to Los Angeles. The town was renamed to Keeler after Julius M. Keeler who owned the mill there.  In 1883 a rail line was built in Keeler, with the last stop on the Carson&Colorado Railroad being in the town.  The same year the post office was opened.    The success of the Cerro Gordo mines caused Keeler to boom until silver prices plummete...