Turquoise Blues: The Search for the Toltec Mine
Believe it or not, I was able to convince my wife to
accompany me on a trip to the Mojave Desert on a very hot July day, in order to
find the old Toltec Mine.
Since she abhors extremely hot weather, I took great
pains to assure her that: (1) I would keep the air conditioning running even
after leaving the pavement, and that (2) I would make sure that we had plenty
of ice and water. Since I normally run the air conditioning in my Jeep
Cherokee on or off-road (during hot weather), item (1) was taken care of. Only
a fool goes on a trip into the desert back country without at least several
gallons of drinking water; therefore, requirement (2) was complied with as
well.
Tools dating back to 500 AD have been found there,
indicating that turquoise was being mined in California long before the arrival
of the Spaniards. Later on, prospectors passing through the area probably took
their share of turquoise, and the Toltec Gem Mining Company worked the site
during the late 1800’s and, according to Roger and Loris Mitchell (Southern
California SUV Trails, Vol. II) actually sold some of their turquoise to
Tiffany’s in New York.
The Toltec mine is located on Turquoise Mountain, which is in a remote part of the desert near Baker, California.
We rendezvoused with friends in two other vehicles at 7 am.
After topping off fuel, food, and miscellaneous supplies, we headed north on
I-15. It was 7:35.
By 10:15 we were at Halloran Springs Road – some 13 miles
north of Baker.
Turning left and crossing the freeway, we turned right onto an
old paved road and followed it for about half a mile. At that point, we came
across the basalt cliffs mentioned the Mitchells’ book. Petroglyphs are etched
into the rocks here; and we pulled over to have a look.
It took a few minutes for us to find the petroglyphs,
because these were rather faint. They also seemed crude in comparison other
rock drawings I’ve seen.
In fact, I wondered aloud if this was some sort of
“practice area” for ancient art students. Still, the fact that no one really
knows who created them, or why, fascinates me.
Barely discernable at first, a closer look
reveals that these basalt rocks are covered with petroglyphs. These rocks are
not too far from the freeway. - Photo by Scott Schwartz
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