El Paso Mountains Region

According to the State of California Division of Mines and Geology, the El Paso mountains area is not actually considered a part of the Mojave Desert gold district. These mountains are located in Basin Range District. Almost all of the prospectors continue to see them as a part of the desert though. This is a land that has everything a prospector could possibly want, such as beauty, gem stones, gold, silver, lost mines as well as famous ghost towns. The Red Rock Canyon is located on the west side tip of the El Paso Mountains and was turned into a State Park. Sometimes camping is allowed in this area and it can be used as a good base point when a prospecting trip to the mountains is planned. There are some interesting types of mining that have been done on in Goler Gulch. Some people utilize skip loaders in order to scoop up the gravels with gold and place them into big tractor trailers. The gravels then get sent to Bakersfield and the gravels were washed there. Benson Gulch, which runs off of Goler Gulch, was the best and most productive gold bearing area. There is a ghost town in this area that is called Garlock and it is located between Highway 14 and Goler Gulch. In 1896 Eugene Garlock made a stamp mill close by this area in order to crush the gold ore from the Yellow Aster Mine which was on Rand Mountain. This was formerly known as Cow Wells by the freighters and prospectors in the 1880’s and 1890’s, and the town of Garlock kept on flourishing that is until water started being piped from this place to Randsburg in 1895. There are still some residents that live in this area to this very day. Almost all of the buildings that are older are located in private areas and lands which are fenced off to people.