Ashford Mine (Golden Treasure Mine), Ashford Peak, Willow Mining District, Black Mountains, Amargosa Range, Inyo County, California, USAi

Regional Level Types
Ashford Mine (Golden Treasure Mine)	Mine
Ashford Peak	Peak
Willow Mining District	Mining District
Black Mountains	Mountain Range
Amargosa Range	Mountain Range
Inyo County	County
California	State
USA	Country

A former Au-Ag-Pb-Cu mine located in sec. 3, T21N, R3E, SBM, 1.0 km (0.6 mile) NNW of Ashford Peak (coordinates of record), along Ashford Canyon (3.7 miles NE of the Ashford mill ruins), on National Park Service wilderness land (Death Valley National Park/Death Valley Wilderness). Discovered in 1906. Property consisted of 26 unpatented claims. MRDS database stated accuracy for this location is 10 meters.

NOTE: Waring & Huguenin (1919) place this mine in the Funeral Mountains, some distance N of Shoshone; however, the locations of other landmarks (Ashford Canyon, junction and mill) indicate that the location provided in this file is correct.

In January of 1907, Harold Ashford wandered into the Death Valley region, and attracted by the gold strikes at the Desert Hound Mine, prospected in that vicinity. Within a few months, he discovered that the Keys Gold Mining Company had failed to do the required assessment work on several of its claims, and Ashford relocated them and started to work on his own. It took the Keys Gold Mining Company almost two years to discover that someone else was working their former claims, and when Ashford refused to vacate, the company took him to court In January of 1910, however, the judge found in favor of Ashford and he retained title to his claims. He might have been better off if he had lost.

Harold Ashford and his brother, Henry and Lewis, worked the mine off and on between 1910 and 1914, without spectacular results. Then, in November of 1914, the brothers managed to lease the mine to B. W. McCausland and his son, Ross. The McCauslands started to work on a large scale, and within a year had driven a tunnel 180 feet into the side of the mountain. At the height of their operation, the McCauslands had twenty-eight men employed, had invested over $125,000 in capital improvements, including machinery, trucks and labor costs, and had completed 2,000 feet of total workings. In addition, a mill had been built on the floor of Death Valley, five miles and 3,500 feet below the mine, where the ore from the mine was trucked for preliminary treating. The mill included a jaw-crusher, a ten-foot Lane mill, a Wilfley table and a Diester slime table. The McCauslands were described by the Inyo Register as being wealthy residents of Los Angeles, and in late August they announced that their forty-ton capacity mill was in operation, and they had plans to increase its capacity to 150 tons.

But despite taking out an estimated $100,000 worth of ore, the McCauslands soon discovered that the ores from the mine were not rich enough to justify all this capital expenditure, and they ceased operations in September of 1915. In order to cut their losses, the McCauslands decided not to pay the Ashfords for the year's lease on the mine. The Ashfords took them to court, but never got their money back.

Following this fiasco, the mine and mill were idle for some years, until 1926, when it was reported that four men were working. The total footage of workings at the mine, however, had not increased since 1917, which indicates that they were not working very hard. Neither did they work very long, for the mine was soon closed down again. Another long period of idleness followed, until 1935, when the Ashfords once again leased their mine, this time to the Golden Treasure Mines, Inc. That company reopened the mine, and since the old mill was inadequate to treat its ores, shipped their rock out to Shoshone where it was loaded upon the Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad. The long truck hauls, however, proved very expensive, and after searching for other ways to reduce costs, the company settled down to taking out only the highest grade of ore available. Work on the mine by the Golden Treasure company lasted until sometime in 1938, when they gave up. Total shipments by the Golden Treasure company amounted to no more than $18,000 over a period of two years.

Following the departure of their lessees, the Ashfords began working on their mine again, and in August of 1938 made a 38-ton shipment. By this time the mine was described as comprising twenty-six claims, and had a 320-foot shaft with a crosscut, a 215-foot tunnel, and a 200-foot drift. Equipment at the site included a portable Ingersoll-Rand compressor and various camp buildings. Three men were working, probably the three Ashford brothers.

After working the mine themselves for a short period, the Ashford's leased it again, this time to the Bernard Granville and Associates of Los Angeles. That company immediately went to work, employing ten men, and soon installed a short aerial tramway, to facilitate the task of consolidating the ore from the scattered shafts and tunnels to one central point for trucking down the mountain. Operations continued until sometime in 1941, when the new lessees gave up. No record of any shipments being made by Granville and Associates can be found.

The Ashfords continued to hold title to their mine following the departure of their last lessees, although they apparently never returned to work it themselves. In perhaps the best summary of the spotted history of the Ashford Mine, C. B. Glasscock wrote that it was able to produce just enough gold to keep the Ashfords in groceries and lawsuits for more than a third of a century.

Structures at the Ashford Mine are numerous, although not many of them could be classified as historic. The main mine site itself is situated high on the west side of the Black Mountains, overlooking Death Valley, and the old road to the site has been washed out for many years. Access today is only possible via an arduous hike about one mile from the end of the road up to the mine site. Structures at the main complex consist of one collapsed shack, an outhouse, a large office and cookhouse building, two wooden bunkhouses, a tin shed, a headframe and ore bin, and the tramway towers and terminal. All of these structures date from the 1930-1940 period of mining....

Just around the knoll from the main mining site--towards the east--are the ruins of an older mining effort, undoubtedly the remnants of the McCausland's work in the 1910s. Here may be found several older adits and dumps, the ruins of a collapsed shack and half a dozen level sites, the former homes of a small tent community. This site has better integrity than the former, since it was relatively undisturbed in later mining years....

The ruins of Ashford Mill stand on the floor of Death Valley. Structures here consist of the crumbling walls of a concrete office building, and the ruins of the mill itself. Not much is left of the mill, with the exception of the large concrete foundations and a very limited amount of debris. The ruins of the mill foundation and the office building are rather interesting, and according to local legend, are due to the fact that a double load of cement was shipped to the McCauslands when construction was in progress. Rather than send it back, which would have entrailed further transportation expenses, the extra cement was used in construction of the mill and office building, which largely accounts for their still standing today.Latschar, 1981

Mineralization is a series of 7 fissure veins, 6 inches (15 cm) to 4 feet (1.2 meters) wide, hosted in Neoproterozoic gneiss. The Treasure vein is the main vein at 30 inches to 4 feet (75 cm to 1.2 meters) wide. The veins have been faulted and possibly rotated. The general strike is N80E, with the faulted segments striking N15E, and dipping 65SE. Local rocks include Precambrian rocks, undivided, unit 1 (Death Valley).

Workings include underground openings with an overall depth of 609.6 meters. They are comprised of a and over 2,000 feet of tunnels and drifts. The workings achieved a depth of 2,000 feet below the outcrop. There is an underground 320 foot incline on the 76 foot level; a crosscut NW 70 feet to the vein and drifts S 60 feet and N 20 feet. On the 96 foot level, there is a drift N 90 feet; on the 180 foot level, there is a drift S 65 feet at the shaft point, there is a stope 60 feet long, 55 feet high in ore and averages 15 inches thick. North of the shaft, in the canyon, a crosscut was driven N 260 feet to the vein with a drift S 120 feet. Stoped for 170 feet in an average of 2 feet thickness of ore, 400 feet SW of the shaft, and 150 feet below the collar, a crosscut E for 215 feet, and also with a winze 35 feet deep 200 feet from the portal. A drift N for 375 feet connects with the shaft on the 180 level.

Production data are found in: Tucker and Sampson (1938).

Production statistics: Year: 1942 (period 1919-1942): Au ore: Cu = 2 metric tons; Pb = 6 metric tons. Year: 1952 (period 1950-1952): ^ 4,000 pounds Pb.

Total production was said to have amounted to $135,000 (period values). $18,000 worth was sold in the period from 1937-1941.

Analytical data results: Some specks of free gold assayed at up to $325/ton.

Other Databases

Link to USGS MRDS:	10086464

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References