This would be my third visit to the Champion Spark Plug Mine, a great little secret tucked halfway up a mountain gully in the morning shadows of White Mountain Peak. The mine became important during World War I when andalusite was needed for the manufacture of spark plug insulators. Despite the remote location, the mining company managed to set up two camps complete with bunkhouses, a cookhouse, showers, a laboratory, a blacksmith, generator facilities and even electricity, which was considered advanced for its time. The mine actually consisted of numerous diggings, adits, shafts and stopes over a rather large area. This interesting deposit has produced over 50 different minerals, including a few that were the first mineral occurrences in the US, and the first description of woodhouseite, an unusual sulfate phosphate mineral named after C.D. Woohouse, the mine manager and later a geology professor at UCSB. The mine was shut down in 1942. The land became National Forest and a group of keen local volunteers and mineral collectors took over as stewards of the mining camps. They have done an amazing job keeping the camp in great condition and there are a half dozen cabins that can be comfortably slept in on a first-come, first-served basis.
The access road I normally took was blocked and it took us a couple minutes to get the lay of the land and work out how to get back to the road that would get us there. The van carefully crawled up the steep alluvial fan and then clung to the side of the rocky wash. It valiantly delivered us to just before the lower trailhead, where we packed and set off on foot. We followed the mine's old mule trail adjacent to the remnants of weathered old telephone poles. On the way we passed a wide assortment of interesting rock types. And the views of the valley below improved with each step.
Almost to the camp.
View of the Volcanic Tablelands in the Owens Valley with the Sierra
Nevada in the distance.
The trail is never too steep, but very steadily gains 2000ft of altitude to the Black Eagle Camp. We were fortunate to be the only others around at the time of our arrival so I very happily claimed the Champion Hilton (above) as our own. This cabin is set off from the others a bit and is perched on the edge of the flat such that it has the best view from its porch. It has curtains, candles, a kerosene lamp, a closet of sorts, sheleves, two tables, two beds, an extensive library, some food and alcohol left, even a small rock collection, and a poster of minerals on the wall. It is certainly the pick of the litter.
I showed Sara around the camp. We checked out the other cabins (it was not hard to convince her we had the best one), the mess hall with the great wood-burning oven, the core shack, the museum with its many curios, the outhouses, the hall, the workshop, the horseshoe pit, the hammock, the heated shower set-up and lastly the camp's spring to gather some water. I hung the "Occupied" tin can lid on the door and we settled in for the night. The modest stove heated the small cabin perfectly. We got the cabin nice and toasty with minimal wood.
In the morning we hiked up the often narrow trail to the upper camp and mine area at almost 9000ft elevation, prospecting for shiny, colorful and well-formed minerals along the way. I led Sara along the adit that traverses just inside the main cliff to the spectacular oval window that looks straight onto the Black Eagle Camp. I could easily spend a full day in this area, but we had other places to get to and Sara was determined to lunch in Bishop. Reluctantly we packed up and left. Hopefully it is not too long before my next visit.
Vulcanite Camp (Upper Camp) with the adits and stopes of the main
Volcanus workings.
Black Eagle Camp viewed from a mine tunnel.
Thanks to the Black Eagle volunteers for maintaining this special place.
No comments:
Post a Comment