Desert Queen Mine

Perched atop cliffs north of Jumbo Rocks Campground are the considerable ruins of the Desert Queen Mine, one of the more profitable gold mines dug in the desert we now call Joshua Tree National Park. Shafts, stone building foundations, and rusting machinery are scattered about the slopes above Desert Queen Wash.

If murder and intrigue are what fascinate us about desert mines, then the Desert Queen certainly delivers. The tale begins in 1894 when prospector Frank James struck rich gold ore in the hills above Jumbo Rocks. Word of his discovery reached cattle rustler Jim McHaney who, as the story goes, ordered his men to follow James to his claim and “negotiate.” Negotiations ended abruptly when one of McHaney’s henchmen, Charles Martin, shot James dead. A local inquest ruled it self-defense (justice in the Old West being sometimes flexible).

McHaney and his more respectable brother Bill owned the Desert Queen for just two years, managing to pull $30,000 to $40,000 from a single pocket of ore – a fortune in the 1890s. Jim promptly squandered it all in high living, shady deals, and counterfeiting twenty-dollar gold pieces. When the money ran out, the bank reclaimed the mine.

The Desert Queen’s next chapter brought steadier hands. Hard-rock miner William Keys – later the park’s legendary homesteader – took over in 1915. Then, in 1931, Altadena jeweler Frederick Morton bought in, convinced by a smooth-talking “engineer” named Mr. Hapwell. Morton poured his savings into the operation. Against all odds, miners did strike good ore, but Hapwell secretly hauled the diggings to a hidden stamp mill and pocketed the profits. Meanwhile, Morton’s attempt to sell Desert Queen stock without incorporation landed him in court and eventually prison. Hapwell vanished and was never seen again.

For all the drama, the Desert Queen endured as a working mine for more than sixty years. Its tailings piles, cyanide tanks, and weathered ruins stand as testament not only to the ore that was pried from the earth, but also to the dreams – some fulfilled, many dashed – that kept men digging in the heat and dust.

A stroll among the ruins conjures up an era of gun smoke, greed, and grit, all framed by Joshua trees and endless desert sky.