Ashford Mill

BackRoadsWest presents:

Ashford Mill

The Ashford Mill ruins are the remnants of a gold processing mill built in 1915 to service a mine 5 miles to the east in the Black Mountains. The unusually-thick walls of this mill are the reason they have survived the deserts' punishment for all these years - they also tell one of Death Valley's many mining stories.

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Getting There
The ruins of Ashford Mill are located at the south end of Death Valley. It is very easy to find and is marked on most maps including AAA and Park Service maps.

From the north (Furnace Creek): Go south on Badwater Road for 33.4 miles until just before the road turns east to climb over the Salsberry and Jubilee Passes (the Amargosa Chaos). You can see the ruins from the road on your right. There is a parking area with primitive restrooms and a picnic table.

From the east (Shoshone): Take S.R. 178 west, through Salsberry and Jubilee Pass, to Badwater Road. Turn right (north) onto Badwater Road and continue for about 2 miles. You can see the ruins from the road on your left. There is a parking area with primitive restrooms and a picnic table.

History
Harold Ashford started this piece of Death Valley history by filing a claim in 1907 on what is now Ashford Canyon - right next to Scotty's Canyon. The ground he claimed, however, belonged to the Key Gold Mining Company and was part of their expansive land holdings. The Key Gold Mining Company refused to recognize Harold's claim so he brought suit against them and won based on his proof that the company hadn't done the necessary annual assessment work needed to hang onto a claim. And so, three years after he made his claim, Harold and his two brothers, Henry and Lewis, started working the mine.

In 1914, the brothers found enough ore to "option" it to Count Kramer (a Hungarian nobleman) who, in turn, "optioned" it to Benjamin W. McCausland (an oil man from Los Angeles).

In February of 1915, McCausland began developing the mine and built the mill on the sight you see today. The main reason that the ruins have lasted so long and are still here for us to see is because the walls of the mill were exceptionally thick. And the reason for these extra-thick walls is a simple "shipping error". McCausland ordered the proper amount of cement to build the mill and the other buildings but the supplier accidentally sent twice as much! The supplies had already been shipped via the Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad and were sitting at the mill site when the supplier realized his mistake. After finding out it would be too expensive to have the supplies shipped back to him, the supplier told McCausland to just keep the extra material. So, McCausland simply used the extra material to make everything oversized and extra thick.

The McCausland's suddenly stopped work at the mine in September of that year after realizing that most of the high-grade ore had already been taken and defaulted on their purchase from the Ashford's. A lawsuit followed and the Ashford's were eventually granted ownership of the property and the machinery but it was a hollow victory because their mine had been gutted. Over the next 25 years, they tried selling the mine several more times and several more times the Ashford's went to court. The Ashford's never made a profit and mining was stopped in 1941. The ruins stand today as an unmistakable reminder of the many disappointments that came along with the mining boom.

Photo Tour:
Click on picture to enlarge
Pictures taken: December 2000

	The informational plaque seen on Badwater Road at the entrance to the site.
	Walking towards the ruins.
	Ashford Mill in a field of Desert Sunflowers during the spectacular 2005 wildflower bloom. The swollen Amargosa River is in the background.
	An example of the thickness of the walls.
	Another example of the walls and their strong construction.
	Telescope Peak is the snow-capped mountain through the doorway.
	Looking through another doorway, to the east, in the direction of Ashford Canyon.
	Ashford Mill in the springtime.
	South facing wall of the ruins.
	Peeking out of the Ashford Mill ruins on our visit during the breath-taking Desert Sunflower bloom of 2005.
	Ruins of a loading bin just north of the mill.
	Looking northwest from the Ashford Mill parking lot towards Ashford and Scotty's Canyons.
	Running through a field of flowers is a little girl's dream! This picture was taken in 2005 along S.R. 178 looking west towards Ashford Mill. You can faintly see the cars parked at Ashford Mill in the left center of the picture.
	In 2005, the Ashford Mill area had both the Desert Sunflower and the Desert Five-spot blooming.

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Last updated March 03, 2007.