DESERT FEVER An Overview of Mining in the California Desert
DESERT FEVER An Overview of Mining in the California Desert
Gary Shumway, Larry Vredenburgh and myself wrote Desert Fever and I published it under the Living West Press in 1981.
The first edition is out of print, and copies of it are selling for upwards of $175. Barnes and Noble has it listed for $250.00
Some of the most prestigious libraries in the west have copies of it, mostly in their non-circulating special collections rooms.
This is the ad copy used to sell Desert Fever. It appeared in print in the fall of 1981. The Prospector's Club of Southern California's Annual Convention that year was the first locale to offer Desert Fevers to the general public. Keene Engineering, the California Mining Journal, and several other venues were among the top sellers of the book.
Mining--the word conjures up images of weathered wooden headframes silhouetted against an azure blue sky; grizzly old prospectors with burros; the sparkle of gold in a pan; dusty mill tailings and rusting machinery; gold, gloryholes, and ghost towns. Throughout history, men and women with a pioneering spirit and a propensity towards risk took to the desert with an enthusiasm best described as a fever--a desert fever. Desert Fever is the story of that enthusiasm, the story of man's interaction with the desert in pursuit of mineral wealth.
The authors of Desert Fever, having a deep respect and love of our mining heritage, take the reader on a county-by-county trip back into the past--to the boomtown days of Tumco, Providence, Ivanpah, Calico, Randsburg, Cerro Gordo, and dozens more. The excitement of discovery, deals, development and daring are all relived within its pages. Production figures and technical data are supplemented with human interest stories like the "Ivanpah shoot-out" and the history of mining's "boss lady," Dr. Rose LaMonte Burcham. Lost mines are mentioned too, including the famous "Lost Gunsight."
No expense has been spared in presenting the reader an accurate picture of mining in the California Desert. Mining reports, field notes, newspaper accounts, maps, as well as interviews are among the many primary sources consulted. Our research resulted in over 500 footnotes that reference more than 1,200 specific citations. In addition to the footnotes, there is a bibliography, a complete index, a glossary of mining terms, and a fold-out map. A twelve page summary of mining is also provided. The text is illustrated with twenty pages of photographs (some never before published) and over twenty pages of district and claim maps.
Not only is the 200 year history of mining presented here, but a separate chapter is devoted to the author's observations on the future of mining in the California Desert. This volume began as a contracted study for the Bureau of Land Management, and we appreciate their interest and past support. We hope Desert Fever is a welcome addition to your bookshelf and helpful to all those who seek values in the desert, whether mineral or historical.
About the authors:
Gary L. Shumway recently retired as a professor of history at California State University, Fullerton. Both his master's and doctoral dissertations dealt with the history of uranium mining in the Southwest United States. He is a popular lecturer, speaker, and oral historian.
Larry M. Vredenburgh received his bachelor's degree in geology from the University of California at Riverside. He is currently working in Tehachapi, CA as a geologist for the Bureau of Land Management.
Larry Vredenburgh's Desert Fever website
Russell D. Hartill has a bachelor's degree in history from California State University, Fullerton, a JD from University of Idaho College of Law, and has written for the California Mining Journal, Treasure, True Treasure, and the Death Valley Bulletin. He is an attorney in Sandy, Utah. His latest projects include a history of mining in the State of Utah, and digitizing Bancroft's Works.