American
Girl Mine Rd
Indian
Pass Rd
Imperial
County California |
|
[2006]
Camping
on American Girl Mine Rd
A
few
miles down Ogilby road you will cross a RR track and then turn right on
to American Girl Mine Road. Traveling down this road you will
notice
a lot of RV's dry-camped off in the desert. This is the best
"free"
place to camp or you can go back down Ogilby road to the Gold Rock
Ranch
RV park (next to an old gold mine). |
| American
Girl Mine Road |
[2006]
Most
of the kyanite ore found in the Cargo Muchacho Mountains of
California's
southeastern Colorado Desert is grayish- to greenish-blue in
color.
The kyanite is found in a quartz, quartzite and quartz-muscovite schist
much like the kyanite found at Graves Mountain, GA. The ore that
was mined here varied from about 15 to 35 percent kyanite. The
three
deposits, known as the Drifted Snow, the Bluebird, and the Vitrefax,
are
found near the town of Ogilby (exit 160 on Interstate 8). |
[2006]
Vitrefax
Hill mine consists of many cuts and two still usable loading chutes.
|
|
[2006]
(Vitrefax
Hill) grayish-
to greenish-blue kyanite ore
|
 |
 |
Indian
Pass Road
dumortierite, petrified palm root, bog agate and jasper |
|
Photograph by Ron and Faye Burke
Dumortierite
Indian Pass dumortierite probably
is as well known as its petrified
palm root. It is blue to lavender in color, and occasionally the colors
will mix to produce a rather striking bluish purple. Dumortierite
is also known as "Desert Lapis".
|
Desert-varnish-covered
boulders are strewn over the hillsides.
Jasper - The commonly found colors include gray, brown,
yellow,
and red.
|
The picture above
shows one of the interior roads within the collecting area which is now
"off limits" to motorized traffic because of the new "Wilderness"
designation
signed into law by former President Bill Clinton. Now you have to
pack your finds back to the main road parking area. The elderly
and
disabled are cut off from collecting in the prime areas of Indian
Pass! Camping
is allowed along much of the north side of Indian Pass Road as long as
you remain within 300 feet of an established road. A fourteen-day limit
may be enforced. |
 |
 |
 |
