Butte Valley 2.0

A very interesting trip that includes old talc mines, a miner's camp next to a hot spring and three historic cabins.

There are three historic cabins in Butte Valley that are available to stay in on a first come first served basis.  Geologist Cabin is in the best shape of the three.

Butte Valley is likely named after Striped Butte, a prominent outcrop in the middle of the valley.  It is composed of steeply tilted limestone beds of the Permian Anvil Spring Formation.

​We did this trip east to west but it can be done in either direction.

There is a GPS - gpx track file at the bottom of the page.

Geologist Cabin in Butte Valley

Start the trip on Badwater Road and head west toward Warm Springs Canyon.  There was talc mining in Warm Springs Canyon for many years.  This was probably one of the earliest mines.

Badwater Road to Warm Springs Canyon

Very old talc mine

The Grantham Mine (Big Talc-No. 5) workings are the most easterly in the canyon and the most extensive, consisting of a complex system of drifts, winzes, stopes, and levels driven off the main haulageways. Most work has been concentrated in the lower of three talc layers where the zone is of uniform thickness and composition. "Room-and-pillar" mining methods in a checkerboard pattern have been used because the caving characteristics of the talc zone here make ground support a major problem. Although initially this makes for less talc recovery, in the end the pillars can be removed and reduced also, and the percentage of recovery thus increased. Originally mucking machines loaded the ore into mine cars, which were then hoisted up the winzes and trammed to the surface. Fifteen-ton-capacity, rubber-tired diesel haulers and diesel, rubber-tired, four-ton-bucket-capacity front-end loaders maneuver on inclined haulageways, and have been used since the mid-1950s. The full extent of the deposits here are unknown, but reserves are known to be high. Total production up to June 1978 has been 830,000 tons.  mindat.org

The talc deposits in Warm Spring Canyon, together with those located in Galena Canyon to the north, are the most westerly group of talc claims within Death Valley National Park. These deposits are located on the east slope of the southernmost part of the Panamint Range along the steep sides of mountain ranges trending northwest-southeast. Warm Spring Canyon connects with Butte Valley on the west and the Death Valley basin to the east. The mines here were reached via a well-graded gravel access road that was constantly traveled by large ore-bearing trucks heading from the mines to mills at Dunn Siding, Los Angeles, and Victorville, California. The Warm Spring road leads west off of the West Side Road about five miles north of the latter's junction with the Badwater Road just north of the Ashford Mill site.  National Park Service

Grantham Mine

Inside one of the shafts

​The waters of Warm Spring created an oasis that has long attracted human activity. Panamint Shoshone had their winter camp at the springs. Tribal chief Panamint Tom built a ranch here in the late 1880s, with crops and an orchard of 150 fruit trees. In the spring of 1887, a violent flash flood destroyed the ranch.

Warm Springs became a home base for miners and prospectors. This mining camp was established in the 1930s by Louise Grantham, who located and mined eleven talc claims here with the help of prospector Ernest Huhn.

World War II and the postwar era increased the demand for talc, and the Warm Springs Canyon mines boomed. They were among the most profitable in Death Valley. After many ownership changes, the talc mines closed. In 1989 the Preservation Foundation purchased them and donated them to the National Park Service in 1992.

Warm Springs Camp swimming pool

Warm Springs Camp outbuilding

Continue west to Butte Valley and visit the 3 cabins available for overnight stays.

Mengel Cabin

Russel Camp

You can either return to Badwater Road or continue west to Goler Canyon 3.0.

​Page updated 2017.

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