Echo Canyon Inyo Mine 2.0 - 3.0

This trail goes through Echo Canyon (It really does echo) to visit Inyo Mine, and then continues to come out on US 95.  It is a 2.0 rated run as far as Inyo Mine, then the rating increases to 3.0.

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

Eye of the Needle

The road is on an alluvial bed for the first few miles, first on an open fan and then on the floor of Echo Canyon.  The canyon soon narrows and you are treated to high rugged walls and a serpentine route.  Very impressive.

Eye of the Needle is close to the canyon floor and you will drive on both sides of it.  Probably would make a good photo if someone were to climb up into it.

Alluvial roadbed

A right hand spur will take you to Inyo Mine with quite a few old structures and and pieces of mining equipment.  There is some kind of sorting/processing chute between the high structure and the arrastra that we do not understand.  

Ore chute, processing chute and arrastra.

Arrastra

​In January of 1905 Maroni Hicks and Chet Leavitt discovered gold here. In the next two years dozen of claims were established in Echo Canyon. Inyo was the largest in what became the Echo-Lee mining district.

Production began in the winter of 1906, most of the ore assayed at $300 per ton with some running as high as $650 per ton. By the fall of 1907 the Inyo had three vertical shafts and 755 feet of tunnels hosting equipment, blacksmith shop, boarding house, and a store. Most of the work was done in the winter months when the temperatures were cooler.

In the fall of 1907 attempts were made to raise money through a public stock sale but 1907 was also a year of financial panic throughout the west. In 1912 the owners tried and failed again. From 1907 through 1927 very little work was done and in 1928 the mine was sold. The new owners found themselves victims of the mines earlier difficulties, gold was in the ground, but was costly to extract and water wasn't available for milling. Little was done until 1937 when the mine was leased to the Inyo Consolidated Mining Company. The company then installed a ball crushing mill with a 25 ton a day capacity and began hauling water from Furnace Creek, 8 miles away, and had plans for a pipeline. This would all be short lived, by the spring of 1938 the mine closed due to the lack of water.

The mine was leased again in 1939 and produced gold at $230 per ton, but the deposit ran out. The last shot was in 1940 with the same results and then closed for good.

This must have been a very busy mining district as there are shafts and mining debris for miles up the canyon.  A short spur to the right will take you to this one.

House in the ground at Inyo Mine

Mine farther up the canyon

There are two obstacles in a row that give this section of the trail a 3.0 rating.  Take a good look at these photos before you decide to go.  A family SUV might not do very well.

Waterfall

Second obstacle

The trail climbs out of Echo Canyon and goes to a high saddle in the Funeral Mountains.  Great views from here, and you can see the road you will take to get out.  Note the canyon in the middle of the photo - This contains a few 2.5 obstacles that add a bit of interest to the run.

Lees Camp, down on the alluvial fan, has a few foundations remaining.

An integral part of every self-respecting mining boom, regardless of size, was the establishment and promotion of a town. The Lee District was no different from any other boom area in this respect, and was actually slower that most in starting a town. But eventually, a group of enterprising individuals decided to cash in on the boom spirit. Starting a town, however, was a little more difficult than it seems. On the surface, all one had to do was to locate and claim a parcel of land, within comfortable distance from the mines which he wanted to serve, and then just stake out lots for sale. But unless the townsite promoter could persuade people to buy his land, he would go broke, and since everyone was living on free land before he came, he needed a powerful incentive. That incentive was business. If the promoter could get the business houses, especially the saloons, boarding houses and restaurants, as well as the grocery and hardware stores, to locate in his town, then his townsite could offer the advantages which would overcome the cost of buying a lot. Thus the town promoters would normally enter into reciprocal agreements with merchants, and would offer them prize locations at cheap prices or even for free. The merchants, who were just as anxious to be the first into a new town, and who wanted locations near the center of the future town, were usually more than happy to enter into this kind of deal.  See full story

The way out to US 95

Lee's Camp

Follow the track to a well graded County road and then to pavement.

Page updated 2017.

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