4Nov19 Isabella Hawskins and the Keene Wonder Mine.
Sympldog woke me up at 2 AM to pee and wanting water. Went back to sleep until 7:30. Woke up and talked to a fellow Van Dweller preparing his 60s Dodge stepside pickup for travel. His home was a pop-up camper that had popped it's last time. It was forever to remain in its full up position. The canvas above the truck cab hangover apparently leaked and he had installed a blue tarp as a repair. The guy in his late 70's beckoned me good morning as I was preparing to take the dogs on their morning potty walk. He was wearing a tattered army jacket with a broken zipper. I introduced myself and he told me his name was Larry. He asked if it would be ok if he asked me a few questions. His first question was if I knew that Pentecost had a numerical value.
Long story short he was a Christian who had studied Hebrew and Greek and he went on to informed me that the Catholic Church had changed the Bible to where the Sabbath was on Sunday. From his study of the original text he had determined that the Sabbath was on Wednesday. He went on the say that anyone who worshiped on Sunday were doomed to hell. He gave me an index card and after a little more discussion I said my goodbyes and grab the dogs and started our walk.
During the walk Larry was able to get his truck started after a few attempts and ultimately drove off.
After the walk I moved things around in the car for the day's travels. I drove a short distance to the Stagecoach Casino and noticed Larry was there getting gas.
I parked in the casino parking lot and had breakfast at a Denny's inside.
After breakfast I drove back to Rhyolite and took another photo of the bottle house. Then I drove a short distance to a mine on the southeast side of town. It was a horizontal shaft mine and the entrance was open for about ten feet before there was a locked gate.
I took several photos then hiked another quarter mile to another mine. It was apparently a vertical shaft mine but the entrance was covered with a metal plate.
I walked back to the car and gave the dogs breakfast. There were a couple of buildings still standing close by and Symplmut and I checked them out. One appeared to be a two room residence the other was a jail. There was a grave between the residence and the mine. The grave was surrounded by a fence which was covered with ladies high heel shoes and jewelry. There was a cross for a headstone with the name Isabella Hawskins aka Mona Belle.
I found out later that the residence was probably a brothel which makes sense being that it was away from the main town, and that Isabella was a local prostitute. Further research supposedly disproved the latter but who knows.
After taking several photos I got back on the road heading back to Death Valley.
I drove to a junction and took the cutoff to Furnace Creek Village. After a few miles I came to the road leading to the Keane Wonder Mine aka King of the Desert Mine..
It was a loose gravel road and there were a few places that were pretty bad but ultimately I made it to the mine.
This mine was unique in that it used a tram to move the ore to a railhead over a mile away.
After spending several hours exploring the mine and surrounding area I drove back to Furnace Creek Village. There was an art festival there and I spent an hour or so checking it out.. I met Ron Lazenby and his wife Ann at one of the booths. Ron was an author and was selling some of his books. I bought his book "Showdown at Castle Ranch."
Apparently Ron saved all his words for his Western books, not so much for Ann who was very talkative. A very nice couple who had been married for 40+ years. They had retired a few years ago from federal service in Southern California at which time Ron took up writing.
After checking out all the art I went to the Visitor's Center and filled up all the water bottles. I checked out the outdoor exhibits of the Borax Museum just as the sun was going down. I had planned to spend the night in the overflow parking lot but apparently the campground was not full so I couldn't stay there. Instead I drove back to the museum and parallel parked next to the outdoor exhibits. There was a lot more traffic than I preferred but I was able to stay the night without being discovered.
Today's travels