Skidoo

[DirtyDog]

Here's an old photo of Skidoo for those that visited the site during the DV Rally:

http://www.westernmininghistory.com/articles/469/page1/

 

[SunMan]

Cool. During your research for your other website did you happen to figure out why there isn't even a trace of the former town left out there? I find that truly puzzling considering all of the other town remains we came across, not to mention the near fully intact mill just down the road.

 

[DirtyDog]

That's a good question, and I did not find information about that. However I can speculate:

Skidoo as a town likely became irrelevant before the mill did. As the scale of mining decreased, the mill was still used but a town couldn't be supported. As the town shrank, buildings and materials were likely scavenged for a variety of uses - buildings elsewhere, fuel, etc.

I also imagine that the owners of the mill protected from scavenging after it closed as the materials there were of some value.

Finally, since a fair amount of Depression-era mining occurred in Death Valley, there was likely a lot of ongoing scavenging for materials.

Why the mill was never dismantled I don't know. They usually are as the materials are valuable. This is why I was so excited to see the stamps intact, you don't see that often. The government would even seize these things for WW2 iron.