Randsburg is my favorite Southern California living ghost town. (Nearby is another small living ghost town with a neat history called Johannesburg - or Joburg for short) Some of the richest gold in all Southern California was found here! I’ve found some nice gold and there are active claims in the area. Not far is the ‘Stringer District’ which also has had some nice gold pulled out of it. People have shown me some very large nuggets they got from the area making me very envious,  lol! I live two hours away and I wish I had more time to come out here - I love this area! There’s so much history here! It’s like like an ‘outdoor museum’!

 

A visit to Randsburg, California is a visit to the past, when the mining camps of the Mojave were boomtowns and gold was being dug out of the hills. The community has survived the many perils the desert mining camps faced, and some of its residents still work the land for its hidden riches. It is a living ghost town, a working mining town that likes having some -- but not too much -- company. There are no stop lights, gas stations or malls here; just an unpretentious, quiet little town that enjoys its place in desert history.

 

Randsburg is located on the western Mojave Desert, near the El Paso Mountains and not far from Red Rock Canyon State Park. It's high desert- - around 3,500 feet. With nearby Red Mountain (formerly known as Osdick) and Johannesburg, Randsburg is a must-see for anyone interested in prospecting or the Mojave's fascinating history. The area is not only famous for mining gold, but also for mining silver and tungsten.

 

In the late 1800s, the Rand Mountains hadn't been named yet. They'd been prospected a little, but passed over by most Rainbow Chasers. In the early '90s, 3 gold hunters discovered that one of the peaks in this small mountain range was a mountain of gold.

 

These 3 prospectors -- John Singleton, F. M. Mooers and Charlie Burcham -- were down on their luck. They barely had enough food and supplies to keep them alive while they established their claim, and each day they used the gold they found to finance another day's digging. They were almost to the point of selling their claim to a developer when Rose Burcham, Charlie's wife, arrived and saved the day -- and their fortune. She wouldn't allow the sale, and found a way to finance the mine's development.

 

To her husband and his partners, this was a woman who was worth far more than her weight in gold. The Yellow Aster became one of the biggest gold mines on the Mojave.

 

The prospectors called their discovery the Rand. The town that sprung up became Rand Camp, then Randsburg. The mountains they were in became the Rand Mountains, and the owners changed the name of the mine to the Yellow Aster. The town and the area boomed. Soon over 2,500 people inhabited Randsburg making it a beehive of activity. Gold mines blossomed on the hillsides, and the boom was on.

 

The boom faded, as they do around here; but the town would not die. Both silver and tungsten were discovered in the nearby hills, just as the area was beginning to die. Today, a few hundred hardy souls remain and keep the spirit of Randsburg alive. The town survives off a little mining, and a little tourism, as do the nearby communities of Red Mountain and Johannesburg.

 

The heart of the town hasn't changed much since the first solid buildings went up. It's a little desert community built on the side of the mountain, a few strings of false-fronted buildings, lackadaisical sidewalks and collages of old cars, trucks and mining equipment. There isn't a straight street or right-angle corner in the entire town; built on the hillside, the roads meander with the lay of the land.

 

History is important here. A museum, open only on weekends, houses a surprising amount of mining artifacts and memorabilia. The general store has a long counter and malt machines dating from the 1930s. There's a rack with treasure maps, books on hunting gold and locally-published histories, all great reading.

There are a couple of good saloons still operating. Like the old days, here in Randsburg a good saloon is a lot more than a watering hole -- it's the heart of a community and a meeting place where business gets done, as well as socializing and problem-solving. The White House sits on the main drag (Butte Street), across from The Joint.

 

The Joint is a Randsburg landmark. Olga has run the place since the 1950s, and she's still working, long after her son has retired from a government job in Visalia. She opened The Joint in the 1950s with her husband, who died in 1969.

 

The Joint has an old rock wall for a front, backed by whitewashed clapboard, and an old, old neon sign hanging from the false front. Inside, there are no pretensions; it's just a bar, with a few tables and a wooden floor that echoes every footstep. Along the wall are maps to rockhound sites and gold mines, as well as pictures and newspaper clippings from better days. Olga works behind the bar that stretches along the left wall. It is dark, and cool, and the restrooms are down a tiny hall in the very back of the long, narrow building. Mining is still the number one topic in Randsburg. Not just gold; many local residents work at the 20 Mule Team Borax mine in Boron, or at the salt flats, or other mining operations on the western Mojave. Some still prospect, searching out the earth's treasures just as did the founders of this community a century ago.

 

This living ghost town is a pleasant afternoon's stop, just off U.S. highway 395 about 20 miles south of Ridgecrest, California. It can also be reached from state highway 14 by taking the Redrock-Randsburg Road a few miles south of Red Rock State Park.

 

There are motels in nearby Ridgecrest, Ca, with something for every taste and price range. (Rates, availability and reservation online)

 

The town of Randsburg in Kern County, Calif., might qualify as a "living" ghost town.

Residents number about 150. However, at its peak in 1918, this mining town located about 40 miles northeast of Mojave had a population of 3,500.

 

Although small, Randsburg is still one of California's best known mining towns. Mines in the area are actively being worked, some by large corporations such as the Rand Mining Company. The Randsburg-Johannesburg-Red Mountain area also draws many recreational prospectors with metal detectors and dry washers to small claims held by mining associations.

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Gold Prospecting

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There are some Gold Prospecting Clubs who have Mining Claims in the area. They are cheap to join and families enjoy finding real gold! Once you're a member, you can prospect on their claims and keep whatever you find. These are legal claims and minerals can not be taken unless you own a claim or are a member. In the desert there are different methods for extracting gold and sometimes nice nuggets are occasionally found with

 

The rest is history

 

The story of Randsburg began like many others in California history: In 1895, those three guys literally stumbled on gold in the ground and staked a claim.

 

By 1900, $3 million in gold had been taken out of Randsburg's Yellow Aster Mine. It's estimated that $25 million was taken out before the end of World War II, when the mine closed. (It reopened about 10 years ago.)

Randsburg is thick with good, old time atmosphere.

 

There are many historic buildings, including the White House Saloon, which dates back to the very first years of this century. Some of these buildings are inhabited by more than ghosts, including the Randsburg General Store, still serving food and soft drinks at its soda fountain, which dates back at least to the 1930s.

 

A mine of information

 

There's also the Randsburg Museum, which has been recently refurbished. A branch of the Kern County Museum since 1948, the museum – in smallness – is proportionate to the town. But it, also like the town, is loaded with the flavor of the Old West.

 

Naturally, possessions of gold miners, their tools of the trade and other utilitarian relics used in the boom town are central to the exhibits housed within the Randsburg Museum.

 

Items such as an assortment of milling drills, a frying pan, an apothecary's pill-rolling device and an old steam engine used operate dentist's tools are among those on display. A variety of local gems and minerals, some dinosaur gizzard stones and Indian artifacts such as cooking stones, arrowheads and a buffalo horn are also there.

 

Outside, visitors can see more relics, among them a five-ton steam locomotive used in the Yellow Aster Mine in the 1900s and a 5-Stamp Mill (which had originally 10 stamps) to crush ore from the mine.

 

The Randsburg Museum, located at 156 Butte St., is open weekends and holidays (except for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day), from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For further information, call  (760) 374-2400.