I had a very busy day in Death Valley exploring as many ghost towns I could get in one day. Ballarat and other well-known ones were seen last year. so this time I decided to go off the main path. In the end of the day I had ambitious plan to see Skidoo, Aguereberry Camp and Eureka Mine. It was March, so daylight was not as long as I would like. So I had last 30 min of the daylight and then some unknown amount of dusk time. Visited Skidoo first and then rushed to Aguereberry Camp. Got there just in time to make some photos after the sun went down, but found myself still wondering the hills when it became dark. really dark. I can say it was the spookiest moment in all my ghost towns exploration, as there were no people around. The last photo in this post shows the bright moon and it appears much less dark than I remember it was around.
History of the place
Seems like there is some confusion about this place - I first took these buildings as the ghost town of Harrisburg, but later learned that Harrisburg was just the tent camp to the side of the Eureka mine and there were any remaining structures there. This place appeared due to the two famous prospectors - Shorty Harris and Pete Aguerreberry. In 1905, Harris was traveling with Pete Aguerreberry and the two were making their way over the Panamint Range to the mining outpost of Ballarat. Aguerreberry had come to the United States from France in 1890, and would become very known for his work in this area.
Frank “Shorty” Harris. Courtesy of the Eastern California Museum.
Pete Aguerreberry
The two prospectors discovered gold-bearing ore on a hill adjacent to the flat would become the Harrisburg town site. Harris and Aguerreberry staked six claims each. Pete won a legal battle over the Eureka mine and took control of the it in 1909. It is said that the mine kept Pete making money for 40 years and earned $175,000 from the mine.
Harrisburg, 1900s
Pete’s Aguerreberry camp existed for 40 years and the structures still can be explored. The camp includes a two-storey residential building, still containing such domestic items as a stove, fridge, tables, cupboards and bed, plus various smaller structures.
Though he worked his claim for 40 years, he never got rich from it. In fact, he often was required to grubstake prospectors and take odd jobs from others just to survive. He is perhaps best known for a road that he built to a point that he called “The Great View” of Death Valley, where he would often take visitors. The view is now called Aguereberry Point in honor of Pete.
Pete worked at the mine from 1907 until the early 1930’s when his health was failing him. Except for some help from his nephew in his later years, the Eureka mine was built and worked by Pete alone. Pete died on Nov. 23, 1945 and he is buried in Lone Pine, California.
Aguereberry camp
Eureka Mine
