Lemoigne Mine

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People came to California from all over the world after gold was discovered in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Dreams of striking it rich propelled them to every corner of the newly formed state. But gold was not the only reason to come west. In 1882, a young Parisian chemist named Jean Le Moigne traveled from Paris to Death Valley to help a friend involved in a borax mining venture - Eagle Borax Works. In the book "Death Valley to Yosemite: Frontier Mining Camps & Ghost Towns," published by Spotted Dog Press, author L. Burr Belden describes the scene:

"Jean was called from Paris by his fellow countryman Isadore Daunet, who headed Death Valley's first borax enterprise, Eagle Borax, in 1882 - a year before William Tell Coleman's larger Harmony Borax started near Furnace Creek. Daunet had trouble refining his cottonball and sent for Jean, the young chemist son of old country friends. Between the time Daunet offered Jean a job, and the time of his arrival, the little Eagle Borax plant went belly-up. A heartbroken Daunet, took his own life...

Death Valley was a far different land than Jean Le Moigne had expected. Yet, despite what must have been an initial forbidding picture, he stayed for 40 years. Along with the news of Daunet's death, Le Moigne learned that Eagle Borax was without funds. His trip to Death Valley from France was made on advanced funds - and, there was no money for a return trip. He instead turned prospector. The change from brilliant university graduate to "desert rat" was so complete that Le Moigne soon came to avoid all of the trappings of civilization, including companionship. He also developed quite a disdain for money. In the 1890's, he was known to have expressed a desire to once again visit France, but a decade later, after he had profitably sold a mine or two, Le Moigne did not want to leave his beloved desert.

Throughout the 1910-20 decade, Le Moigne lived in a rock cabin in the Cottonwood Mountains. The cabin location was in a canyon which now appropriately bears the name "LeMoigne." A quarter mile upstream from the cabin was Jean's silver mine, the one he called his "bank." The mine was a small one, but consisted of a ledge of almost pure silver. He knew the ledge would give out if worked regularly. He did not even sink a shaft - but worked it from a trench, which with depth, he stooped, preferring to handle waste rock twice rather than to install machinery which might, tempt him to overdraw the bank."

www.spotteddogpress.com/deathvalley.htm

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From Mines and Mineral Deposits in Death Valley National Monument, California, 1976:

The Lemoigne mine is at about 5000 feet elevation in the Panamint Range west of Stovepipe Wells. The only access to this underground mine is by the narrow and steep Lemoigne Canyon road. This lead-zinc-silver deposit was discovered in 1918 by John Lemoigne. Ore was produced at the mine in 1925, 1927, and 1947. Total production from the mine consists of about 128 ounces of gold, 2,398 ounces of silver, 372,827 pounds of lead, and 52,246 pounds of zinc. The value of these metals at January 1976 prices would be about $116,000. Activity at the Lemoigne mine was renewed in 1974. In December 1975, the mine operator, Harold Pischel, was drifting into a previously unworked hillside, exploring for sulfide ore. Material, which was reported by Pischel to carry 14 ounces of silver per ton, was being stockpiled at the entrance of the adit.

The most common rock exposed in the Lemoigne mine area is grey, faulted and broken Paelozoic dolomite. Base metal and silver mineralization consists of sulfide mineral replacement of carbonate rocks. Numerous shear zones are exposed in the workings, and iron stains and clay-rich slickensides are common. Some oxidized sulfide ore is present, but it occurs sporadically. The low-grade ore mined and stockpiled by Pischel was being removed from a 5-foot-wide hydrothermically altered zone between two parallel faults that trend N 25° E and dip about 45° NW. In December 1975, the stope was about 25 feet long, 7 feet high, and 7 feet wide. Reddish-brown oxidized silver-bearing carbonate rock was exposed in the face, back, and floor of the stope.


An in-depth history is located here:
www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/deva/section3b2z.ht...