San Bernardino County:
Baghdad-Chase Mine
About 1898 John Suter, a roadmaster for the Santa Fe, headed into the hills south of Ludlow looking for water. Instead of water, he discovered gold, and by 1900 John Suter and Company employed a dozen men at his mine. In December, 1901, the first ore was shipped to the Randsburg Company mill at Barstow, which yielded excellent returns. Early in 1902 the Baghdad Mining Company acquired the claims and a standard gauge railroad was laid from Ludlow to the mines. By November, Camp Rochester, at the terminus of the Ludlow Southern Railroad, had telephone service, and a contract had been let for construction of “forty cottages of three, four and five rooms.” 221Between 1904 and 1910, $4,500,000 in gold was mined from the Baghdad area and treated in the mills in Barstow. The Pacific Mines Corporation operated the property for the next 6 years, with the ore milled at Clarkdale, Arizona. The railroad was torn up in the summer of 1935, after laying neglected for many years. However, the mine was active continuously from 1940 until the early 1950s. 222
Although there was a substantial camp at one time, by October, 1971, it had completely vanished. Some of the buildings lay totally collapsed in a heap. In 1971 the Baghdad-Chase Company acquired the property and by 1975 had mined 14,000 tons of ore from an open pit. This ore was trucked to the huge mill at Vanderbilt where it was treated in three months. 223
Baghdad-Chase