Nantan

In the declining years of Ivanpah during the 1880s, there was at least one mine, the Cambria, about 6 miles south of Ivanpah, that brought encouraging news. The Cambria was a gold and silver mine discovered sometime before the spring of 1880 by “Messrs. Morgan and Orr” and was “turning out all that could be desired” that spring. In 1882 the mine was sold to William A. McFarlane. McFarlane and S. A. Barrett, in the year 1885, aggressively began developing the mine. They leased the “Old Ivanpah Consolidated Mill at Ivanpah” that May. During the last week of the month, “a number of miners and woodchoppers” left Providence for the Cambria Mine. 138

The Calico Print, on June 3, announced the “Mescal mining camp has commenced to boom. About 20 pack animals of John Domingo are making daily trips from the Cambria mines to the mill at Ivanpah.” The mill was started up on Wednesday morning June 17, 1885. Seven or eight men were employed at the mine. By the middle of July, the first two bars of bullion worth $2,720 were shipped by Wells, Fargo and Co. 139

In 1886 the property was bonded to a Los Angeles company that erected a ten-stamp mill. They began driving a new tunnel 125 feet below the old one, and a 350-yard rail tram connected the mines with the road below. In 1890 it was reported “a ten-stamp mill is kept running.” But this probably closed down shortly after. Nearby, the townsite of Nantan sprang up and had U. S. Postal service from March, 1887, to December, 1890. A small amount of silver ore was shipped in 1908 and 1909, and a carload in 1915 yielded 2,000 ounces of silver and 3 1/2 ounces of gold. 140