San Bernardino County:
Ord Mountains-Fry Mountains
Sandie Lochery located the first mining claims in the Ord Mountains in 1876, naming them the Ord Group. In the late 1880s, most of the holdings were sold to J. L. Osborne of
Daggett. From
1908 to 1909, the Hansen brother mined about 500 tons of gold and silver ore. Copper was mined here during World War I. From 1917 to 1925, the St. Joseph Lead Company leased the claims, and in 1942 copper again was mined from here.
In the East Ord Mountains, the Grandview Mine was worked in the early 1930s when a
three-stamp mill
and blacksmith shop stood on the property. The Ord Belt near the Grandview was worked in the 1920s, at which time a twenty-stamp mill was to be erected at the mine, part of which was moved onto the property but never erected.
There are numerous small mines in the Fry Mountains, including the Elsie, which was first active in the early 1900s and later in 1935 and 1940. Ore from the Gold Peak was milled at Old Woman Springs in 1906 and later at a mill 4 miles away. The Camp Rock Mine was a placer mine. Dry washers were used prior to 1932 when a washing and screening plant was installed.
The Ord Mountains (wherein this district lies) were named after Lt. E. 0. C. Ord, who surveyed the Los Angeles, Channel Islands, and San Bernardino areas in 1849. Ord later became a Civil War general. He was rumored to be a grandson of King George IV of England. While on the Mojave, he led cavalrymen out of Camp Cady to fight Indians, and he and his squadron were surrounded and mauled in some hills between Lucerne and Hesperia. This resulted in the naming of the Ord Mountains.
