The San Juan Mining Camp was established in the mid 1800s aside from the town of Nelson there was an upper camp and a lower one which consisted of little stone houses that 8 men at a time would sleep in. Imagine if you were a female surrounded by hundreds of male miners so you know rape occurred within the camp also.

The camp sits in the canyon and right above it all is the Buster Mine which has roughly four to five entrances surrounding the camp. The chute in the mine would be a host to ore which would drop right down into the camp for separation at the processing area which also was or still is the best look out point in El Dorado Canyon. 

Kernel Murphy owned one of the larger stone houses in the area where they would cook there food out front on the porch and sleep in a giant room. It was actually a couple with a little girl. Above that area alot of the civil war soldiers who escaped the war lived in one of the caves near the Buster mine. I suppose the camp was more like a small town where you had your upper class and lower class. 

John Moss was more like the curator of the camp or rather the politician sort of serving as like a mayor. His partner was Asian and that man knew how to process the gold and silver. They would crush the ore into a powder mix it with cyanide which then would stick to it. Then they could melt it down into bars selling it at the Nelson Landing. 

The camp today is being restored such as the stone structures, wood buildings, fire pit etc etc At one time a river ran through the camp and the small spring that sits on the hill looks the same as it did years ago. The watering hole was used as a source of drinking water. A cement dome was placed in the watering hole along with a filter that is almost like aluminum. It never runs dry and Boot told me it goes deep real quick then veers left down an underwater tunnel.  The water was tested and it turns out that its cleaner then Las Vegas drinking water. Along the watering hole cattails grow very rare for the desert.

The people in this canyon lived out there lives here some of them could not get jobs so they took a chance at striking it rich with gold. The mines never shut down due to a lack of gold they were abandoned due to better jobs in the American Economy. The Wilkins place for example a man and his sons lived in a cave....build a processing center outside of it...and mined up on the hill. It was a way of life making campfires and mining for minerals to sustain living.

John Moss was able to communicate with the Indians to get them to show him where the gold was. It sort of is a sad situation when you think about it that the Indians who once roamed this canyon were told to find the gold and give it up. In the thousands of years the gold meant not a thing to the Indians what mattered is survival.  John Moss with his oriental friend knew how to find gold when they stumbled upon it that is what started the great gold rush in the west which very few people even knew about. So you can see why this area was so relevant for us to visit in the Wild West. It was the site of one of the first gold rushes in America.

Today the camp is being restored and tours are given of the Buster Mine which overlooks the camp, the restored cabins and other sites like the watering hole. Its is a very hard area to even get to without a horse or 4x4 truck so we are very proud to have the opportunity to get an investigation of this location. It is haunted and yes ghost photos from other people have been captured here especially near the old firepit area.

We want to thank Boot who took the time to bring us out here I can see why he loves the area so much its peaceful no drama and untainted for nature to consume what once was.

© By

Lord Rick
 

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