Reymert Mine and town sight. 02-23-15

Yesterday morning we woke to cloudy skies; it looked like it could rain even though the forecast didn’t call for rain.

We met the Canadians at the 76 station in Florence at around 10:00.
After topping off the gas tank in the jeep we headed north on 79 to Florence Junction where we turned east on 60 and drove for a about 3 miles to the turnoff for Mineral Mountain Road. We stopped at the ATV staging area there and reset the odometer so we could follow the directions in our off road book to Reymert Mine.
We headed down the trail to the south under cloudy sky’s.

 

We followed the directions in our book and made the correct turns. Eventually we came to the first road side attraction. A place called the Sugar Shack. It was on a side road to the south of the main Reymert trail.

The sugar shack is a small stone cabin built into the hill side.

The cabin is in surprisingly good shape with a solid front door.

 

Out front some one has built a barbeque.

Unfortunately there is graffiti all over the place.

 

Inside there is a refrigerator built into the back wall.

 

Inside the fridge we found some canned food and condiments.

 

There is also a table and some shelves.

Unfortunately everything is covered with mouse poop and nest material.

In the wash behind the cabin we saw a spring box with a little water dripping out of the pipe.

We left the sugar shack and continued our ride to Rymert. As we were driving along the trail we came to a piece of cow lying on the side of the road.

 

It looked like the cow had died some time ago and had been mostly consumed by scavengers and ant’s. As always I looked around for the scull. I was about to give up when I found it behind a bush. Unfortunately some one had gotten the horns but the cores were still intact.

The scull was still a bit fresh and smelly so I mounted it to the front of the jeep instead of putting it inside.

We really got some strange looks when we got back to town with the head strapped to the jeep.

After getting the head affixed to the jeep we continued toward Rymert.

Some where we missed the turnoff and ended up in a really rough wash.

Eventually we decided that we were on the wrong trail and turned around. Turning around in this narrow wash was a little tough. I ended up driving to the end of the wash and up a steep hill where I found a wide enough spot. Patti got out to take pictures.

You can see the rest of the guys working to get turned around down in the wash.

 

Once I got turned around on the hill I stopped to let Patti get in the jeep but she was afraid that we would turn over.

 

She decided to walk down the hill. That turned out to be a bad decision as she fell down in the rocks and skinned herself up quite a bit.

She has a lot more bruises and scratches that aren’t in that picture and is hurting this morning.

After we got turned around we stopped for lunch at a wide area along the trail.

 

After lunch we went further down the trail and found the turnoff to Reymert. I really don’t understand how we missed it the first time.

Reymert was founded in 1876 by J.D. Reymert who discovered a silver vain in the area.
In 1890 the town had an estimated population of 254 people. Eventually the vain ran out and by the 1960’s the last residence left. In the 1970’s the buildings in the town were bulldoze so there isn’t much left except the crumbling ruins of the smelter.

Here are a couple pictures of the smelter.

We wandered around the smelter taking lots of pictures.

In a wash below the smelter I noticed a large water trough.

 

There were some pipes coming down the wash so I followed them  to see where they came from.

After about a hundred yards I came to a fairly productive spring.

Unfortunately no one has been taking care of the spring tap so the water was just flowing on top of the ground. Even so, the cows were able to use it so I guess that is all that counts.

After looking around the area for a while we headed back to Mineral Mountain Road and drove back to highway 60 where we headed for Florence. We stopped at Suzanne and Roy’s for a cold one.

It was another fun day in the desert except for Patti’s fall.

On the way out Patti took a picture of this Saguaro. It looks like the Cardon cactus which is related to the Saguaros but is native to Baja California and the coastal regions of the state of Sonora Mexico.  

I’m not sure but this cactus sure fits the description of the Cardon.