Jawbone Canyon in California’s Mojave Desert is a protected canyon landscape that blends natural scenery, mining history, water infrastructure, and recreation. Settled by Europeans around 1860 and named for its jaw-like shape, it became a trade route into the Piute Mountains and a mining district during the Kern River gold rush. Early mines, especially the St. John and Gwynn operations, produced substantial amounts of gold, and mining later shifted toward rhyolite and antimony into the 1940s. The canyon also carries the Los Angeles Aqueduct’s largest sag pipe, the Jawbone Siphon, and remains a popular but carefully managed off-road recreation area.