Journigan’s Mill

Shortly after passage of the 1934 Gold Reserve Act raised the price of gold from $20 to $35 an ounce, Roy Journigan acquired this mill site in Emigrant Canyon and pursued a strategy of operating a custom mill for local mines so that both he and the mine owners could profit by hauling higher-grade ore to smelters and reducing transportation costs. By securing water rights to four local springs to the southwest and piping the water to the mill, he increased the mill's capacity and his profit margin. In 1939, Journigan sold the mill, and it continued operating under several different owners until the late 1960s. Concrete footings, cyanide tanks, and foundations for the mill and several houses are the remaining traces of what was one of the largest mill operations in the park between 1930 and 1950, reflecting the ingenuity needed to succeed in remote desert areas.

California · United States