Eagle Mountain (01-28)

Eagle Mountain is east of the Joshua Tree NP entrance and north of Desert Center -- Eagle Mountain is a modern day version of a 'ghost town' (abandoned town). The mountain itself was rich in iron ore and thus was mined heavily by Kaiser Steel. To accommodate workers for the mine, Kaiser built a company town which was occupied by mine workers from the late 1940's until the mines closed in the early 1980's. After the mine's closed, the town was briefly abandoned but then reopened in the mid 80's when a private prison firm took control of parts of it. The private prison was closed by the state in the early 2000's and the town is reverting back to being abandoned. At the time we visited in 2004, the elementary school appeared to be continuing to offer classes but the town itself was fenced off. This is the playground on the campus of the elementary school. (Photo taken by a friend and used with his permission.)
Update 3/17/2014: Per the website listed below, the school has two multi-grade classrooms used for local area children and provides grades k-8, high school students are bussed to Blythe.
www.dcusd-ca.schoolloop.com