Warm Spring Camp (3293)

"The waters of Warm Spring created an oasis that has long attracted human activity. Panamint Shoshone had their winter camp at the springs. Tribal chief Panamint Tom built a ranch here in the late 1880s, with crops and an orchard of 150 fruit trees. In the spring of 1897, a violent flash flood destroyed the ranch.

"Warm Springs became a home base for miners and prospectors. This mining camp was established in the 1930s by Louise Grantham, who located and mined eleven talc claims here with the help of prospector Ernest Huhn.

"World War II and the postwar era increased the demand for talc, and the Warm Spring Canyon mines boomed. They were among the most profitable in Death Valley. After many ownership changes the talc mines closed. In 1989 the Conservation Foundation purchased them and donated them to the National Park Service in 1992."