Mine/Quarry

[edssds]

Could someone give me the history of the mine/quarry area off of Hwy2 and Desert Front Road.  It never fails, when friends come up to visit I am asked,

"what is that "white" place to the west of the 2?"
"what did they mine?"
"how long ago?"
"what is the name of the area?"
"do they still mine there?  why not?"

I can only say, I don't have a clue.   I would like to be able to answer these questions. 

[RobertW]

All I know is they were actively mining it in the 60's.  I believe it is a "dolomite" quarry, as dolomite is all over the place in that area.  There were also dolomite quarries in Horse Canyon and Lone Pine Canyon near Helicopter Hill.

[Wrightwood]

Here's a topic that Terry did on local mines:

http://www.wrightwoodcalif.com/forum/index.php?topic=15155.0

[kawasaki_girl]

I was wondering about that quarry off desert front road, too... its enormous! would there be info about it in the Wrightwood museum? The other topic only covered the Lone Pine mine area.

[soelofarm]

I believe the quarry off Desert Front mined marble. If you hike up to the cutaway, you can see where their marble deposits ran thin. I have heard that much of that marble was hauled down the hill. I wonder if the marble in some of the older buildings in San Bernardino came from Wrightwood? My husband and I have taken our boys hiking up there. Just cruise up the access road from Desert Front. It's easy hiking and a sweet view when you get there.

[Nolena]

Apparently, from what I've heard, the mine owner was supposed to return the land to it's natural state after using it, and did not.
This is from my husband who took crews up there to replant native vegetation (which wasn't very successful).