| Kearsarge Kearsarge City |
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| — Former settlement — | |
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Kearsarge
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| Coordinates: | |
| Country | United States |
| State | California |
| County | Inyo County |
| Elevation | 8,825 ft (2,690 m) |
Kearsarge or Kearsarge City is a former settlement in Inyo County, California. It was located high up on the east slope of the Sierra Nevada mountains 8 miles (13 km) west of the modern-day town of Independence, California. Kearsarge was the name of the Mining District and the mining camp, located just below the 12,621 ft (3,847 m) high granite Kearsarge Peak and east of the Kearsarge Pass. Kearsarge was named after the Union man-of-war U.S.S. Kearsarge, which had recently sunk the Confederate ship, CSS Alabama, off the coast of France.
On the side of the then unnamed mountain in the fall of 1864 five woodcutters discovered a vein of rich silver and gold ore. The men staked their claims to Kearsarge, Silver Sprout, and Virginia Mines, and dug and shipped four tons of ore to a mill in Nevada, receiving $900 a ton. The news of location of their mine leaked out, and the Kearsarge Mining District and mining camp of the same name was established high up on the slope of the mountain below the mines.
Several mine investors, purchased the three main silver claims, forming the Kearsarge Mining Company. These new owners drove a 50 ft (15 m) tunnel into the southeast side of the mountain, by August 1865, reaching $650+ per ton ore.
After a winter of heavy snows, on the afternoon of March 1st, 1866 an avalanche swept away most of the town and some of the population, killing the wife of the mine foreman and injuring several men. [1] A camp was relocated to a safer site nearby but most of the towns population left, except the miners who continued to operate the mines and a mill that was installed that summer. The Rex Montis mine, which became the principal gold source in the District, was worked on a large scale from 1875 to 1883.[2]
Kearsarge was mostly abandoned by 1888, the mill removed and with little else remaining, but it was occupied on and off as attempts were later made to revive the mines with little success.[3] [4] [5]