Abandoned California: King Solomon Mine

Some of the richest gold strikes in California history were found in the areas of Randsburg and Johannesburg, located in the Mojave Desert section of Kern County. The desert is a graveyard of abandoned mines, shafts, pits and tailing dumps. Fortunately, some of these historic old mines are still standing, providing us with a rare and valuable glimpse into the world of those who sought to uncover the hidden treasure of gold in the earth. Few got rich and many died paupers in the search for the shiny yellow mineral, yet the burning fever to hit that big strike kept luring men and women to California from all points of the globe. It was a time of all or nothing. The King Solomon Mine is one of those relics of another era still standing, rising from the mountain and casting its long shadow over the debris and abandoned junk cluttering the ground around it. It sits quiet, a sentinel in the desert, waiting in hope for the day when it will come to life again for modern-day gold hunters.