Wall Street Mill, Joshua Tree CA
• 5-star hike
• 2 mile part-loop
• Easy | Gain 90 feet
• Twentynine Palms, CA | Joshua Tree
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The abandoned stamp mill at trail's end is mostly still intact.
We'd recommend the trail to Wall Street Mill as the best short trail in the park. Take a picturesque stroll between rocky outcroppings along the flat desert floor, passing historic ruins of mans' attempts to live in and off this arid landscape.
The one mile out-and-back trail leads you past a wind-pump, an argument leading to a shoot-out, and ultimately to a small preserved depression-era stamp mill. Local prospectors would commission Bill Keys' stamp mill to crush and grind their rocks into a slurry using a two-step process, so it can be separated into gold and mine tailings.
On the route you'll happen across a modern metal replacement for a stone monument that was originally placed here and is now in the Joshua Tree park museum. The monument was placed in this location by the mill owner Bill Keys as a warning, after an altercation and shooting over a property dispute. The law sentenced Keys to five years imprisonment but later received a full pardon.
⬤ 5★ Wall Street Mill
AllTrails · GPX File · Directions GPX? |
At the mill site you can also check out other historic equipment and a motor vehicle rotting away in the desert sun. More derelicts can be found on your return trip just to the north of the main trail - we've included a detour to these in our trail map. While you're out here in the desert, keep an eye out for wild bighorn sheep that roam the area.
This is a very popular hike, so we'd suggest making it a first priority in the park. We'd also recommend combining this with the Barker Dam Nature Trail hike that leads off from the same parking lot.
A metal monument to a desert showdown.
Ruins of a desert dwelling.
Abandoned mining equipment from the depression era.
Workings of the stamp mill. From the park's interpretive sign.
Tangents:
• Official: Joshua Tree National Park
• AllTrails Public: Wall Street Mill
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