Wall Street Mill
Wall Street Mill is a former factory in San Bernardino County that was specifically built to crush and process gold ore from nearby mines. The structure is made of wood and stone and still retains most of its original machinery, including a stamp mill with two heavy stamps that broke apart rock.
The stamp mill was built in 1931 and belonged to a later phase of California gold mining, long after the major gold rush of the 1800s. It was repaired and updated several times over the decades until operations stopped, and it was eventually added to the National Register of Historic Places.
The mill takes its name from Wall Street in New York, reflecting how even small desert mining communities in California connected to larger economic trends. The site shows how local workers depended on extracting resources and how this work shaped their daily lives and the surrounding area.
The site is accessible by car and located near Twentynine Palms in desert terrain, not far from Joshua Tree National Park. Visitors should wear sturdy footwear and stick to marked paths, as the old structure is fragile and the surroundings feature rough desert ground.
The stamp mill is the only functioning preserved mill of its kind in the area and retains nearly all of its original machinery and parts. This completeness allows visitors to understand how the equipment actually worked and imagine how workers daily extracted gold from stone.
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