THOUSANDS of tourists travelling between Death Valley and the Sierra Nevada Mountains stop off at the ghost town which is Swansea and peer at it. The site's popularity is not simply due to American enthusiasm for anything touching 100 years old. Without Swansea and its neighbouring mines, Los Angeles would never have been the city it is today. Its smelter was installed to work some of the 4.5 million ounces of silver ore being mined from Cerro Gordo, 37 miles of prolific tunnels 10 miles away, which became California's greatest silver producer.
After smelting, the area's silver bullion was taken to Los Angeles. The then struggling pueblo of less than 4,000 residents, found instant prosperity.
On February 2, 1872, the Los Angeles News declared: "To this city Cerro Gordo trade is invaluable. What Los Angeles now is, is mainly due to it. It is the silver cord that binds our present existence. Should it be unfortunately severed, we would inevitably collapse."
Swansea's first of two smelters, built in 1869 at an estimated cost of $25,000, was owned by the Owens Lake Silver-Lead Company. At its peak it processed 150 80lb bars of silver ore a day.
Its community of 2,200 inhabitants, which grew up around it, took the name Swansea from one of the final destinations of the silver where it was refined.
The company initially processed ore from just one mine, the Santa Maria. However, when it also acquired controlling stock in the San Felipe Mine an acrimonious feud started between it and its rival, the Union Mining Company, which controlled much of Cerro Gordo and used its own smelters.
In a move designed to run his competitors out of business Mortimer Belshaw of the Union Mining Company, who owned the only road up to the mines at Cerro Gordo, discontinued repairs and raised toll charges. Ore to be processed by the Owens Lake Company at Swansea was soon being transported down the dangerously eroded road in wagons only half-loaded.
Belshaw, who also used the road, probably found his load - bullion already processed at his smelters on the hill - easier to transport down the 5,000ft incline.
Not only were Owens Lake Company shipments delayed, but also those of the independent freighters and mine owners who had ore processed at the Swansea smelter.
The firm built their own road, but the rugged terrain forced it to pass through the ravine where Belshaw's tollhouse sat, meaning the payments to their rival continued.
In early 1872 James Brady, supervisor of the smelter operations at Swansea, and a DH Ferguson financed and began building a steamboat that would transport Cerro Gordo's bullion from Swansea to the southern end of Owens Lake. This would save three to five days of travel and some 40 to 50 miles of bad roads around the upper end of the lake.
A warf was built at Swansea. Meanwhile, the firm was also expanding its operation at Cerro Gordo, Spanish for Fat Hill. In March of that year a major earthquake split the floor of Owens Valley. While Cerro Gordo experienced only minor damage, the two furnaces at Swansea's smelter down in the valley were razed. The company lost six months of production during the repairs.
When the Swansea steamboat eventually went out of service, Belshaw got ownership of it and built a new landing six miles south of the community, now the town of Keeler.
It was a crippling blow. Swansea was no longer the terminus of one of the main roads to Cerro Gordo, nor was it the port from which all of Cerro Gordo's bullion was shipped. Gradually residents and businesses moved to the new landing.
By early 1874 the Owens Lake Silver Lead Company was in financial trouble. In March stockholders foreclosed on a $98,000 mortgage and the company suspended the smelter operation.
Four months later a cloudburst sent a torrent of water, rocks and sand down the mountainside, burying Swansea, then deserted, under several feet of debris.
But by then the once bustling community was only a memory.
This article originally appeared in Planet Swansea which was published by the South Wales Evening Post.
After smelting, the area's silver bullion was taken to Los Angeles. The then struggling pueblo of less than 4,000 residents, found instant prosperity.
On February 2, 1872, the Los Angeles News declared: "To this city Cerro Gordo trade is invaluable. What Los Angeles now is, is mainly due to it. It is the silver cord that binds our present existence. Should it be unfortunately severed, we would inevitably collapse."
Swansea's first of two smelters, built in 1869 at an estimated cost of $25,000, was owned by the Owens Lake Silver-Lead Company. At its peak it processed 150 80lb bars of silver ore a day.
Its community of 2,200 inhabitants, which grew up around it, took the name Swansea from one of the final destinations of the silver where it was refined.
The company initially processed ore from just one mine, the Santa Maria. However, when it also acquired controlling stock in the San Felipe Mine an acrimonious feud started between it and its rival, the Union Mining Company, which controlled much of Cerro Gordo and used its own smelters.
In a move designed to run his competitors out of business Mortimer Belshaw of the Union Mining Company, who owned the only road up to the mines at Cerro Gordo, discontinued repairs and raised toll charges. Ore to be processed by the Owens Lake Company at Swansea was soon being transported down the dangerously eroded road in wagons only half-loaded.
Belshaw, who also used the road, probably found his load - bullion already processed at his smelters on the hill - easier to transport down the 5,000ft incline.
Not only were Owens Lake Company shipments delayed, but also those of the independent freighters and mine owners who had ore processed at the Swansea smelter.
The firm built their own road, but the rugged terrain forced it to pass through the ravine where Belshaw's tollhouse sat, meaning the payments to their rival continued.
In early 1872 James Brady, supervisor of the smelter operations at Swansea, and a DH Ferguson financed and began building a steamboat that would transport Cerro Gordo's bullion from Swansea to the southern end of Owens Lake. This would save three to five days of travel and some 40 to 50 miles of bad roads around the upper end of the lake.
A warf was built at Swansea. Meanwhile, the firm was also expanding its operation at Cerro Gordo, Spanish for Fat Hill. In March of that year a major earthquake split the floor of Owens Valley. While Cerro Gordo experienced only minor damage, the two furnaces at Swansea's smelter down in the valley were razed. The company lost six months of production during the repairs.
When the Swansea steamboat eventually went out of service, Belshaw got ownership of it and built a new landing six miles south of the community, now the town of Keeler.
It was a crippling blow. Swansea was no longer the terminus of one of the main roads to Cerro Gordo, nor was it the port from which all of Cerro Gordo's bullion was shipped. Gradually residents and businesses moved to the new landing.
By early 1874 the Owens Lake Silver Lead Company was in financial trouble. In March stockholders foreclosed on a $98,000 mortgage and the company suspended the smelter operation.
Four months later a cloudburst sent a torrent of water, rocks and sand down the mountainside, burying Swansea, then deserted, under several feet of debris.
But by then the once bustling community was only a memory.
This article originally appeared in Planet Swansea which was published by the South Wales Evening Post.
James Brady's house in Swansea.
A mustang by the old stage post.
An abandoned car in the desert heat.
