Photo Essay: Secret Site of the 'Mystery Mine' Mill in the Verdugo Mountains—Revealed!

Back in 2016, I'd taken a hike up Hostetter Fire Road with the Historical Society of the Crescenta Valley to view the remains of a former graphite mine operation up in the Verdugo Mountains of Los Angeles.  

But there wasn't actually that much left of the former Hostetter Mine to see up the hill. 

There was, however, a significant mill site that remained down the hill—only it was so hidden in the underbrush and the overgrowth, I couldn't get to it after lagging too far behind the group. 

Five years later, I had another chance to go see it, after some volunteers had bushwhacked their way through and tried to re-establish a trail to it. 

The Hills Have Mines

There's not much in the Los Angeles area that you can take at face value. You have to dig a little deeper.



Case in point: Hostetter Fire Road, open only to hikers, dogs, and bicyclists.



It may look like any other emergency access road in the Verdugo Mountains...



...overlooking the 210 freeway and Verdugo Golf Course (including the site of the former Tuna Canyon Detention Station)...

...but it has secrets, ones you can only discover if you know where to look.



And after climbing a bit from the La Tuna Canyon trailhead and where La Tuna Canyon Road splits off, you might find some clues hiding in the brush.



Fortunately, I was with the Historical Society of the Crescenta Valley—including some who'd already explored the terrain and figured a few things out.



What we were looking at was some of all that remains of the former Hostetter Mine, including some intact fragments of rails that had once transported ore carts and a wheel of the former funicular, made of solid cast iron. 



An 1891 article from the Los Angeles Times (a printout of which was distributed on our hike) bemoans how Southern California had neglected its mineral resources, despite gold having been first discovered in LA County, and switched all its attention to horticultural resources (presumably, citrus orchards and the like).



The singular exception, of course, was oil.



Of course, you have to acknowledge the challenge of mining SoCal's rugged terrain, which often is so overgrown it has to be cleared first and doesn't have enough water to support mining operations.



With sharp drop-offs making every steep canyon potentially deadly, you really can't blame mining companies for not trying that hard.



Some hikers can't even make it.



But some prospectors did, indeed, try—and a "practically inexhaustible" deposit of graphite was discovered in the Verdugos.



No trace of an actual mine shaft has yet been found in the canyons up there, after the paving gives way to dirt (and what looks like a creekbed).



But there are definite remnants of an industrial operation.



The mine is thought to have closed in the 1920s—it was still operating sometime in the 19-teens.



But by the 1960s, the presence of a graphite mine in the area was nothing more than a "rumor."



Back then, there was a piece of it hiding in plain sight...



...a concrete bunker along Cedar Bend Edison Road, once fully visible from the freeway...

...but now completely consumed and obscured by overgrowth.



According to mining historian Xavier Drenfold, the concrete-and-steel structure was the base of the mill...



...where you can find the old loading area, ore chutes, and even some more railroad track used as rebar.



Still, a lot of questions remain unanswered. But that, too, is typical of Southern California.

Local historian Mike Lawler tells this story better than I do. See his article "More Info on the Mystery Mine of the Verdugos" from the Crescenta Valley Weekly.

Related Posts:
Photo Essay: Verdugo Mountains Open Space Preserve, Along Edison Road
Lost in the Mountains
Becoming Californian
Something's Got to Give

Photo Essay: Verdugo Mountains Open Space Preserve, Along Edison Road

I haven't been doing much hiking lately. I've been too exhausted, too exasperated, too cold, and trying too hard to cram too much into my days off.

But when I was already in the Crescenta Valley on Saturday morning and was faced with what I was going to do next, I couldn't resist the nearby Verdugo Mountains. I was going hiking.

After all, the Verdugos house so many delights: from the weird unidentified ruins of Brand Park to the old campgrounds of Stough Canyon, you never know what you might find up there in that anomalous patch of mountains between the Valley and the Angeles National Forest.

In the case of the Verdugo Mountains Open Space Preserve in Glendale, near the Beaudry fire road, I found nothing.

And nothing - or, rather, peace and quiet, and no fellow hikers - was exactly what I was looking for.



The loop trail starts on another paved fire road, in this case Edison Road...



...which you follow until the pavement ends...



...and then you keep following it, first up into the mountains...



...and then down...



...the trail intermingling with power lines that are as populous on this trail as at the top of the Beaudry trail.



It's still early in the season, so while there was new green growth underfoot, the wildflowers haven't really sprouted yet.



The loop trail then takes you outside of the Open Space boundary (as marked by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy signs)...



...through a grove...





...and along Edison Road to some private property....



...whose private road is the only access point to the preserve from that location.



The private road soon turns public, and Edison Road gives way to Eilinita, a public avenue that soon intersects with Emanuel Drive...



...which takes you back to Edison Road and back into the open space.



Although the trail starts out flat...



...past a graffitied metal pipe...



...you soon have to make up for the loss of elevation on the way down, and start climbing back up.



The city of Glendale opens up below...



...as the power lines come back into view...



...and the dusty trail rejoins with the paved fire road...



...and returns you to the gate at your starting point.



It only took about an hour to do the loop, which is as long as the Runyon Canyon loop takes, without all the people and the poop.

And on a bright, sunny, warm February day, I was glad to be in LA, in California, up in the mountains, wiping sweat from my brow.

Photo Essay: Stough Canyon & Old Youth Campground

It's amazing how few people have ever heard of - much less been to - the Verdugo Mountains.

Hasn't anyone who lives here ever looked at a map?

When people ask me where I like to hike, after I scoff at the suggestion of Runyon, I rattle off some of my favorite trails in the San Gabriel mountains, Griffith Park, the Verdugos -

"Where's that?"

Doesn't anyone who lives here ever go to Burbank or Glendale?



One of the reasons I love the Verdugos so much is that they're full of relics and ruins.



So upon my first visit to Stough Canyon, with only a couple hours left in the day and threatening skies overhead, I hiked only a short distance into the canyon...





...past wildflowers...





...scenic overlooks...



...with a view of the nearby 5 Freeway [Ed: I guess this is actually the 210?]...



...and lots of spring greenery.



I took a diversion for my return path to my car along the Old Youth Campground Loop trail...



...a single-track hiking-only trail...





...through some pretty thick overgrowth...



...with hopes of finding something that someone might have left behind.



There is one foundation left from the Old Youth Campground, a Boy Scout camp built in the mid-20th century, and vandalized after its closure, burning down to few remains...



...like a chimney...




...plus another graffitied box looming from the hill above.




You can see why it would have been such a good location for a Boy Scout camp...



...because you're so close, yet so high, on a clear day you can see the whole city below.

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