As
Ivanpah started to die, Rosalie sprang to life because of discovery of
rich copper ore up at the Copper World Mine. Ore at the Copper World Mine
was first discovered back in the mid 1800's but, didn't take off till the
turn of the century when in 1898 a mill with a 50 ton furnace was built at
Rosalie.
In 1899 the post office was moved from Ivanpah to Rosalie and the
town sprang to life. The mining camp featured the usual assay office,
boarding house, offices, and mess hall. No evidence of a Starbucks was
ever found here though.
The miners here were ingenious, with the shortage of wood in
the desert, the miners built dugouts to live in just under a tufa layer
which became the ceilings of the dugouts. We found well over 20 of these
miners dugouts.
Activity began to calm down, and in 1903 the post office was moved to the train station on
Ivanpah dry lake.
Because of the demand for copper in WWI, the camp sprang to life
again, and a blast furnace was built here in 1916. The Copper World Mine
and the mill site here finally closed down after the war ended in 1918.
Rosalie also served as the home of the Yates Ranch from 1894 till
1952.
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