{{Use American English|date=June 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2023}} {{More footnotes needed|date=April 2021}} {{Infobox settlement | name = Hart | official_name = | settlement_type = Ghost town | nickname = | motto = <!-- Images --> | image_skyline = | imagesize = | image_caption = | image_flag = | image_seal = <!-- Maps --> | pushpin_map = USA California#USA | pushpin_label_position = left<!-- the position of the pushpin label: left, right, top, bottom, none --> | pushpin_map_caption = Location within the state of California | pushpin_mapsize = | image_map = | map_caption = Location within the Mojave Desert, in San Bernardino County.
<!-- Location -->| subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = United States | subdivision_type1 = State | subdivision_name1 = California | subdivision_type2 = County | subdivision_name2 = San Bernardino | subdivision_type3 = National Park Service | subdivision_name3 = Castle Mountains National Monument | government_footnotes = | government_type = | leader_title = <!-- Mayor --> | leader_name = | leader_title1 = | leader_name1 = | established_title = | established_date = <!-- Area --> | unit_pref = Imperial | area_footnotes = | area_magnitude = | area_total_km2 = | area_land_km2 = | area_water_km2 = <!-- Population --> | population_as_of = 2000 | population_footnotes = | population_total = | population_density_km2 = auto
<!-- General information -->| timezone = Pacific (PST) | utc_offset = -8 | timezone_DST = PDT | utc_offset_DST = -7 | elevation_footnotes = | elevation_ft = | coordinates = {{coord|35|17|20|N|115|6|12|W|region:US_type:city|display=inline,title}}
<!-- Area/postal codes & others -->| postal_code_type = | postal_code = | area_code = | blank_name = FIPS code | blank_info = | blank1_name = GNIS feature ID | blank1_info = 1660728<ref name="gnis">{{cite gnis|id=1660728|name=Hart, California}}</ref> | website = | footnotes = }} thumb|right|320px|View of Hart in 1908, looking northwest thumb|right|320px|The Northern Club, downtown Hart in 1908 '''Hart''' was a short-lived gold mining town located in the Mojave Desert, in San Bernardino County, California. It existed between 1908 and 1915, and was located on the northeastern edge of Lanfair Valley near the New York Mountains. The area is now in the Castle Mountains National Monument, administered by the National Park Service.
==History== In late 1907, while a depression gripped the nation, three prospectors from Goldfield – James Hart and the brothers Bert and Clark Hitt – found pockets of rich gold ore in the Castle Mountains, approximately four miles south of the Barnwell & Searchlight Railroad.
The strike was touted as the "Second Goldfield bonanza". In early 1908, prospectors swarmed to the strike. During the next few months, 700 people arrived, a camp was established, a telephone line was strung to Barnwell, the weekly newspaper ''Enterprise'' started up, a voting precinct and justice-court township were created, and a post office were established.
By summer, Hart's 1,500 residents were served by the Norton House and Martin House Hotels, and the Star rooming house (flophouse). Other businesses included two general stores, (including the Hart-Gosney), the Ames Book and Cigar Store, a real-estate office, a candy store, two lumberyards, a bakery, eight saloons (including Hart and Hitt, C. Aguire, Arlington Club, Honest John, Oro Belle, and Northern Bar), and a brothel. There were telephone and telegraph services, and a water line.
A miners' union was organized. A businessmen's league limited the sale of liquor, enforced police and fire regulations, and ousted gamblers and toughs.
Hart and Hitt's original claim was sold by their promoter, Will Foster, to the Oro Belle Mining Company of Duluth, Minnesota in 1908 for $100,000. The mine was never profitable and shut down permanently in 1918.<ref name="snorf">Snorf, D.N., “Early Days at Hart; Being the Reminiscenses of John Sherwood Snorf as told to Dorothy (Nelson) Snorf”, 1991, Tales of the Mojave Road Publishing Company, Goffs Schoolhouse, Essex, CA; 208 pp. Illustrated.</ref>
All the other mines had the same fate. The pockets of high-grade ore proved small, and mining declined as soon as 1909. The largest mine besides the Oro Belle was the Big Chief, originally called the Jumbo, also owned by the Hart brothers. A 10 Stamp mill was built at this mine. Other mines included the Twin Peaks, the Flyer, the Florence, the Zinc-Graf property, and the Todd Hunter lease.<ref name="snorf" />
The ''Enterprise'' and other businesses closed. A fire wiped out much of the business district (largely deserted); the leading mines suspended work and the miners’ union was disbanded. The court district and voting precinct were abolished, and the post office closed in late 1915.
==See also== * Mojave Road
==References== {{reflist}}
===Sources=== * {{citation|last = Hensher|first = Alan|year = 2005|chapter = The Historical Mining Towns of the Eastern Mojave Desert|editor = Robert E. Reynolds |title = Old Ores, Mining History in the Eastern Mojave Desert|publisher = California State University, Desert Studies Consortium and LSA Associates, Inc.|pages = 22–27}} * {{citation|last1 = Vredenburgh|first1 = L.M.|last2 = Shumway|first2= G.L.|last3= Hartill|first3= R.D.|year = 1981|title = Desert Fever, an overview of mining in the California Desert|publisher = living West Press: Canoga Park, CA}}
==External links== * [https://vredenburgh.org/mining_history/pages/hensher2005-manvel_vanderbilt_hart_vontrigger.html#hart Hensher 2005] * [https://vredenburgh.org/desert_fever/pages/san_bernardino_08.htm Desert Fever (1981)] * {{cite web | url=http://www.robertwynn.com/Hart.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624040219/http://www.robertwynn.com/Hart.htm | archive-date=24 June 2016 | title=Hart California! | website=Ghost Town Seekers}}
{{San Bernardino County, California}}
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Category:Mojave National Preserve Category:Lanfair Valley Category:Ghost towns in California Category:Populated places in the Mojave Desert Category:Mining communities in California Category:Former settlements in San Bernardino County, California Category:Populated places in the United States established in 1907 Category:Populated places disestablished in 1915 Category:1907 establishments in California Category:1915 disestablishments in California