Panamint Range

{{Short description|Mountain range in Death Valley, California, U.S.}} {{Infobox mountain  | name = Panamint Range | native_name = | other_name =  | etymology =  | image = Panamint Range looking toward Telescope Peak.JPG | image_caption = Panamint Range looking toward Telescope Peak  | country = United States | state = California | region = | district = Inyo County | topo_map = Telescope Peak | topo_maker = USGS  | borders_on =  | range_coordinates = {{coord|36|10|11.8|N|117|5|21.2|W|type:mountain_scale:300000|format=dms|display=inline,title}} | range_coordinates_ref=<ref name="gnis">{{cite gnis|id=1654983|name=Panamint Range|access-date=2009-05-03}}</ref> | highest = Telescope Peak | elevation_ft = 11043 | elevation_ref={{NAVD88}}<ref name="ngs">{{cite ngs |id=GS0799 |name=Telescope |access-date=2022-09-18}}</ref> | coordinates = {{coord|36.169815947|N|117.089198336|W|type:mountain_region:US-CA_scale:100000|format=dms|display=inline}} | coordinates_ref = <ref name="ngs"/> | length_mi = | length_orientation = | width_mi = | width_orientation = | area_mi2 =  | geology = | orogeny = | age =  | image_map = Wpdms shdrlfi020l death valley.jpg | map_caption = Map of Death Valley region | map_size = 270 }} The '''Panamint Range''' is a short rugged fault-block mountain range in the northern Mojave Desert, within Death Valley National Park in Inyo County, eastern California. A small part of the southern end of the range is in San Bernardino County.<ref>{{Cite web | title=Archived copy | url=https://prd-tnm.s3.amazonaws.com/StagedProducts/Maps/USTopo/PDF/CA/CA_Sourdough_Spring_20150306_TM_geo.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250122012330/https://prd-tnm.s3.amazonaws.com/StagedProducts/Maps/USTopo/PDF/CA/CA_Sourdough_Spring_20150306_TM_geo.pdf | archive-date=2025-01-22}}</ref> Dr. Darwin French is credited as applying the term Panamint in 1860 during his search for the fabled Gunsight Lode.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Gudde|first1=Erwin G.|title=California place names : the origin and etymology of current geographical names|date=1998|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=0520213165|page=[https://archive.org/details/californiaplacen00gudd/page/102 102 & 280]|edition=4th ed., rev. and enl.|url=https://archive.org/details/californiaplacen00gudd/page/102}}</ref>

The origin of the name is the Paiute or Koso word Panümünt or Pa (water) and nïwïnsti (person).<ref>{{cite book|last1=Gudde|first1=Erwin G.|title=California place names : the origin and etymology of current geographical names|date=1998|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=0520213165|page=[https://archive.org/details/californiaplacen00gudd/page/280 280]|edition=4th ed., rev. and enl.|url=https://archive.org/details/californiaplacen00gudd/page/280}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Bryan|first1=T. Scott|title=The Explorer's Guide to Death Valley National Park|date=15 January 2015|page=22|isbn=9781607323419|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CZDgCwAAQBAJ&q=origin+of+name+panamint&pg=PA22}}</ref> ==Geography== The range runs north–south for approximately {{convert|100|mi}} through Inyo County, forming the western wall of Death Valley and separating it from the Panamint Valley to the west. The range is part of the Basin and Range Province, at the western end of the Great Basin.

The highest peak in the range is Telescope Peak, with an elevation of {{convert|11043|ft}}.

==Features== Both Mount Whitney above the Owens Valley and Badwater Basin in Death Valley are visible from certain vantage points in the Panamint Range, making it one of few places where one can simultaneously see both the highest and lowest points in the contiguous United States. Dante's View east of Death Valley is another.

Being a sky island habitat of the Mojave Desert, with more precipitation and temperature variation than the desert floor and hills, there are various plant and animal species endemic to the Panamint Range.

===Mining=== The Panamint Mining District is on the western side of the Panamint Range.<ref name=nps>[https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/deva/section3a1.htm Death Valley National Park: Panamint Mining District]</ref> Panamint City (est. 1873) was a mining town in the district, formerly in the central section of the range.<ref name=nps/> The historic mining community of Ballarat (est. 1890s), also in the district, is now a ghost town.<ref name=nps/> The Gold Hill Mining District (est. 1875) was in the southwestern section of the range, at the northeast end of Butte Valley.<ref>[https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/deva/section3a2.htm Death Valley National Park: Gold Hill Mining District]</ref>

The Wildrose Charcoal Kilns (completed 1877) are ruins of charcoal kilns located near Wildrose Canyon in the northern range and within Death Valley National Park. They were built in 1877 by the Modock Consolidated Mining Company, to provide fuel for smelters near their lead and silver mines in the Argus Range. The ten beehive shaped masonry structures, about {{convert|25|ft|m}} tall, are the best known surviving examples of such charcoal kilns in the western U.S.<ref>[https://www.nps.gov/deva/learn/historyculture/charcoalkilns.htm Death Valley National Park: Wildrose Charcoal Kilns]</ref> [[Image:Wildrose Charcoal Kilns.jpg|thumb|center|300px|Wildrose charcoal kilns]]

==See also== * {{C|Panamint Range|Panamint Range topics}}

== References == {{Reflist|30em}}

==External links== {{Commons category|Panamint Range}} * [http://www.summitpost.org/panamint-range/878647 SummitPost.org: Panamint Range — Climbing, Hiking & Mountaineering] * [https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/deva/section3a1.htm NPS.gov: Death Valley National Park Historic Resource Study (Section III, Panamint Range & West Side)] {{Death Valley}} {{Authority control}}

Category:Panamint Range Category:Death Valley Category:Mountain ranges of the Mojave Desert Category:Mountain ranges of Inyo County, California Category:Mountain ranges of Southern California Category:Death Valley National Park Category:Protected areas of the Mojave Desert