Forgotten Destinations: Atolia: The Richest Tungsten Mine in the World

Article and photography by Natasha Petrosova

Atolia was the richest tungsten mine in the world that now stands in ruins. Despite that , Atolia has a very interesting story. Atolia is a ghost town in a Mojave desert near Randsburg in San Bernardino County. You can see Atolia driving down hwy 395.

Atolia story begins in 1903 when Charles Taylor and Tom McCarty , discovered the tungsten deposits and shipped a carload of ore to Germany to be processed. They made a nice amount of money and in 1906 were bought out by E. B. Degolia and Mr. Atkins. Atkins and Degolia became area mining operators and they put up the first mill here in 1907. The town's name Atolia derives from a combination of names of its two founders Atkins and Degolia , hence Atolia.

The Atolia Mining Company produced close to $100,000 worth of ore in 1906, their first year of operation. By 1913, just 7 years later, they had produced $1,000,000 worth of ore. The town’s boom time were the years during World War I. The Atolia mine had a payroll of $60,000 per month and between the years of 1916 and 1918, nearly $10 million was produced, making it the richest tungsten mine in the world. All of the things a miner could need could be found in the town’s four restaurants, drug store, three general stores, three rooming houses, four pool rooms, two stationary stores, ice cream parlor, garage, three butcher shops, miscellaneous stores and picture show. There was even a new school house for 60 pupils and a newspaper to keep the citizens informed.

Atolia's biggest year was 1916, as the value of tungsten was skyrocketing. Doubling its production again, the Atolia Mining Company produced 108,000 units of ore at $33 a unit for a total of over three and a half million dollars. Atolia's population grew rapidly accounting for over 2000 residents.

"Eastern manufacturers sent buyers to Atolia to bid on tungsten ore like bushels of wheat or cotton, with prices for small amounts of high grade ore, in at least one instance, reaching $90 a unit. The buyers didn't ask too many questions as to where the tungsten came from, as highgrading was all too common. However, miners were watched as if they were mining South African diamonds; lunch pails were inspected daily, and ore was sealed before shipment by rail. Tungsten had become a precious metal ".

Water was also very precious commodity in Atolia. Ironically it was shipped from near by town, Hinkley. Why is it ironic? ..... well because most of you remember "Erin Brockovich" the movie and a town with a poison water. That town was Hinkley, almost 100 later after PG&E polluted Hinkley's ground water. A tank car of water shipped from Hinkley to Atolia cost between $15 and $28. The water was shipped from Hinkley till 1917, when the Randsburg Water Company pipeline reached Atolia, the mining company was doing it's best to conserve water and even caught rainfall with gutters on every building.

"People in the Randsburg area made thousands of dollars from tungsten overnight. One S. E. Vermilyea purchased a lease for $2,000 and worried that he'd never recover his initial investment. Three days later he hit high grade ore and refused an offer of $25,000. A canvas bag the size of a shopping bag filled with high grade scheelite float was worth $350. Even children gathered the ore and made big money".

This opportunity was huge but unfortunately, it did not last. In 1917 the Atolia Mining Company sold 116,000 units, 8,000 more than it produced in 1916. Although this was worth more than two million dollars, this represented a loss of one and a half million dollars over what the same amount would have brought in 1916. The price of tungsten had dropped to $18 a unit and Atolia's boom was on a decline.

"Atolia tungsten production for 1918 was $1,525,000 from 61,000 units of ore at $25 a unit, and in 1919, when only 4,000 units were sold at $16 a unit, the Atolia boom was over. The next year the Atolia Mining Company didn't ship a single unit of ore".

With the end of World War I the demand for tungsten diminished , not to mention that tungsten was inexpensively mined and shipped from China , sounds familiar, isn't it? People started to move away from Atolia, businesses would close and a town began to fade in history.

Atolia now stands in ruins. The town does not have any residents. There is a sing "Private Property" and it seems according to public records that the site is under BLM control. If you want to explore the area , go ahead, no one will stop you. However , please don't litter, no camp fires and no graffiti , please respect and help to preserve our mining history.

References:

"Atolia -Randsburg Tungsten Boom": http://mojavedesert.net/desert-fever/atolia-randsburg.html

"The Mojave Desert" http://cali49.com/mojave/2013/10/17/atolia-cal