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Panamint City started out with a dubious foundation. The area was used by outlaws to stage raids on wagon traffic headed up Panamint valley. Located at the upper end of Surprise canyon, the outlaws found the wagons to be easy pickens for robbing. Sometime in 1873, while waiting for their next victims, they discovered that they were sitting on a rich silver load. Since silver mining requires large outlays of capital, the outlaws found that they were faced with a dilemma. How could they borrow the money needed without being arrested? The answer came in the form of one of the tougher men associated with the great Comstock load of Nevada, Senator John P. Jones. Jones along with a partner, Senator William M. Stewart, another mining investor from Nevada bought up many of the better mines in the area for an stated $350,000. With this investment, the town was born and the serious mining began.
The ore bodies seemed to indicate that Panamint City would enjoy a long and prosperous life. The outcroppings were some 2.5 miles wide and 5 miles long. They ran parallel to Surprise Canyon with some being of a highly fractured state while others seemed not to be fractured at all. Note: Fracturing by faults makes following the vein much harder as it can "disappear" in any direction. Finding it again can sometimes by impossible. Near the surface the ore was very rich but as usual, it decreased in value at increasing depth. At the Wyoming mine the ore was assayed at $600 per ton but the more common ore ranged in value from $12 to $85 per ton. When the local hoodlums tried to rob the outgoing shipments of silver, they found that the mine owners had cast the silver into ingots weighting 450 to 500 pounds. Since no one could carry such a heavy load, the silver shipments were left alone. A large ore mill was built in Surprise Canyon and ore from the Wyoming and the Hemlock mines was transported from the mines by a cable run tramway to the mill for processing.
By 1874, there were approximately 50 structures in town. Pack animals were used for transportation as the town had only one wagon which pulled triple duty as the meat market, hearse, and parade platform. The general store sold quite a lot of "bitters" which was used as a thinly disguised medicine in the 1800's. Bitters was often laced with alcohol, cocaine, morphine, and other highly narcotic drugs. In the 1800's pure food and drug laws did not exist and drugs of all types were legal and accepted. On July 24, 1876, a flash flood swept down the canyon and carried most of the town with it. This turn of events along with a general banking panic in late 1875 caused by the fall of William Ralston's Bank of California, doomed the fledgling city. It did not help when two prospectors named Baldwin and Wilson discovered rich silver ore in the Coso Mountains to the west and the town of Darwin came into being. People rushed from Panamint to the new promise land. In later years, leasers worked the mines on and off but few have been able to coax wealth from the veins.
Several years ago, we attempted to visit Panamint City but the 4WD road up Surprise Canyon was washed out. We camped in the lower end of the canyon which ended up being a very entertaining night. It seems the local wild burro herd uses the canyon as a thoroughfare and between them and my dogs we had an evening of "hee-haws" and howling that seemed to go on for ever. We seemed to be the only ones much put out by it all though. A friend that belonged to a local 4WD club at the time, made their way up to the town with some very rough going. Since then, I have read a story of a couple who have visited via pack mules but it does appear that the only ways in are difficult at best.
References: Desert Fever by Vredenburgh, Shumway, and Hartill and Desert Magazine, Nov. 1965, pages 8-9 article by Frank J. Berberich
