The Diamond Queen Mine was established in early 1905, and was a good producer at the time. It was also still working during the twenties, at a very small level. At this time it was owned and operated by Mr. and Mrs. Biddlecombe. After the death of Mr. Biddlecombe, Mrs. Biddlecome sold the property to Vic Ritter. At this point we lost track of the owners, however, when one of us gets the chance to go to Tonopah we should be able to uncloud the waters a bit. It was leased to the Monolith Cement Co. during the fifties and sixties. They mined it for the flourine and flourite that was the richest part of the ores there. it is owned by the Saga Mining and Development Company, who are not currently mining the claims.

The Diamond Queen group consisting of five claims owned and being operated by Messrs. T. R. Kennick, Jas. A. Gillies and E. J. Waugh are situated on Eastern slope of the Bare Range of mountains of about 6 miles southeasterly of Beatty in a direct line, though it takes about nine miles to reach the property by trail. Running through the claims lengthwise are two parallel porphyry dykes, the country rock being the lime formation, characteristic of this part of the district. The lower dyke of porphyry is in the neighborhood of 500 feet wide and is strongly mineralized over its entire width. For a distance of 900 feet along the length of this dyke the porphyry is stained with flourine and flourspar and flourine stained water quartz appears throughout the mass.

Small propect holes have been put down a few feet at the foot and hanging walls and in the center. Gold can be panned at all these points. It would be unsafe to estimate at the present time as to the average value of the ore. Assays range from $5.00 to $30.00 across the entire distance and a small chute of talc found on the hanging wall was considerably richer. The upper dyke of porphyry does not show flourine and has inclinations the Diamond Queen Group will constitute a big low grade, free milling purposes. Springs occuring in a canyon about three miles from the property at pressent furnish water for men at work on the claims.

In 1904 the only permanent residence in the Oasis Valley (Beatty) was the ranch of Montilius M. Beatty, and his wife, a lady of the Shoshone Nation, and their three children. An Oasis in the desert, he had a small truck Creek in Death Valley, where he raised hay and cattle. Of the many visitors to their ranch (most were prospectors), in August of 1904, were two "Death Valley" prospectors, "Shorty" Harris and E. L. Cross, who told Beatty to head out and file some claims, as they had found GOLD in the hills South West of him. On August 9, 1904, in Goldfield Nevada, they filed the first claims in this area. A gold rush started that lasted only six years, giving the rise to several "Boom Town." Rhyolite, which became the third largest city in Nevada, Bullfrog, Gold Center, Beatty, Transvaal, Pioneer, Crystal Springs, Springdale and several smaller camps. Of them all, Rhyolite grew the fastest, and fell the hardest. The rest with the exeption of Beatty, faded and vanished on the desert wind. Now there are few reminders of them, some ore bins in Pioneer, some almost foundations in Transvaal, foundations of the cyanide mill in Gold Center, an abandoned mine here and there. In Chloride city there is the mine and some foundations. The life line that was the railroads that came here in 1907 are now just raised beds across this vast desert land. Only the memories of the busy vital camps remain, and those are fast fading away with the passage of time. Without a museum, this will all be lost, and our children and thier children will know nothing of our cholorful past and its very strong people, the individualists that made up the tapestry of our area.