Eagle Mountain: Unveiling the Secrets of California's Desert City

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  • Опубліковано 9 лют 2025
  • Discover the hidden history of Eagle Mountain, a once-thriving city in California founded by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser. Journey through the fascinating past of Desert Center, CA, as you uncover the story of Eagle Mountain's rise as a bustling mining town, fueled by gold and iron ore extraction for Kaiser Steel. Now abandoned, this ghost town holds many secrets waiting to be discovered.
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КОМЕНТАРІ • 59

  • @CJGausvik
    @CJGausvik 3 роки тому +21

    I lived here from 1978 to 1983. Graduated from high school there. Thank you for posting this! I am glad that you did your research - I have seen other videos with crazy theories and far out conclusions based on nothing but "assumptions". Your video is well thought out, and accurate. No zombies were found, I assume... ;-) Even though we pretty much all scattered in the 80's, we still have an active virtual "community" on Facebook, so if you have any questions, drop by and ask!

  • @dddavidlll
    @dddavidlll 2 роки тому +7

    I lived there from 1965 to 1972,,, My dad drove one of those huge dump trucks.. my uncle was a manager for Kaiser Steel at the mine... I loved it there... fond memories

  • @DeathValleyDazed
    @DeathValleyDazed 3 роки тому +13

    Fascinating as I visited Eagle Mountain from Yucaipa, CA in the late 1960's with my family who were friends with a family whose father worked at Eagle Mountain. We collected some dark desert rocks in the area for use by my father in construction of a home in Yucaipa. I have vague memories of the huge ore hauling trucks and a monster crusher machine.

    • @HighlanderNorth1
      @HighlanderNorth1 2 роки тому +2

      @Wandering Nomad
      I stopped by your gas station for gas one day in 1978. I was driving a white 1972 Nova. You'll probably remember me, I had brown hair and I was wearing jeans and a white t shirt. 😉

    • @sillyoldfrog
      @sillyoldfrog Рік тому +1

      At one time we had the biggest dump truck in the world there.

  • @richardnelson-ux1zz
    @richardnelson-ux1zz Рік тому +1

    Went up to eagle mountain exploring with my father had a blast my dad exploring this mine were never allowed to go into the mine it was sealed off to the public still had a lot of fun dad thanks for all the adventures and spending time with you dad

  • @debscreepy
    @debscreepy 3 роки тому +7

    Wow! I wish I could go to that town. It looks like it was quite large! Great video.!

    • @JimBremner
      @JimBremner 3 роки тому +3

      it is 18 miles north of Desert Center

    • @johnnyk7304
      @johnnyk7304 2 роки тому +3

      Went to check it out a couple years ago. You can't go in at all, big gates. We decided to pull over and eat lunch about a 1/4 mile south of the gates and a security guy came to talk to us. He ask a few questions and we said we would be going soon. He implied we were ok but just seemed a little weird.

  • @councilmemberwaymondfermon
    @councilmemberwaymondfermon Рік тому +2

    Eagle Mountain was a small, thriving, and family-oriented community, my family had strong ties to the place. My Grandfather, Ben Fermon, worked at the mine, while my grandmother was employed at the school. My mother, aunts, and uncles all attended school in Eagle Mountain. However, after the 1983 school year, Eagle Mountain High School closed, and my youngest uncle had to attend Indio High School. In 1976, my mother moved to Indio. I have two older brothers, and I was born in 1979. Due to illness, my grandfather also relocated to Indio, while my grandmother remained in Desert Center. Sadly, my grandmother Gladys Fermon passed away in 1985, followed by my grandfather Ben Fermon the next year. My mother, Diana Fermon, followed in my grandmother's footsteps and worked with children. After retiring as a kindergarten teacher, she passed away in 2020, leaving behind seven siblings and three sons. I am the youngest of the three. Im a Correctional Officer for the California Department of Corrections and served as the Mayor of Indio in 2022. I am currently a Councilmember. Despite the changes, there is still a deep sense of pride in our roots. I have vague memories of spending time in Desert Center as a young boy, and it saddens me to see the area disrespected with vandalism. With the purchase of Desert Center and Eagle Mountain, I believe that revitalization is on the horizon. I visit the area about twice a year, and I owe my existence to Eagle Mountain, as my grandfather and family moved from Utah to California to work at the mine. Without Eagle Mountain, I might not be here today.

  • @alanogilvie4504
    @alanogilvie4504 7 місяців тому

    Great tribute to Heull and thanks for posting it. The greatest tour guide California has ever had. Every show was so special

  • @jacknimble7950
    @jacknimble7950 3 роки тому +3

    Beautiful work! I look forward to all of your postings👍

  • @tjofmaine1
    @tjofmaine1 2 роки тому +2

    Thank You for making this video. Found it very interesting

  • @Mine-Finder
    @Mine-Finder 3 роки тому +2

    Your history research is incredible. I especially loved seeing that old footage.

  • @ProperSendoff
    @ProperSendoff 2 роки тому +2

    Ur finds are awesome never knew these spots existed!

  • @Kefoo_
    @Kefoo_ 2 роки тому +3

    -- Well written. Thank you.

  • @cintroberts6614
    @cintroberts6614 2 роки тому +5

    Like 100s of mines in America, mines closed during that era because the cost of fuel no longer allowed the mines to be profitable.

  • @richardhelit844
    @richardhelit844 Рік тому +2

    Went to school about 1946.Mrs Fields was my teacher.

  • @debbiedrake5927
    @debbiedrake5927 Рік тому +3

    Not many people know that Henry Kaiser created Kaiser Hospital Foundations for healthcare for their employees and families. Now, Kaiser Permanente is the largest HMO in California and six other states.

  • @1catfishuntermiller753
    @1catfishuntermiller753 3 роки тому +5

    Awesome video, I never knew about all the stuff that I saw on the video. Very educational and amazing things that are happening today with the old iron company, the worst of it all is there is no more US steel company's, the steel we get from other countries is weaker than the US steel. It's just not as strong as it used to be.
    I hope everyone has a awesome blessed day.
    And Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year.

  • @curtcaudle5900
    @curtcaudle5900 2 роки тому +3

    Probably the most recent ghost town in America. Found film 🎥 was great 👍.

  • @sillyoldfrog
    @sillyoldfrog Рік тому

    It was a great place to grow up. Keith Matthews

  • @dennym1172
    @dennym1172 Рік тому +2

    Carl Shorter's dad ....Was a blaster there back in the day. Bob I think. Lost some of his leg on a blast. He still kept on working.

  • @davidtate166
    @davidtate166 2 роки тому +2

    This i think make a good tourist destination of long ago mining history. The place did good for what 35 or 40 years.

  • @katmandoism
    @katmandoism 2 роки тому +3

    I use to work there in 1975

  • @cynthiarenfroe8004
    @cynthiarenfroe8004 2 роки тому +7

    My husband worked as a security guard out at eagle mountain several years ago and he didn't like it he said at night it was creepy out there and you could hear lots of wild animals and strange noises ,,he stayed close to the patrol car ,,and he kinda got the Willy's as it,s a no man's land kinda place very desolate ,,he got transferred to a better place

    • @TheJoedonbakerfan
      @TheJoedonbakerfan 2 роки тому +2

      I’m camped out near there on BLM land right now, and it seems fine to me.

    • @idamartinez8863
      @idamartinez8863 Рік тому

      My daughter worked there for 2 years in the kitchen, it was her first prison job. I would visit her a few days of the month, even if it was desolate, I liked it.

  • @dakotaiv
    @dakotaiv 10 місяців тому

    I lived there from 1965 until I graduated high school in 1975. My parents and younger siblings lived there until the mine closed in 1983. Two of my younger brothers graduated from high school there and one of my sisters was in the last graduating class in 1983.

  • @mlgneo2855
    @mlgneo2855 Рік тому +2

    Someone just bought eagle mountain for 23 million, wonder what they’ll do next

  • @timcantrell9673
    @timcantrell9673 2 роки тому +2

    Are the rails in desert center still?

  • @kaygon.5202
    @kaygon.5202 2 роки тому +3

    Do you mind linking where you got the footage of the riot

    • @Desertusa
      @Desertusa  2 роки тому +2

      www.dailymotion.com/video/x2tgvs6

  • @luisarellano5161
    @luisarellano5161 Рік тому

    😁❤️💁vero interesting video

  • @Javelina_Poppers
    @Javelina_Poppers Місяць тому

    My wife's aunt and uncle lived there as he worked at the Kaiser mine and we visited them in 1975 and the community as well as nearby Desert Center were bustling enterprises. No indications of what was to come years later.

  • @OliverNorth9729
    @OliverNorth9729 2 роки тому +2

    Are those box-like metal structures on top of the houses air conditioners?

    • @rcstann
      @rcstann 2 роки тому +2

      The ones on top are evaporative water coolers.
      The others had four ton air conditioning units on a concrete pad at the ground level.
      But yes, Everything was air conditioned.

  • @3mstudiospalmdesert
    @3mstudiospalmdesert 2 роки тому +3

    I hope they build that perpetual-motion water pump thing!

    • @mrhumboldthippy
      @mrhumboldthippy Рік тому

      Yeah but it is not a perpetual water motion thing it is take all the good drinkable groundwater and flush it through their industrial toxic-waste machines that's it

  • @nickpoolsaad2234
    @nickpoolsaad2234 2 роки тому +3

    This place are look a like Bad Day at Black Rock | 1955
    Writer Millard Kaufman stopped for gas in the tiny town of 'Black Rock', Arizona, and a new title was born. .

  • @westho7314
    @westho7314 2 роки тому +6

    Could put the some of the inland empiire's homeless to work rehabbing the houses and inhabitating the town, better than living in a tent on a sidewalk under a freeway overpass and bathing in the restrooms at burger king.

    • @DrLumpyDMus
      @DrLumpyDMus 2 роки тому +4

      To a homeless person, I'd guess it's "better" to live under a bridge in LA than to work your ass off rebuilding a home in the middle of the desert. There's nobody to beg from in the desert.

    • @hobsonbeeman7529
      @hobsonbeeman7529 2 роки тому +3

      @@DrLumpyDMus you are quite right, the majority of the lazy homeless choose that lifestyle…urban off gridders. Let someone else support us.

    • @yumyumbumblebee
      @yumyumbumblebee Рік тому +1

      ​​@@DrLumpyDMus that's why you lure them in & provide them with as much free fentanyl & meth as they can handle 👍

  • @timothygolden3113
    @timothygolden3113 Рік тому +7

    California has 115,491 homeless so
    1) gather them
    2) separate them into 3 camps
    3) give them their own tiny rural town
    4) give them food (soup kitchen), shelter (tiny house), and healthcare
    5) let distance and police keep city drug dealers away

    • @yumyumbumblebee
      @yumyumbumblebee Рік тому +3

      👏👏👏👏
      Except you have to provide free meth & fentanyl as a way to keep them there

    • @allisonmorrissey2078
      @allisonmorrissey2078 Рік тому

      And this is in the middle of the desert. Just how do you think they will be able to sustain a lifestyle there with no jobs or ways to support themselves? Hence why this closed. Smh people are so stupid. 😂

  • @gregelliott5016
    @gregelliott5016 2 роки тому +2

    Maybe people will live there again some day

    • @mlgneo2855
      @mlgneo2855 Рік тому

      Someone just bought it 23 million

  • @fleam101
    @fleam101 Рік тому

    Who owns the whole town, that they can keep everyone out?

  • @luisarellano5161
    @luisarellano5161 Рік тому

    ❤️✌️😌

  • @soda_king
    @soda_king 2 роки тому +1

    omw

  • @stevecoffman6480
    @stevecoffman6480 Рік тому

    All I see is a perfect place for the homeless drug issue in CA. Get help or get shipped there.

  • @deborahriley1166
    @deborahriley1166 2 роки тому +1

    Sounds like this land might be cursed 🤔

  • @davidadams6945
    @davidadams6945 2 роки тому +2

    Very telling in some respects about the decadence of the U.S. Steel mill closes, mine closes and then build a prison. I wonder if there is a relationship!!! Actually I also remember the talk about KKK activity in the Fontana and surrounding area when they were closing the steel mill. Don´t know how much longer the U.S. will last.

  • @Studio-Florentina
    @Studio-Florentina 2 роки тому +4

    Billions of dollars sent to ukraine could turn this place into resort. We have so many homeless families in Cali.