Valley Wells Rest Area Southbound, for the Northbound rest area across the freeway from this one visit this page.

In the late 1860’s copper was discovered on Clark Mountain. and the Clark Mining District was organized. Ore was rich but high transportation costs soon caused mining to cease. In the late 1890’s the railroad came within 30 miles and the original strike, the Copper World Mine, was reopened. Two wells were sunk and in 1899 a 10-ton smelter was built, treating ore hauled by 20-mule teams. In 1917 a 100-tom furnace was built, but was in use onlya a short while. In 1894 Valley Wells (formerly known as Rosale) became headquarters of the ? Ranch Cattle Co. Ranching ceased around 1950. The copper world reopened in 1977 and there is large scale production of gold and rare-earth minerals in the Clark District up to the present day.

This display teaches and shows you how to find the north star by using this sundial, even in the daytime. The plaque says, “Polaris remains nearly stationary in the sky, enabling its use to orient sundials. To find Polaris, located the Big Dipper and follow the two stars at the end of the basin upwards. Polaris is the last star in the tail of the Little Dipper. The Sundials groove points to Polaris.”

 

Photos from 2/19/17: