Country United States County Inyo County Local time Thursday 8:39 PM | State California Elevation 1,307 m | |
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Weather 11°C, Wind NE at 5 km/h, 32% Humidity | ||
Greenwater – formerly, Ramsey, The Camp, and Kunze – was an unincorporated community near Death Valley in eastern Inyo County, California. It is now a deserted ghost town.
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Geography
Greenwater is located 5.5 miles (8.9 km) north of Funeral Peak in the Funeral Mountains above southeastern Death Valley, at an elevation of 4288 feet (1307 m). It is now located within Death Valley National Park, north of Smith Mountain, and south of the Rand, California mining district ruins.
History
Greenwater was a mining town in the Mojave Desert that saw its rise and fall within the first decade of the 20th century.
The original townsite, 2 miles (3.2 km) west of the current site and called Kunze after its founder Arthur Kunze, was abandoned in favor of the current site, which was originally called Ramsey. A post office operated at Greenwater from 1906 to 1908.
Copper and water
Founded around a copper ore strike in 1905 the town of Greenwater was a short lived Death Valley community. So dry was its region that water had to be hauled into the town. The lucrative business of water barrel salesman fetched any entrepreneur $15 per barrel; in 1913 that equaled over $250 in 2004 dollars.
Eventually the town grew to 2,000 people and became known for a local magazine, The Death Valley Chuckwalla. By 1909 the copper mining had collapsed without ever turning a profit and the residents left town for other areas. Today, there is nothing left of Greenwater.