There are mines out in the middle of the desert dug by brave men nearly a century ago. Now they are lost and forgotten by most. I found them as a boy under the protective wing of my Dad when he and a buddy went out just to see what was in the middle of no where. We found a vein of turquoise that would make a roadside tourist trap into a millionaires dream. I went back to the mine as a grown man with my own kids and refound it some twenty years later. This here's the tale of the lost mines of the Pinto Basin, out past Joshua Tree National Park, about an hour or so outside of Palm Springs, California.
from: http://ezinearticles.com/?Spelunking-the-Pinto-Basin-Gold-and-Turquoise-Mines-of-Joshua-Tree-National-Park-Near-Palm-Springs&id=6003117
