Camp Iron Mountain - A WWII Site in the California Desert
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 ก.พ. 2022
- Located about 50 miles east of Twentynine Palms, Camp iron Mountain is in a remote part of California's Mojave Desert. In 1942, with America having entered WWII, General Patton's Desert Training Center was created in the deserts of California and Arizona. The Desert Training Center was located over 11 camps, and Camp Iron Mountain is the best preserved of all of the sites.
Getting to the camp requires a drive down a dirt run into the middle of the desert. Walking around Camp iron Mountain, the roads the soldiers built are still apparent 80 years later. Despite only existing for two years, the desert was transformed on a massive scale. Throughout the camp site, a large number of pathways that were lined with rocks are still around.
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Old disabled house bound dusty rusty rockhound here: My Parents planned our 6 week vacations around gems, minerals, and historical sites. I'm mostly bed bound now. Thank you for continuing to nourish my wandering spirit by making these videos!
6week vacations?
Myself and my small family are keeping this pastime alive. We live in Earp and have got to knowing a lot of the old mines back by Parker Dam. I day dream about all the people that have scavenger out here.
Sounds like a wonderful childhood. I bet your family acquired quite a collection. I'm glad you have some sort of way to still experience going out for a drive and exploring.
Thanks for taking us along. My Pop trained at one of those camps. Had to laugh when you said imagine being from Iowa, he was. Pop was with the 7th Division and after all that desert training they were sent to battle in the Aleutian Islands, Alaska. Go Army! lol Did you know the troops buried cases and cases of sardines in that desert? RIP Dad 1918/2009
Wow, that's really cool and crazy. The desert to the Aleutians. My grandfather was in the Aleutians too. Its a shame more people don't know about the battle of the Aleutians. I'd love to get out there at some point.
I wonder if the cans of Sardines are still edible??
Thanks to your father for he’s service
@@123paisa 👍
@@shannonlong6640 At least one DTC camp had underground food pantries. There were still cans of food on the shelves in the 1960's. We found cans of tomatoes in the bank of a desert wash in the 1990's. Alas, tomato acid had eaten away the can bottoms. No spaghetti sauce that night.
My Uncle was born and raised in Porterville, Ca. He was a tank commander in Pattons third armored division. He trained out there. Then landed in southern France and ended up slugging it out at the Battle of the Bulge.
Then Served and was injured in Korea
A Salute to your Uncle! God bless him!
I worked for Caltrans on a land survey crew after the Army and before full time college. I found a M1 Garand rifle clip with 8 rounds of blank ammo on this site 1966 time frame. Having trained with the M1 Garand in Army Basic I knew what it was. The blank ammo was dated 42. LIkely still have it. I also recall almost driving the survey truck into what looked like a swimming pool hole.
Never underestimate the U.S. Army's penchant for lining roads, sidewalks, planters, etc. with ROCKS. What is with the ROCKS. 28 years in the Army and I just didn't get the CSM fascination with lining things with rocks!
I took my son to the Patton museum a few years ago. We didn’t have time to see the camp site. It is just incredible that thousands of troops were stationed and training there, especially in the middle of summer. Thanks for doing a video on this!
The museum is great too. It was hot there in February, I can't imagine what it was like for them living in tents in the summer.
Beginning in 1981, I explored and researched the DTC for 30 years. My entire collection of maps, photos, books, artifacts, documents, and memorabilia are at the Mojave Desert history musum in Goffs. The Protestant altar is at the northern end of the camp. The camp's huge trash dump exists in a gully NW of the camp. Near the dump is a hand grenade throwing range. Two Iron Mountain M3 medium tank crew members were killed when a Santa Fe train collided with the tank in December 1942. This occurred at night in dusty conditions NE of the camp. The tank was fipped upside down and the turret knocked off. The train was derailed but stayed upright. Camp Granite had a beautiful 104th Infantry unit insignia made of colored rocks until a dirt biker rode over and destroyed it.
I have to get out to Goffs. Thats awful about the 104th Infantry insignia. I have no idea why people feel the need to destroy these things.
@@SidetrackAdventures Am not sure, but I think Goffs has done very little with my collection. Still in storage somewhere I guess. I donated it in 2018. A year ago a Board member told me he couldn't find it. In the past, WWII desert history wasn''t 'big' with them. Plus they are now having significant financial problems.
What a shame. I have been to parts of the camp. When rockhounding in the area we have found lots of shrapnel, 90 mm shell caps, and military litter. Love it. Do you live in the area? Would love to drive your there to hear the history.
@@Val-fi9hg Thanks but I live in Orange County and now have many health problems (am 77) and can't travel anymore. So far the Goffs museum has not curated my DTC collection I donated 4 years ago. Don't know if they ever will.
What got you interested in doing so much research?
Great as always - knew a desert training camp existed, but did not know it still existed and is, to some extent, protected. History I would never see without channels like yours. Thank you!
Thank you!
The chapel and its masonry work leaves the longest lasting impression, and the rock lined paths. I had no idea any of these camps ever existed. You work in the subtle music while walking and do a splendid job on production, excellent. Thanks Steve. Happy Labor Day.
Thanks, you too!
My uncle trained out here. I have few pics of the troops in training, and lots of tales of life in the desert.
There was a lighting strike on a large tent while troops were in site. Some were killed and a great many injuries.
Again, you are a living historian documenting things that will disappear in a few years.. Thank you.
Lots of cool stuff in the San Bernardino County desert. You might be interested in seeing the WWII practice bombing sites in Apple Valley and Lucerne Valley. They used dummy bombs loaded with a 20ga shotgun shell to mark their hit. A good set of reference books is Bill Mann's guides to the desert. He has listed hundreds of cool stuff in the desert. Thanks for your hard work documenting 😊
I've been looking for his book on the Mojave but it is a tough find unless you want to pay $100+ for it now.
@@SidetrackAdventures yikes that's insane. I don't have Twitter or Instagram....do you have an email? I'd like to try and help you out, it would give you some great ideas.
I think I have every Bill Mann book, Sadly he died at least 10 years ago and there will be no more new ones.
😊😊😊
@@joewenzel5142 I have some of those too! Not sure how many he did but I have volume 1 through 6 autographed by Bill to my dad, Steven Mann (no relation). My dad's metal detector and these books are just about the only things I had gotten from my dad before he died in 2018. I had asked my dad for his metal detector because I did not trust his wife and told him so. I found his metal detector on her side of the bed. My dad's wife started acting shitty to him when he became ill. He couldn't say much then and he wanted a divorce but at that point he was too far along in bad health to do anything and she would just say he was talking crazy. I had later asked his widow for some other belongings that he had had but she never gave me much of anything else so it is what it is and we've long since stopped talking to each other. Anyway...Bill Mann's volume 1 book also talks about the megaphone in the Crucero part of the desert that no one seems to know anything about which is just another thing I find interesting.
Desert training to Aleutians might be SOP for the Army. My brother got sent to diesel mechanic school, finished second in his class, and his next and only assignment in the Army was as a mess hall cook.
I truly enjoy your videos...and I appreciate that you post them in 4k. I am old and do a lot of my adventures now in my chair watching you and your family. Good job young man.
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoy them.
I live in n Havasu AZ. MY sister lives in Yucca Valley CA. I go by Iron Mt, Often must stop one of these days!
Thanks for showing us this Training Camp.
Our pleasure!
Glad I stumbled upon your channel. Really enjoy your format, economy of words and very reliable information. Been to the Pattton Museum off of the interstate and knew about maps showing the various camp locations. The museum did not have copies available. But once I say it on this episode, I was able to Google it straight away. Thanks for sharing and look forward to future episodes, where ever you happen to film.
I just found your channel today and I can’t stop watching your videos.
Glad you like them!
I think most of us felt exactly the same way, I just watched 15 consecutively!
I appreciate the quality of your videos. The background music is perfect, in that it is subdued in volume.
Seems like it could be a site out of a hollywood movie or a music video! So cool seeing structures in such a neat terrain!
My uncle, Sgt. William Guetling, US Army, went through basic training at that camp in basic training before being shipped off to the French-German area of France. He sent letters home to SW Indiana and spoke highly of Hadley Dates!
I don't doubt you couldn't find the Protestant Altar. I watched your video Friday and just now (Sunday night) finally found the thing using Google Earth. Can't imagine it would be easy to find on foot if you didn't have a rough idea of where it is. Great videos, by the way. I'm a new fan and think they're all great.
So many brave young men. Thank you for this glimpse.
That is crazy, all that effort for a two year camp.
Ran across your channel cool video my compliments sir and thank you for your service
Thank you. Appreciate it.
I love the solitude you had there in the desert. It would be a good place to pray like Jesus did away from the crowds.
I visited Camp Iron Mountain back in 1989-1990. Thanks for bringing back the memories! Glad to see there’s a fence around it and the sand table now.
Thank you for taking us along & thank you for your service. Greetings from Florida..!
Our pleasure and thank you.
Just drove down hwy 62 from 29 Palms out to 177. Just an awesome remote geological rich area. Can't wait to go back and explore the area...
Thanks for your great videos. For a reason unknown to me, the roads at Camp Iron Mtn. are aligned with the power lines, not north and south. Gen. Patton was a pilot and flow a single engine airplane, I believe a Stinson around the area. He liked to get low and yell at the troops. Here's a guess--are the roads aligned with the power lines so he could fly low and not worry about hitting the lines? He flew his plane to his home in Indio, landing on the street and taxi to his house. Once a cop approached him and told him he couldn't land an airplane on the street. His response was "I'm General Patton and I will land this airplane anywhere I @#$#$% please."
Patton was a stickler for uniform standards. He once stopped and loudly berated someone he mistook for an enlisted man in dirty khaki pants and shirt. After General Patton finished his tirade, the guy looked at him blankly and replied "f**k you, pal - I'm just here to refill the Coke machine."
Sometimes I am amazed that remants like even THIS still remain and are found. Obviously with satellite images nothing is ever really truly lost but that is some serious remoteness. Great info and history. Sidenote - I forever associate the song you used w/ Joshua Tree. 😅 Also we need a drone. Those wide shots of the desert w/ the mountains in the back... man! So gorgeous. 😮
The drone is a lot of fun to fly and its always a bummer when we go somewhere we can't fly it or the weather wont allow for it.
Steve has a profound understanding and appreciation of the desert that I greatly admire.
Painting edge rocks. Good times!
Being a major history buff, I in joy your videos very much! If you every want to explore Wyoming get ahold of me! born and raised there and know a lot of its history! Great work, keep it up.
One of your best ones. You passion for understanding what our soldiers went thru adds so much to this. Most see a barren wasteland, but to see a huge amount of men meeting each other away from home getting prepared to be in life or death situations is almost overwhelming. This land holds so many stories, it is truly sacred. Thank You.
You could check the satellite views to figure out where the tank, halftracks and infantry trucks would maneuver. WW2 training had live ammo firing while training maneuvering with guys controlling maneuvers via radio or working off pre briefed plans. You should find M1 Garand clips, shells and other ammo waste. Check around obstacles.
I had family that lived nearby there 40+ years ago. You mentioned the culture shock between coming from Iowa to the California Desert, I can testify that coming from L.A. County to the desert for a weekend visit was culture shock enough. Scorching hot 🔥
My Uncle handed my Brother and I a .22 rifle when we got there and told us to go shoot snakes 🐍 and don't aim towards the house.
I need to ask my Dad if he remembers or has his old address. I would like to see if his old house is still out there.
Great video
Its always crazy to me how it can be 75 degrees and we can drive an hour and all the sudden you are in a place where its over 100.
I lived there 40 + years ago too. We moved there in 1970, my dad retired in 1985. Who is your uncle?
Another interesting piece of desert history!
Very interesting to see these camp sites and what once stood there. Also, thanks for your service sir.
I'm amazed the desert winds didn't reclaim all the rock paths, it looks like someone swept up the sand! The older I get makes me appreciate our history. I live in SoCal so I'm planning on using your TH-cam channel to explore the Southwest
As a retired Protestant clergyman, the chapel is fascinating to me. I can only imagine how much the priests enjoyed serving there. As a recreational drone pilot, the chapel also looks like a great place to do photogrammetry with a drone. It would probably be possible to create a very nice 3D model of the structure. Thanks for the tour!
I really enjoy your excursions and the way you explain your trip.
your videos are great, thank you!!
My great-uncle (who sadly passed away twenty years ago before I could ever meet him) fought under Patton in North Africa and participated in the invasion of Italy and even made it to Berlin. My great-uncle probably trained here and later lived in Joshua Tree about 70-75 miles to the west of the camp. Thanks for making these videos, they're great!
You should visit Sky Valley, and see the famous welcome sign. About 30 minutes east of Palm Springs.
Thank you for another good road trip, here in Kansas City on 2/17/22 we have over a foot of snow, and more to come. I would like to be in the desert now. 🙂
I'll take the desert this time of year over the snow too!
Wow, love the historical information, such an interesting place. Incredible chapel as well, seems so eerie though being out in the middle of nowhere. Cheers!
Thank you for watching!
Next month I'm visiting Joshua Tree National Park, and plan to visit the nearby Patton Museum at Chiriaco Summit . After seeing this great video, I may try to include a trip to Camp Iron Mountain as well.
The Patton Museum is a great stop. Have fun at Joshua Tree, there's so much to see and do there.
Camp Young is at the south entrance of JTNP. The dirt road neat where the sign is and head east towarn Chirraco Summit.
The one old camp east of Ocotillo where the area is still forbidden to go on because of supposed unexploded bombs, you can still find a bunch of ww2 shell casings and bomb shrapnel on the perimeter.
There is a similar site in Arizona which is part of the same training area. I don't remember the name of the camp, but it is near Quartzsite, AZ. My brother and sister-in-law live in Yuma and took us out there when we visited them. Patton was present there, too from time to time. It is very similar to this place with rock outlines everywhere, rusting beer cans, etc. It was very interesting and I enjoyed my time there.
Flying a drone over that sand map would be cool.
I love your vids. Old roads and abandoned places have always fascinated me. I often go on old dirt roads and things here in Western Mass and find neat old things in the woods, old foundations, town line markers, etc. Very often the roads are pretty sketchy and I turn around. I am surprised you don't have a jeep or pickup truck seeing how often you do this!
I just want to say I appreciate your videos. 🙂 I love the history that you provide!
Thank you, we appreciate that!
Unfortunately I am going to say that what has happened to America in the past 30 years is a honest tragedy that I have watched the quality of life for people who have been trying to do what their grandparents had done become almost a impossible task it can be done with a little bit of luck, hard work, good investment and thrifty thinking.. I am going to say I am impressed with your videos and traveling to see what's left of our great history of our nation and the only bad thing is people can't get to see or find out about it without digging or a God send such as your self. Thanks for sharing your work with me and my family.
The views from there are breath taking !! I love that your family gets to explore with you :)
Enjoy your video's very much. Thank you for your dedication and hard work. Cheers.
I'm so sorry I am late to your video ive been sick the past week or so, but it was another great one to see!
No worries! Hope you are feeling better.
@@SidetrackAdventures Thanks! I appreciate it
A huge site. Fantastic job of presenting it in the short time you had there.
My grandpa trained out there under Gen. Patton. We could share what it was like out there because I was stationed at Twentynine Palms, CA. Which as it turns out is where both bases were. Where is that from the Marine Corps base. If you are looking for moisture out there the Mojave Desert is the 2nd driest in this hemisphere. Iquique, Chile is the driest
11:56 My great uncle served under Patton, so he may have trained there since we are from Southern California.
Side note: My family and I now attend a Traditional Catholic parish and that chapel has all the signs of the Traditional liturgy (high altar where the priest faces away from the people and a kneeler. Traditional Latin Mass was the only type of liturgy back then for the Latin Rite. Cool to think my great uncle may have knelt on that very stone to receive Our Lord.
It’s cool you take your family! I live near Oceanside. I always wondered why a shopping center was called Iron Iron Mountain. Now I know!
Wow! Love this! Thank you for sharing!
A few years ago while I was in the Philippines I was able to find an area that was a POW camp during WW2. In the area of Nueva Ecija, North Luzon. Nothing was there but a monument was built with all the names of the POW's. It needed a lot of TLC because it was way off the path from tourists. Have some amazing video and pictures of it though. Awesome memory!
Matthew
For the record I spent time at 29 Stumps after places I considered less pleasant in the 70s.
Thank you.
I recently discovered your channel about 2 weeks ago. I have to say that I have enjoyed every single video I have seen so far! Keep up the great work.
Wow, thank you!
@@SidetrackAdventures you're welcome!
What a good trip . Thank you. I enjoy WW2 history. Blessings to you and family
Rice Field was one of the training center's airports and just a few miles east of Iton Mountain on Hwy 62. There are a few cement foundations there amd the roads and runway are still visable also. Patton Maintaine a home in Indio for his wife. If you travel The Bradshw Trail west from Wilet's Well and stop at the Mule Creek stadge stop on the south side of the modern road folling the trail you can see tank tracks from Patton's day.
I wanted to head out to Rice Field but ran out of time. Hopefully on my next trip out there.
Patton was at the DTC from February to July 1942 before being called to DC to start planning for Operation Torch.
The Catholic Chapel is beautiful. What great masonry and design.
That rock planter with the smaller rock circles inside @3:16 looks to me to be shaped like a giant tank track. Anyone else see it that way? Thank you for the great content… I enjoy your videos.
Thanks. Hey, are those bushes 80+ years old it appears that many of the rock rings are still around one.
Thank you for your service to our country, Steve!
Never been there. But I've heard that there are still scars there in the sand from Patton's tanks. Which goes to show you just how delicate the desert can be.
Thank you for your service.
Great video, I need to get out there, love the giant sand table ! Looks like Fort Irwin haha
Your videos are second to none, I really enjoy them thank you.
Great stories, please keep them coming.
Vetoed. Code for wife said let's go. It is likely my grandfather had been out there. He was sent to California for training and then to North Africa. Great video
I really enjoy America's history of warriors and brave men and women of the 🪖 military. ❤/🇺🇲 I can imagine the weather and our fighters rehearsing for deployment to South Africa. It gets as cold 🥶 as 🥵 hell out in the middle of the desert. 🏜🏕
Another interesting site you came up with, thanks! I liked the "further exploration has been vetoed"-part at the end 😊. I am sure you know what you got with your family coming along with you to all these strange places. So in my opinion that's how you should take a veto in this situation: With a smile, just like you did 👍☺
My Dad is/was a member of the organization (Clampers) that commissioned the placard behind him. The Billy Holcomb Chapter of the Clampers put it there. Patton's Cabin is east of there (east-ish) but you need a sturdy vehicle to get up there.
General Patton was also just outside of Needles. I did some training at a place between Needles and the airport where was still signs where their latrines were. with the dates as to when they were closed. This was in 1964 when I was there.
The wire at 9:55, did it look like it was siamesed, like what we might call speaker wire? Might've been commo wire that hardened over the years. My Dad was signal corp. in WWII, he used to reflexively call WD-40 WD-1 before correcting himself. It wasn't until I joined up that I realized why: WD-1 was the nomenclature for the main type of commo wire.
If you ever come out to Dateland AZ. Around mile marker 65 on I-8 General Paton trained there as well. They still have concrete pads that the tents where on along the northe side of I-8..
Between Iron Mountain and Granite Mountain which is right next to it, that place is just HUGE! I cannot imagine what it must have been like to be in the middle of the desert (before the interstates were built and most roads weren't paved) and suddenly find yourself in the midst of this enormous collection of tents and soldiers everywhere!
You're not QUITE so remote... Iron Mountain Pumping Station is visible from the road and that's at the NE boundary of this area. So if you see that pumping station as you're driving by, remember the soldiers that trained near where it has been built.
Very cool. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for watching!
Been thier done that ! I did that 4 years ago ! As a Vietnam Veteran , it's very humbling too be thier and see just the kind of conditions they went through, for training ! Just thinking of the conditions they went through !
That was really interesting. I’m fascinated by abandoned places. I’d never heard of Camp Iron Mountain or those sand maps. I suppose the soldiers who were looking at them had to be up off the ground to see the entire layout. Do you know if the chapels had wooden roofs or possibly tenting? I looked over the Wikipedia article and didn’t see anything other than the stone ruins that you saw. Whoever made the chapels was an accomplished stone mason. Thanks for this. Your videos are always very interesting. 👍☮️🌞🌟🏜⛺️📹🪨
I don't believe the chapels had any other structures attached to them. I've seen some historic photos and they look pretty much the same, minus a few missing pieces.
Once again, peaceful, calm filming with clear and easy to follow audio description. Keep up the good work, you really do good and interesting content for many. Really enjoy this on Sundays!
General Patten’s home town is in Hamilton MA. Just 2 towns away from us. His tank is displayed in a park named after him
The old Catholic chapel looks so nice to me as a Catholic. Clearly meant for the Old Mass since it’s built directly against the wall. Maybe the Bishop of San Bernardino may allow us to use it again some day. Wonder if that wall represented the Altar Rail or the actual wall of the chapel.
nice to see some history of the 3rd Armored Division mentioned. I served with 3AD in Germany & Iraq in 1990-1993.
Another great video! Thank you.
My list just keeps getting longer and longer thanks to you.
Lol!
Thanks
Thanks for the tour.
Satisfactory 💪
Thank You!
The chapel is 😍. Thanks for taking us along!
Around 1980 I stayed in Yuma AZ while staking out mining claims for Exxon out in the desert. In places you could see tank tracks still. I was told Patton trained in the area. There was live 50 cal ammo strewn on the ground all around. Now I know it was true.
As always enjoy your videos
Awesome video. Really appreciate your content!
I appreciate that!
Thanks for the video and the history lesson Steve!