Abandoned Record
About Riggs
Silver Lake is a town that existed near the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad, six miles north of Baker, in the Mojave Desert of San Bernardino County, California.
This is a site record: what public sources say about Riggs, gathered in one place. We haven't written a full guide yet, so history, current access and photos are still to come. Treat the status as unknown until a guide confirms it.
Map
Where Riggs is
Historic maps
9 historic USGS maps cover Riggs
Topographic sheets from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain), oldest first. Older sheets often show the camp, mines and roads while the place was alive. The downloads are large map scans; USGS topoView shows them in the browser.
- 1933 Avawatz Mountains sheet, 1:250,000 · GeoTIFF download
- 1947 Trona sheet, 1:250,000 · GeoTIFF download
- 1948 Trona sheet, 1:250,000 · GeoTIFF download
- 1953 Trona sheet, 1:250,000 · GeoTIFF download
- 1956 Baker sheet, 1:62,500 · GeoTIFF download
- 1957 Trona sheet, 1:250,000 · GeoTIFF download
- 1960 Trona sheet, 1:250,000 · GeoTIFF download
- 1983 Baker sheet, 1:24,000 · GeoTIFF download
- 1993 Soda Mountains sheet, 1:100,000 · GeoTIFF download
Directions
Getting there
Before you go
- Many ghost town sites are on private land, active mining claims or tribal land. Check land status and ask permission.
- Roads to old townsites are often unmaintained dirt. Map apps may route over closed or impassable tracks.
- Removing artifacts from public land is illegal under federal and most state laws.
Nearby
Other sites near Riggs
Straight-line distance to other mapped sites in our California index.
Sources
Sources
- ghosttowns.com, "Riggs": county, roads, climate, best time to visit, remains.
- Wikipedia, "Silver Lake, San Bernardino County, California": coordinates and summary.
- Wikidata Q7516123.
- USGS GNIS 249476.
- USGS 3D Elevation Program, elevation at the coordinates.
- USGS The National Map and Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain).