Eagle Mountain

Sitting at the edge of Joshua Tree National Park in Riverside County, Eagle Mountain is a California desert ghost town with an origin tied directly to mid-twentieth-century industry. Henry J. Kaiser founded it in 1948 to support the iron mine at whose entrance the town stands — an operation that passed through the hands of the Southern Pacific Railroad before Kaiser Steel took ownership.

Beyond its industrial legacy, Eagle Mountain holds a quieter historical footnote: the integrated medical care system Kaiser established here, mirroring his other California operations, helped give rise to what became Kaiser Permanente, one of the country's best-known health care organizations.

Visitors today find a silent, sun-baked townsite in the desert, the mine and its supporting community long since shuttered. The setting along the southeastern corner of Joshua Tree National Park makes it a compelling stop for those drawn to industrial ruins and the particular atmosphere of places the desert has begun to reclaim. Come in the cooler months — summer heat in this part of the California desert is intense and potentially dangerous.