Dolomite, CA

Dolomite, CA is located roughly 9 miles from Lone Pine off of State Route 136. From Route 136 take the Dolomite Loop, which will get you the closest that you can get to the town.

Dolomite began in 1885, the Inyo Marble Company opened the mine here to extract the mineral Dolomite. Over the years the mine and town have traded hands on a few occasions. F.W. Aggregates purchased the mine in 1992 and still owns and operates the mine to this day.

The town location has been used for at least a few western films including Nevada Smith (w/Steve McQueen), and Bad Day at Black Rock.

On the day of our visit to Dolomite we found the gate around the mine/town hanging open. The only sign that we saw said “Hard Hat Required”. I just figured we’d stay in the vehicle and snap some photos. We made our way around snapping photos, and within a few minutes the security pulled up along side us asking what we are doing. I explained that we’re just taking some pictures. He informed us that we are trespassing, and that it was posted at the gate. I apologized and asked if we could have just a few more minutes to photograph the remaining buildings. He agreed as long as we were quick about it, and that we not photograph the mining operations. We agreed, and continued on our way. On our way out of the gate we did see the “No Trespassing” sign, it was on the front of the gate, but since the gate was open it wasn’t noticeable.

The pictures that we got of the town site are some of the best I’ve seen. I’m happy to be able to share them with you. I wish that a I could write a little bit more about the history here, however the town has proven to be difficult to research with not much information being available.