Hike to Cow Camp, Joshua Tree National Park, California

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Cow Camp, located 1/2 mile south of Keys Ranch in Joshua Tree National Park, was associated with cattle rustling in the 1880s and 1890s. It was then later used as a line camp for cattle ranching. A stone chimney, two small dams, watering troughs and a well remain. One dam was built by local rancher and character William F. Keys and is 105 feet long and 30 feet high. A rock-lined circular well lies west of the cabin remains. The well was supposedly dug and rock lines in the 1880's by members of the "McHaney Gang". Cattle rustlers used the camp into the 1890s. Jim McHaney reputedly murdered the discoverer of the Desert Queen Mine before losing it to a bank, then sold Cow Camp in 1894 to George Myers. McHaney eventually was convicted of counterfeiting $20 gold pieces in gold-plated lead and was sentenced to seventeen years in jail. In the 1920s Bill Keys, who had inherited McHaney's holdings, took over Cow Camp as part of his ranching operation. Cow Camp was entered on the National Register of Historical Places on October 29, 1975.

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