Inside the creepy abandoned mining town hidden in Death Valley that still has bullet holes in homes and rocks piled outside quarry from California gold rush

An 'ghost mine' in Death Valley, California, remains stuck in the past- with old bullet holes in homes and rocks heaped up outside a quarry from the California gold rush. 

The Big Bell mine, abandoned since 1941, is only visited by a handful of people every year because its location is virtually inaccessible, and there are next to no signs to direct the rare tourist.

But the 10-acre mine's remoteness has proven to be its saving grace. Founded in 1904, the Big Bell has remained untouched by time and offers visitors a window into an America that has long ceased to exist. 

Rusted ore bins that once whirred out from the bowels of the mine, laden with gold ore, still hang from cables, as if mid-movement. 

Tracks, laid down over a hundred years ago, remain entrenched in the rocky earth. 

The ore buckets, pictured, are just one example of the equipment from the Big Bell mine that still survives, as if still in use

The tracks (pictured) that lead into the mine in which prospectors once toiled in the sweltering Death Valley heat

 It was on these very same tracks that miners and prospectors, hoping to strike pay dirt, were ferried in and out of the mine.

The dilapidated shacks in which the workers lived and the motheaten cots in which they slept also dot the land.

The mine lies at the bottom of Chloride Cliff. To reach the mine, one must traverse 1.7 miles of treacherous ground and endure 1,600 feet of elevation change.

The journey requires a high-clearance vehicle, good navigation skills, and providential weather conditions.

It also requires a sense of daring- a sense of daring similar to that which the prospectors who once worked in the mine below possessed.

A precipitous path, flanked with iron stakes that once helped haul the ore and miners up the slope, winds down to the mine. The start of the path is marked by a water tank sprayed with bullet holes.  

The mine is beyond the reach of civilization. And time. 

The Big Bell mine was originally claimed by John Cyty, an irascible 5-feet tall prospector with a penchant for risk in 1904.

Cyty claimed the Big Bell because of its close proximity to the Keane Wonder Mine, a high-performing site.

He snatched up hundreds of shares in Big Bell, and because the mining business was booming, Cyty was flush with cash.

The prospector invested his money in a dance hall in Rhyolite, where miners seeking a little respite from their back-breaking labor could burn through their paychecks to watch women perform.

But Cyty ran afoul of the locals because he employed non-union female dances, a move that frustrated union women as well as nearby mining unions.

They boycotted the dance hall, and Cyty's finances declined until he was eventually evicted from the dance hall.

Always defiant, the prospector broke back into the dance hall, where he was arrested.

Then the boom went bust- a nationwide financial panic kneecapped the area's mining business.

The value of Cyty's stocks plummeted from 30 cents a share to a mere 4 cents. The bust prevented further investment in Big Bell.

The next year, Cyty, true to his rash and intrepid character, gambled away the mine at a saloon aptly called the Stock Exchange. 

The mine was first claimed by John Cyty in 1904. A few years later, the roguish miner would gamble away his stock in the mine in a game of roulette 

No doubt feeling desperate, the prospector had wagered 250,000 shares of stock in the mine in a game of roulette with the saloon's proprietor.

By the time Cyty left the saloon 12 hours later, he had sold every last share in Big Bell, the value of which was estimated to be $10,000.

In 1908, the Los Angeles Herald called Cyty's roulette loss 'without parallel in the history of the state'.

Irrepressible, Cyty struck a new claim called the Big Bell Extension, which is near Big Bell and which also boasts immaculate ruins.

But a rival prospector, C. Kyle Smith, disputed Cyty's claim.

Cyty answered by telling Smith that if he showed his face on his claim, he would kill him.

In November 1908, Smith showed up at the claim, and he showed up armed.

Gunfire erupted. Cyty shot Smith in the leg and stomach--wounds which would prove fatal. 

Smith died and Cyty was thrown in jail for manslaughter. He served a year-and-a-half of his ten-year sentence, before being retried, acquitted, and then released.

Cyty returned to Big Bell Extension, where he had built a mill and a cabin, but he grew restless, quit mining, and drifted on.

His mill and cabin are still standing.

The Coen Company took over the Big Bell mine in 1936, hoping to build the site out and breath some life into it.

The mine's inaccessibility, as well as poor terrain and dwindling precious metals, rendered the venture unfeasible.

Before the year was out, the Coen Company abandoned the site. 

But the mine continues to exist, continues to rise up from the land like it is still in operation.

Because of the mine's isolation, and the treacherous journey a visitor must make to get there, the place remains perfectly preserved. No historical society or park foundation has had to intercede to maintain it

The equipment, though rusted, is still there, untouched by potential scavengers because it is so remote.

Speaking to SFGATE, Jeremy Stoltzfus of Death Valley's Abandoned Mine Lands Program, explained how the mine has not required external help for its preservation.

'The park has not done anything at that site,' Stoltzfus said.

'Big Bell has pretty much been untouched since the miners last walked away.'