Artist: John Whytock of Sugarloaf, CA (now Springfield, Missouri)
Dedicated: March 23, 1996
Size: 14’ x 40’
Location: 73911 29 Palms Hwy (29 Palms Thrift)

Gold fever brought prospectors to the desert in the late 1800s. Men sought their fortunes in the hills near Twentynine Palms and what is now Joshua Tree National Park, setting up camp where water was plentiful. One settlement was the Dirty Sock Camp, named for the method miners used to separate gold from mercury. They used chamois leather, but legend has it that if it wasn’t available, someone would sacrifice a sock for the cause.