Stedman/Bagdad-Chase

A mining camp 7 miles south of Ludlow where the men who worked the Baghdad-Chase, Pacific, Roosevelt and other mines lived. While looking for a source of water for the Santa Fe Railroad, roadmaster John Suter found a rich deposit of gold and copper in the late 1890s. Suter sold his group of claims in 1902. He never did find the water. Water for the railroad, the town, and the mine had to be brought in by tank car from Newberry Springs to fill the 10,000 gallon water tank perched on the side of the hill nearby. By 1903 there were 40 cabins there. The Ludlow and Southern Railroad ran as a common carrier between Ludlow in the camp from 1903 until 1916, when it was purchased by the Pacific Mines Corporation. the superintendent was Edward H. Stagg, Limited sales at the company store to employees and band saloons and gambling. The original name was Rochester for the town in New York that most of the investors came from, but since there was already a Rochester in San Bernardino County the post office requested an alternate name, and on 28 March 1904 the Steadman post office was established; it was discontinued in November 1907. Sometimes called Copenhagen because so many of the workers were Scandinavian. Also known as Rochester and, beginning in 1901, Camp Rochester.

Steadman mining district: a mining district about 8 miles south of Ludlow. The principal. Of mining there was from 1904 until 1916, then there was activity again in the 1930s and 40s. Also known as the Bagdad-Amboy mining district (usually called the Bagdad Mining District), Buckeye Mining District and Rochester Mining District.

from: Mojave Desert Dictionary – Patricia A. Schoffstall
Mojave River Valley Museum
Barstow, California

Desert Fever - Mining History