Swansea is about an hour from Parker on a dirt road. Take the 95 east and turn left on Shea Road and then right again on the dirt road marked Swansea. If you are driving directly from Joshua Tree it would take a total of about three hours to get there; two hours on paved highway and one hour on a fairly smooth dirt road that gets a bit bumpy and rocky for the very final stretch. The morning when we drove there happened to be the day before the annual Parker “Best of the Desert” off-road race and a good portion of the road had signage that indicated that it would be part of the race course the following day. I’m assuming that many of the areas along the road are also BLM (Bureau of Land Management) because there were a lot of RVs and race rigs parked in various camps the entire way. It seems like it could be fun to camp out here on a non-race weekend - it’s legal to camp for free for up to 14 days on BLM land. You can often buy BLM maps at a BLM office, or ask around in town if you want to confirm where camping is allowed. (I will check on this on the next trip)

From what I’ve read on-line, Swansea’s post office was established on March 25, 1909 and discontinued on June 28, 1924. The town was the headquarters for the Clara Consolidated Gold and Copper Mining company and was connected by railroad to nearby Bouse. In 1908 the camps population was 750 - Supposedly it didn’t have buildings and stores like Jerome, Oatman or Bisbee — but it did have an electric light company, auto dealer, lumber yard, and insurance agent. The original mining company went bankrupt in 1912 after just five years, but the town was active to some extent until 1924. 

There are a few different accounts of the name - but the most interesting says that Swansea was named after Swansea, Wales, where refined ore from the site was shipped. The ore was sent via railroad to a destination on the Colorado River, where it was transferred to river freighters and then again transferred to ships on the gulf of California for shipment to Swansea, Wales via Cape Horn. 

There is a row of miners quarters that have been partially rebuilt - but most of the other structures have melted back into the desert. We spent about two hours exploring - but could have spent more of the day or even camped overnight if we didn’t have a list of other things that we wanted to check out on the same trip. The location is really beautiful but remote. Good to keep in mind that there is no cell reception or water. Also, the last two miles of the road are very bumpy and hilly, so a high clearance vehicle is preferable.