The Lost Dutch Oven mine is one of the most famous lost mines in California, United States. There are several versions of the story, as is the case with most lost mine legends; perhaps the best known is the one with Tom Schofield, a railroad worker, decided to do some prospecting in his time off. According to this version, while prospecting in the Clipper Mountains, northwest of Essex (in San Bernardino county), he found an old stone house. As the house appeared to be long abandoned, he continued on. Several miles further in his travels he found a spring. Near the spring he spotted an old trail. Following the trail, it led him up over a hill where he spotted a huge boulder that was split in two. The path went through this split boulder, and into what he believed was an ancient Spanish camp.