Miners extracted white and purple fluorite from beneath the grasses and sage scrub and left scattered tailings. We found the most beautiful pieces of fluorite they left and left what we couldn't find. The miners left cans from their tinned meals in a big rusted heap. They left shiny steel gates over the holes they left. They left sculptural metal and concrete forms scattered around in ways we found artful and I'll bet they did too. We ate ramen noodles that came out of plastic packets that we carried away and left somewhere else. The air was enormous, clear and cold. I didn't hear a single bird and don't remember any insects and don't know what's normal in that part of the high desert. I worried about scorpions so that is a type of prayer I left.