The mines of Slate Ridge lie to the northwest and the northernmost spur of the Amargosa Range, the Grapevine Mountains, is just to the south of the townsite.

Bonnie Claire Flat extends to the southwest between the Slate Ridge and the Grapevines to the California border.

It replaced an earlier camp known as Thorp's Wells which had started in the 1880s to process the ore from Gold Mountain.

In the 1920s the town became a supply point for the construction of Scotty's Castle located in Death Valley about 20 miles to the southwest.

This project, at Bonnie Claire, followed shortly after Tonogold's successful reworking of Big Mill's tailings.