The story of Skidoo goes back to 1907 when two miners on their way to Harrisburg got lost in a thick fog, the two men setup camp in Emigrant Canyon where they found a bit of gold, and were able to trace the gold to a lode in the local Panamint Hills, here the men filed the claims on what they called the Gold Eagle Claims. Successful mining man Bob Montgomery of Bullfrog fame caught wind of the find, bought the claims and formed the Skidoo Mines Company.

A townsite was laid out to support the workers and water was brought in from below Telescope Peak over 20 miles away. The town was given the name "23 Skidoo" which was a popular term of the day and also by coincidence, the area was discovered on Jan. 23, featured 23 mining claims, and had a water line of 23 miles in length.

The U.S. Postal Service did not care for the "23" in the name of the town, so the town's name was shortened to "Skidoo". At it's peak the town had a population of almost 500 people and featured a bakery, restaurants, school, doctor, well hung villain, and even a newspaper "The Skidoo News".

The Skidoo Stamp Mill was powered by water, but was not the first mill in the Panamints to be water powered, that honor goes to the 3-Stamp Gem Mill further south. Gold started to roll out in 1908 and by 1909 the Skidoo Mine was the 2nd largest producer in the state after the Keane Wonder.

The Skidoo Mines Company continued to produce, despite many fall backs which included the original Skidoo Mill burning down in 1913. The Skidoo boom finally came to an end in 1917 when the mines played out or became too hard to extract the gold ore.