Old Bookaroo
Silver Member
- Dec 4, 2008
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- 3,817
In view of the very interesting posts on the previous Topic about Desert Magazine's "Mr. Pegleg," I thought some Pegleg Hunters would be interested in this entry from Karl von Mueller's Encyclopedia of Buried Treasure Hunting (The Blue Book of Treasure Hunting) [Weeping Water, Nebraska: 1965; Reprinted San Francisco: 1990].
It is a good measure of the tremendous amount of useful information contained in this slim volume that, although I believe I know it as well as anyone (and I certainly should!), every time I pick it up and read it I learn something new. It is a remarkable reference work!
Lost Pegleg Sequel: On 28 Apr. 1956, Herman Hill (Norwalk, Calif) brought a gallon gasoline can full of brown-blue encrusted nuggets the size of beans to Dean Miller, editor of the National Prospector's Gazette & swore him to secrecy before telling the following story: He & his father, years before, had followed a map to a point in the Chuckwalla mtns where they found 3 hills joined together. They prospected them all but found the 'beans' in the can on only one of the hills. For 25 years, before & after his father died, they or he had made annual trips to these hills & packed out all of the 'beans" they could carry. A process using acid & lye was used to clean the nuggets which were sold to doctors, dentists, & assayers.
This was, of course, when the Gold Act was in force and private ownership of refined gold in any form other than jewelry was illegal. Gold nuggets sold at a premium substantially above $35 per oz. because that was the only legal avenue for owning gold. Careful readers of KvonM's works will understand why doctors and dentists purchased these nuggets. And why the EBTH has an entry for "Hammondize."
Good luck to all,
~The Old Bookaroo
It is a good measure of the tremendous amount of useful information contained in this slim volume that, although I believe I know it as well as anyone (and I certainly should!), every time I pick it up and read it I learn something new. It is a remarkable reference work!
Lost Pegleg Sequel: On 28 Apr. 1956, Herman Hill (Norwalk, Calif) brought a gallon gasoline can full of brown-blue encrusted nuggets the size of beans to Dean Miller, editor of the National Prospector's Gazette & swore him to secrecy before telling the following story: He & his father, years before, had followed a map to a point in the Chuckwalla mtns where they found 3 hills joined together. They prospected them all but found the 'beans' in the can on only one of the hills. For 25 years, before & after his father died, they or he had made annual trips to these hills & packed out all of the 'beans" they could carry. A process using acid & lye was used to clean the nuggets which were sold to doctors, dentists, & assayers.
This was, of course, when the Gold Act was in force and private ownership of refined gold in any form other than jewelry was illegal. Gold nuggets sold at a premium substantially above $35 per oz. because that was the only legal avenue for owning gold. Careful readers of KvonM's works will understand why doctors and dentists purchased these nuggets. And why the EBTH has an entry for "Hammondize."
Good luck to all,
~The Old Bookaroo
Thanks!!
these ( unfortunately ) are not the black nuggets... But a GREAT read, for peglophiles like myself and others.. Got any more 
