The Many Lost Treasures of Mariposa, CA (Photos Added)

[watcher 2]

lookielou,

Are you any where close to Calaveras County. We might have some places in common.

Watcher

 

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[EagleDown]

Halito my Friends,

I haven't finished this story yet, but if you will bear with me, I'll post what I had before my trip to Quartzite. I got my pc back yesterday, but after the trip, I was too tired to mess with it. This morning, I went into my documents to draw it out for the finish, and couldn't find it. I was afraid I had lost it during repairs, but a friend told me how to search for it, (in word.) I just found it a few minutes ago and thought I'd go ahead and post it since I've kept you waiting so long. I'll post the final part some time tomorrow. Yikes!! This is not a tease, just my embarassment.

~~~\/~~~

Golden Balls are still Waiting

After a seemingly lifetime, the date of my discharge finally arrived. Since I had better plans for my minute discharge pay, I decided I would “hitch hike” to Bishop and save on bus fare. At that time I was stationed in Whidbey Island Washington and it was a pretty straight shot down US 395 to Bishop.

So, I set out on the road with a “ditty bag” and the uniform I was wearing. (I liked to tell people I was traveling by air. You know, “Air ya’ll going my way”??) (lol)

All in all, it was an interesting trip. I was up US 395 about a year ago and passed through Reno, NV, believe me, it’s nothing like it was in 1959. As a matter of fact, if it were not for the signs, I wouldn’t have known it was Reno. In 1959, I can only recall 2 casinos. Both of them were on the East side of the hiway.

The person I was riding with then told me that was as far as he was going,
so, I spent about 30 minutes there with my thumb out.

My next ride was with a real “talker”. By the time we’d gone 100 miles, I knew the names (and some personal history,) of his whole linage from his great, great Grandpa on down to his youngest Grandchild. He did tell me a story about his Grandpa(?) that I found intriguing. It seems that his Grandpa found some diamonds near Las Vegas,............ but that’s for another story. (lol)

Anyway, I finally arrived in Bishop early one morning. Since I didn’t want to wake anyone up at 3:00 am, I spent the next 2 or 3 hours sitting on the front steps waiting for lights to come on before I knocked on the door. Man, I’d forgotten how cold the nights could get in the high desert country.

I had been back a couple of weeks before Sarge had the time for us to go look for the old mans’ mine, but finally, early one morning, we were on our way. I’m not sure how much the roads have changed since I left the Bishop area, but US 395 made a left just North of town, but rather than staying on 395, when it turned left, we continued straight North on hiway #6, parallel to the White Mountains.

Back in those days, the first turn off towards the White Mountains was a dirt road into Silver Canyon. Just before the mouth of the canyon, some movie company had built a RR depot along the old narrow gauge RR tracks. And yes, there was silver to be found in the canyon. Of course, all that I ever found there was a low grade copper ore. (lol) But, Charley Stryker hit a nice vein of almost pure silver in 1956 and sold it to a mining company for $180K. The mining co. went in and in about 2 weeks of tunneling, the vein disappeared against a blank wall. They figured that with all of the shifting the earth did thousands of years ago, the vein could continue 20 to 50 ft. in any direction, so they shut down and never recovered their investments.

Anyway, we continued on up hiway 6 for about 2 miles, to where a dirt road went to the right, up towards the Whites. I remember a water trough a couple
hundred yards from the hiway, and right at one end of the trough there was a fair size pool where the water over flowed the end of the old wooden trough.

 

[EagleDown]

Halito bill-USA,

Yep, I was a little disappointed too. Unfortunately, as you might have noticed while you were there, there sure was a lot of beautiful rocks for sale. I tried to buy them all, but ran out of money. No, actually, I could only afford to spend about $50 and that was too much on my limited budget.

Anyway, as us older injuns say; "When the time is right". So, if we are meant to meet, it will be when the time is right.

Take care my Friend.

 

[lookielou]

lookielou, Are you any where close to Calaveras County. We might have some places in common.

Watcher

I'm above Sacramento in Tehama / Butte County area. When I go, it's usually north or east bound, haven't been your way in awhile. Haven't any success stories to mention.

Thanks for the the warm welcome all

 

[EagleDown]

A late conclusion to Golden Balls (of Gold)


I believe we traveled about 2 miles into the Whites when we came upon a gulch with a rather large trash dump coming from a large cabin close to the edge of it. As I’ve said in earlier posts, I wasn’t interested in artifacts, so I can’t tell you much about this dump, other than, it was big. I remember thinking, “it must have taken a 100 years to build up that many cans and bottles”. (Or maybe 4 or 5 hungry men eating a lot of canned beans.) (lol)

And, we also found that this was where the road ended. Sarge parked the car and we got out and gathered our prospecting tools and started a hike up the gulch to where Sarge thought the old man’s mine would be. Sarge said the old man told him that it was well hidden, and after about 4 hours of searching, I figured the old guy wasn’t exaggerating at all. I think we must have walked and climbed about 15 miles or so that day. Of course, I knew absolutely nothing about mining, I probably missed many signs of the old man’s work.

Regardless, we left empty handed shortly before dark and returned to the old water trough. Though it wasn’t that far home, we decided to spend the night there, under the stars.

By the time we had our little camp set up, it was dark so I needed a flashlight to go to the pool to get some water for morning coffee. When I shined the light on the pool, I saw something moving in the water and knelt down for a closer look, just to see a beautiful rainbow trout looking back at me. Moving real slow, I pulled out my marine issue survival knife and eased it into the water moving slowly until the point was almost touching his side……….then I thrust it at him, hard. And just knocked a strip of scales off of his side. Well, there went my dream of being the great provider of the nights meal. (lol) So, if you happen to find this pool of water, look for a big ol’ rainbow with a skinned side and you will know that you’re on the right track. (Incidentally, it was his/her left side.) (lol)

A couple of weeks after this, I moved down to N. El Monte, CA and never returned to look for the mine of The Gold Balls, so, it’s still waiting for some lucky prospector to come along and open it back up.

Eagle

 

[bill-USA]

Thanks Eagle, for another complete story line. Appreciate your efforts greatly.

 

[EagleDown]

Thanks Eagle, for another complete story line. Appreciate your efforts greatly.

Thank you bill-USA, sorry that I couldn't end this with "Mine Found".

But, then again, if that were the case, I'd probably be digging it instead of writing about it.

Eagle

 

[lookielou]

waiting for more... Eagle

caught 2 trout by hand using some algae near east fork above Azuza, Ca. never have been able to that one again. Since the title of your thread includes photos, I thought I'd add one, but it wasn't in Mariposa, Ca

This is from two different locations near Hayfork, Ca used a sluice for the larger vial and a pan for the smaller. Saved the black sands to process later but the other half, with out knowing tossed them since. My camera won't allow adjusting the size of the pic at the moment, had to do it online then try clean up the clarity.

 

[EagleDown]

If you got it and can see the color, it's all good.

Here's one I picked up about 2 years ago. I hang on to it for tuning my MXT when I go prospecting. The Barber dime, I picked up in the middle of one of the busiest intersections in this part of town. You can see where it was run over and scarred on the pavement. Don't ask me how it got there, but I was out of the cross walk dodging cars to get it.

1.1 penny weight...............Or....................1.8 grams

 

[lookielou]

didn't expect a picture, Thanks for sharing, nice!

will be watching for your next story and or pic of an old / new find.

 

[EagleDown]

didn't expect a picture, Thanks for sharing, nice!

will be watching for your next story and or pic of an old / new find.

That's hokay lookielou, I am learning how to operate this digital camera and you gave me the excuse I needed to see how it would look when I posted a picture. Notice that it's a lot better than it was way back on the first page.

Besides, I've been writing so much about gold, I thought it would be nice to show that I know what it looks like.

 

[EagleDown]

P.S., I plan to make a trip up to Mariposa area about the first week of March in case any of my friends in that area are interested. (Hopefully, nothing will come up to change my plans.) I'll post the date and time as soon as I am sure of it.

Eagle

 

[EagleDown]

This upcoming story will be somewhat like I gathered it, a piece here and a piece there, plus a little from records AND one major artifact that put credence to the whole legend of the Mariposa $50 Gold Slugs.

Other than Pete, the best friend that a young man ever had, the donors of certain parts of the story will have to remain anonymous since they are direct descendants of the original inhabitants of Mariposa. Though the ones whom I was privileged to talk to have passed away, there might be a couple who are still alive and I KNOW they wouldn’t appreciate me giving their names to the world. (They do like their privacy.) (lol)

It was shortly after “Hermit Pete” and I became close friends that he mentioned the $50 gold slugs/coins. That started me on a quest that lasted off and on for about 25 years.


The "Artifact"

I had been researching for about 4 years when I heard that someone had found a brass proof of the $50 coins with a metal detector. I think it was found in about 1964. I was just about ready to give it up as a lost cause, but the news seemed to get the “old timers” as excited as it did me. Since I had been living in Mariposa for awhile, Thanks to Pete, I had met one old rancher who was willing to tell me what he remembered his father telling him. Then he introduced me to a couple more old time residents and thanks to his trust, I picked up more and more. (And met more and more.) (lol)

Anyway, I found that the brass proof would be displayed in the Mariposa County Sheriffs building, and I guess that I was one of the first to get to see it.

It was in a glass display case in the foyer, so I couldn’t pick it up and study it and I could only see one side of it.

It was a little larger than a 50 cent piece, but not as large as a silver dollar. And I don’t think it was quite as thick as a 50 cent piece. There was a circle about a quarter inch in diameter in the center, with rays radiating off to the raised edge of the coin, (all the way around.) It was also reeded, just like any other “modern coin”.

While there, I was told that it was found at the old Mt. Bullion Mint. (That was easy to find since it’s in Mt. Bullion, right at the edge of hiway #49.) There is a historical marker there that gives more information. If memory serves correctly, the Mt. Bullion Mint was the first mint in California authorized by the Federal Government to mint gold coins.

So, on with the story!!


~~~\/~~~

Mariposa's awesome $50 Gold Slugs, (Lost!!)


It all started late one lazy afternoon when Pete and I were sitting in the shade of the old cedar tree in front of his cabin. Of course, he knew that I loved hearing stories of lost mines and treasures.

I had just finished telling him what I had read about Pegleg Petes black gold nuggets, (I now think that one is merely a fable.) when he casually asked: “Have you ever heard of the Mariposa $50 gold slugs”? “Uhh no, not that I can recall” I answered.

He told me what little he knew from word of mouth and offered to introduce me to an old friend of his who had been born in Mariposa about 20 years after that fateful day when the coins were lost. Anyway, the next day, he had a letter of introduction all ready for me to present to his friend.

It was actually a week or so before I had time to meet with his friend, (let’s just call him “Harry”.)

Harry agreed to meet me at (man, I can’t remember the name of the store,) a small meat market at the junction of hiways #49 and 140, as he had a delivery of beef to make. (Yes, I checked when I was up there last year and the little meat market is no longer there.) The market has been torn down and replaced with a fancy little restaurant specializing in croissants,

The owner had a small table and a couple of chairs for customers waiting for their “special” cuts of meat. (As an aside, I never bought a steak there that wasn’t so tender that I couldn’t cut it with my fork.)

After introducing ourselves, we sat at the table and the owner, George, brought us a couple cups of coffee. I handed the letter of introduction to Harry and sipped my coffee while he quietly read it. After a couple of minutes, he laid the letter on the table and asked: “Are you Pete’s son”?
I told him no, but I wouldn’t be a bit ashamed if I were. He just nodded his head. Then he said: “Well, the way he talks about you in this letter, you might as well be”. “Frankly, it seems that that’s the way he sees you”.

(I’ll leave out some of our conversation now, since even thinking about it
makes my throat tighten up.)

“So, you want to know about the Mariposa gold slugs huh”?? “Well, here’s what my daddy told me”:

Back in the early days of Mariposa, taxes weren’t paid like they are today. Once every month or so, the tax assessor would leave Mariposa at the “crack of dawn” and ride his horse around to the mines collecting a small percentage of the gold as taxes. On the trip out, he would stop at the new Mt. Bullion Mint and drop the raw gold off and pick up an equal amount, (weight wise,) in fresh coinage. On this particular trip, he exchanged the raw gold for about 50 newly minted, first run, $50 gold slugs. Then, when he left there, he made the rounds to the other mines, slowly working his way back toward Mariposa. This routine had worked out very well ever since the Mt. Bullion Mint had gone into production. So, there was no reason the change the routine.

Only, this time, he didn’t make it back to Mariposa!!

(Incidentally, I could never get a concise amount of gold slugs. It seems that the “powers that be” didn’t want the number of coins to be public knowledge. In a way, I guess it makes sense. A few $50 gold coins doesn’t sound so bad as to get people upset at the city officials. I guess throughout time, politicians are all the same. Anyway, one person would say; “About 50”, and the next would say, “Maybe 30 of them”)


To be continued………

 

[trixie charger]

Eagle,

I would truely like to meet you! to see what kind of Man, would leave another Man, hanging on like that!!!
You sir are the True Treasure of Mariposa Oh and dont go breaking a Hip to get Dimes in the middle of the roads
We need you healthy to keep up with your stories

 

[EagleDown]

Eagle,

I would truely like to meet you! to see what kind of Man, would leave another Man, hanging on like that!!!
You sir are the True Treasure of Mariposa Oh and dont go breaking a Hip to get Dimes in the middle of the roads
We need you healthy to keep up with your stories

Just want to make sure my friends hang around long enough for me to enjoy their company.
Keep in mind that in my early years, I had to go to the Sat. movie matinee to see what happens to the Lone Ranger next. (Every Saturday; "To be continued".

Love you all!!..............Eagle

 

[EagleDown]

Eagle,

I would truely like to meet you! to see what kind of Man, would leave another Man, hanging on like that!!!

Your wish is my command!!

I just want to make sure that my friends hang around long enough for me to enjoy their company.

 

[calisdad]

P.S., I plan to make a trip up to Mariposa area about the first week of March in case any of my friends in that area are interested. (Hopefully, nothing will come up to change my plans.) I'll post the date and time as soon as I am sure of it.

Eagle

Hey Eagle,
Do your plans include a campground, motel or couch of a good friend?
btw- we finally got some snow this morning after a really dry January.
regards-
C-dad

 

[EagleDown]

Hey Eagle,
Do your plans include a campground, motel or couch of a good friend?
btw- we finally got some snow this morning after a really dry January.
regards-
C-dad

Halito my Friend,

I usually find a safe place to park and sleep in the back of my Explorer. The rear seats let down so that there's a flat platform. The only thing lacking there is a 30" X 72" piece of 5" thick memory foam. That floor get a little hard at times.

 

[EagleDown]

Oops, forgot to mention; it's raining here right now. First since mid January.

 

[trixie charger]

Hi Eagle,

Your FRIEND on the East Coast
And we'll be waiting, same Bat Time, same Bat Channel