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

[diggemall]

A bit like having the podium, but not knowing if you actually have an audience or not, I suppose.



Diggem'

 

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[EagleDown]

A bit like having the podium, but not knowing if you actually have an audience or not, I suppose.



Diggem'

Exactly!

The counter tells you that there has been X amount of views, but that could be 2 or 3 readers making multiple visits.

 

[EagleDown]

Though I started this thread about Mariposa, I also have personal knowledge of other "Lost Treasures" in other parts of the state of CA. One is a lost mine containing wire gold in rotten quartz.

As the old miner told us; "The quartz is so rotten, I just dig the gold out with my case knife".
Bishop, CA 1955

 

[calisdad]

Hmmm, No comments/questions??

Kinda makes me wonder if anyone wants to read about more of my experiences.

I still have more, i.e.; My research on:
The "Mariposa $50 gold slugs".
An old mine with very visible gold in-situ.
My trip into the King Solomon.
A Civil War cache in (near) Mariposa.
A creek with "pickers" showing, after every rain.

And more.......

Eagle

You've had my attention for awhile now. All those stories have interest. Send me on a mission (LOL ). Are you heading up this way anytime soon?

regards-
C-dad

 

[EagleDown]

You've had my attention for awhile now. All those stories have interest. Send me on a mission (LOL ). Are you heading up this way anytime soon?

regards-
C-dad
[/quote]

The Spirits are testing my mettle. Last Thursday I was driving up a steep grade, and blew a radiator hose. I repaired it, but had to limp home. The heat messed up something in the electrical, but I'm working on it now. (Just taking a break.)
So, I don't know when I'll be up that way. By the time this is all over, I will probably be broke. Well, no biggy, I've been there before.

Rest assured, I WILL be up that way as soon as I am able.

 

[MariposaMountainMan]

Hey Eagle! Still here!
That would be great if you made your way up this way sometime. I am always interested about learning more about this area. Your stories and knowledge interest me very much. I am also having a bout of gold fever lately. I really need to go find some nuggets lol. Your stories are making my fever rise.

 

[EagleDown]

Hey Eagle! Still here!
That would be great if you made your way up this way sometime. I am always interested about learning more about this area. Your stories and knowledge interest me very much. I am also having a bout of gold fever lately. I really need to go find some nuggets lol. Your stories are making my fever rise.

If you have the time, PM me.

Eagle

 

[Lanny in AB]

What an incredible read Eagle. It was well worth the time to read every word. You are an irreplaceable source of knowledge, and I'm so excited that you're taking the time to write down your stories while you still have the desire to do so. I've met so many prospectors and miners that had the knowledge of many decades packed in their heads and fully intended to leave every bit of it there when they died! What a horrible loss. I'm so happy that you're so willing to share. I've written down many of my stories, and have them in several binders. But, I don't have near the magnitude and scope of fascinating story material that you have. Your stories are the true treasure on this lost treasure site and I salute you and applaud your conviction and caring that have resulted in such a fine collection of "golden stories". If you get the time, I'm sure any book that you write will be as greatly appreciated as your fine online writing.

All the best, and keep dropping in on my thread http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,453.0.html for updates--sorry your notification button isn't working--maybe this will help. And thanks again for your many kind comments and your helpful tips. As a matter of fact, the way I look at it, you and I still have a river or two to head up before we're done chasing the gold.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[nuggy]

HI Eagle, though I am half a world away in New Zealand I have enjoyed your thread very much. I live in an area where many of the 49ers came to gold rushes in the 1860's. The workings are similar, but we don't have the bears and rattlesnakes you come across. We have some similar stories of buried caches and lost rich mines too.
I also work in the lapidary field, though I don't do faceting, or much in the way of cabbing either, my avatar is a clue to what I do.
I was lucky enough to start my poking around in the early 1970's before the relics were carted away by scrap dealers and big brother put so many restrictions on what we could do in the outdoors.
Lanny put in a link to your thread and I am thankful to him for that as now I have two favorite threads!
Please continue with the story line, though I am sure the quality of writing and the interesting, even gripping subjects mean you are giving us what magazines would pay for! Lanny also is such a writer. My very best wishes, Nuggy

 

[EagleDown]

TREASURE NET IS BACK!!! LONG LIVE TNET!!!!!!!!

Lanny and Nuggy……..Thanks for the kind words!! I went to post on the 20th and
found the site was down. Unfortunately, I don’t remember what I was saying, but it was all good. (lol)

Oh yeah, Lanny, thanks for the pictures, now I’m jealous. Such incredibly beautiful scenery. And a few places in the photo that I’d just HAVE to dredge.

Nuggy, beautiful work, (your avatar.) I also carve stones, though mine are a bit larger. I do figurines. i.e. Buffaloes, Eagles, Busts, etc. Most of the time, my desk is covered with Jade, Alabaster, Onyx, etc. (Like right now.) Keep up the good work! This world doesn’t have enough artists.

Eagle

 

[EagleDown]

Helmut and the tunnel of gold

Helmut was a hard man to understand, (speaking psychologically,) and for the life of me, I can’t remember how or when I met him. I took it for granted that he was Dutch or possibly German. I do know that I met him sometime in the 80s, and almost every thing since we met.

I’m not sure, but I seem to have a dim recollection of a friend bringing him to my house and introducing us, telling him that if anyone had the answers to gold mining, it would be me. But then, I met a lot of people over the years that were looking for answers. (lol)

Anyway, Helmut was always dressed in white bib over-alls. Heck, until I met him, I didn’t even know they made over-alls in white. (lol) He was over 6 foot tall, thin and had a long white beard. All-in-all, let’s just say; he looked different. (lol) And, I might add; he didn’t know the first thing about mining.

I gathered that he had heard about a “lost mine”, and wanted to find it.

This is where I came in. After hearing what he had to say, I figured that it sounded like a worthwhile project, (and was pretty sure I’d get some enjoyment out of it.) Though, as it turned out, that was the only thing I got out of it. The thing that really sold me on the search was, the mine was located in a location called “Specimen Hill”.

For those who are not familiar with the term, a gold specimen is usually quartz that’s heavily laced with gold. Whoops, I’m off again. (lol)

Anyway, I agreed to meet him the following morning at his “mill site” and go with him to where he figured the mine should be.

The following morning, I arrived at his “mill site”(which was on the North side of the river, just past Bagby,) at about 8am and after being given a tour through the area, we loaded ourselves into my pick-up and headed down his road towards the hiway.

As I made a right turn onto hiway 49, he said to drive slow as it was a short way to the turn-off to his claim. Sure enough, we had hardly gone (less than,) a quarter mile when he told me to turn onto a dirt road. We went down the dirt road maybe a half mile, when he had me turn onto another road that went further down the mountain. A couple of minutes later, he instructed me to find a place to park the truck. Since it was a large flat area, (obviously man-made,) that wasn’t hard to do. (lol)

We got out of the truck to look around and he held his arm out and made a sweep with it that encompassed about 180 degrees of the hill side directly in front of us. “The mine should be in this hill somewhere”.

I almost told him I didn’t have x-ray vision, but then, I thought; after all, it is a “Lost Mine”. (lol) So, I walked back up the road we came in on, then I came back and walked about 100 yds. the other way to where the road ended. I came back to the flat area and studied the side of the hill. I had noticed a pole sticking up near the base of the hill, and though it was pretty well rotted off, I decided it was probably for running wire into the tunnel for lighting.

Then looking at the side of the hill above the pole, I could see where there had been a slide of materials sometime in the past. I walked over to the slide (slough) and with a handy branch; I scratched an X on the face of the slough. And told him, “I think if you dig straight in here, you’ll find the portal of the tunnel”.

After taking him back to his mill site and visiting for a short while, I returned home.

I didn’t hear from Helmut for about 3 weeks after that. Then one evening, shortly before dark, he came to my house all smiles. He said that he had dug where I said, and had uncovered the portal of the old mine. He was pretty excited about it as there were ore cart rails in it, which is a pretty good indication that someone had figured it was worth working.

It also turned out that he didn’t know how to go about “proving it out” for filing on it. I told him; “You know, ore carts had one problem. They are never tightly closed. I mean, with ore being thrown in them, if they once sealed good, it didn’t last long. The metal gets bent and stretched and before long you have cracks around the edges, where fine materials and small pieces of ore leak out”. “So, my advice would be to dig up the material between and on the sides of the rails and run it through a sluice box. If there’s any worthwhile gold there, it shouldn’t take long to find out”.

As it turned out, he had a good supply of running water at his mill site and figured he could haul the materials in a bucket, from the mine to his mill site and run them through the sluice box there.

Again, I didn’t see or hear from him for about 2 weeks, then one evening, he called and wanted to know if he could come out to my place. I told him sure, come on over.

I met him at the door and invited him in. I could see that he was excited. He pulled something from his pocket and told me to see what I thought about it. I let him drop something into my hand and when I looked, I found I was holding a vial with what appeared to be about 3 oz of raw gold in it. He told me that he had sluiced the materials as I had suggested and after running 5 buckets, this is what he came up with. I guess I should mention that looking at it, it was obvious that this was not placer gold. It had definitely come from a “hard rock” mine. It was also a fairly dark gold, (kind of like some Alaska gold I’ve seen,) indicating that there was a bit of iron in it. If I had been asked, I would have estimated that it ran about 80% pure.

I only saw Helmut one time after that. He showed up one day to bring me some fresh picked cherries and to tell me that some one had gone into his mine and high-graded a hanging vein of quartz with “a lot of gold”. I guess some materials had fallen from the ceiling and exposed about 20 ft. or so of quartz that was shot through with gold. Whomever it was had chiseled out most of the exposed vein.

It’s just an educated guess on my part, but from the way he described the vein and the visible gold it held, I roughly estimated they got away with over 3 pounds of gold. Now that would tend to irritate me just a little.

When I was in Mariposa this past August, I drove on up to Helmut’s mill site, only to find that the BLM had evidently bulldozed everything down. Nothing is left, other than scattered timbers and various odds and ends.

I also thought about driving down to the mine, but the BLM had blocked the road leaving the hiway. Of course, I’m not overly concerned about that as I believe I could still find the spot. Perhaps this summer, I’ll be up that way. There are some interesting washes coming down that particular hill that I think could stand a little metal detecting. (lol)

~~~\/~~~

Coming up next; A flip of a coin spells success

 

[Lanny in AB]

Eagle,

What a great story! I fully enjoyed the tale and learned a few tricks from it as well.

All the best to a very entertaining writer,

Lanny

 

[EagleDown]

Eagle,

What a great story! I fully enjoyed the tale and learned a few tricks from it as well.

All the best to a very entertaining writer,

Lanny

Awww, You're just saying that to be nice.

Well, hopefully, I'll have my 4X4 fixed back up. It turned out to be much worse than electrical. I guess when it over heated, it cracked both heads. So, that means get the engine rebuilt or, get another (used) engine. After checking around, I found it's cheaper to just replace the engine. Anyway, hopefully, I'll be able to get the replacement engine this week.

Man, it sucks being without transportation!!!

 

[SushiDog]

EagleDown.....I have read all of your posts, and have a few questions (if you don't mind).....First, when you found out that Hermit Pete's cabin was burned down, and you learned of Hermit Pete's demise, did you ask where his body was laid to rest? Second, you have enough stories to publish a book....you can LQQK at who publishes so many of the Gold Mining Books already in print for a publisher, and if all else fails, you can "self-publish" a book.....and Third, I pull a 28 foot 5th wheel....are there any RV spaces at Briceburg? Thanks for any 411 you can give to my questions.....SushiDog

 

[EagleDown]

SushiDog,

You would probably have to check with BLM about RV sites, Though when I was there in August, they had set-up parking slots outside the camping areas. You could drive down into some of them though.

I had a friend who owned a 22' travel trailer (back in the 70's,) and when he went across the bridge, he had to do a lot of jockeying to make the 90 degree turn to go down-river. But, his was not a 5th wheel. So, I'm not sure whether yours would make it or not. There's also a parking area just off of the hiway, but I don't know whether the BLM allows a large trailer there or not. Something else you would have to check.

As far as "Pete", I know where he's buried. Nuff said!!

 

[SushiDog]

Hi EagleDown! It's nice to talk with you and Lanny again after the down time on T-Net! As I mentioned to Lanny at another post, my first trip through Briceburg, Bagby, Coulterville, etc. will be a "recon" mission....to get a first person perspective of the area...I really enjoy just driving around and LQQKing at interesting sites....when I do plan a one day trip to those area's, I will post the date of my trip, and if anyone wants to hook up with me in any of those area's, well, it will be icing on the cake! (smile) I will take my wife's digital camera with me that can hold about 150 pictures, and I can preview the photo so I can keep it or discard it....With respect to my question about where Hermit Pete is buried, I asked that question for several reasons....First of all, I personally believe that you are a fine Ambassador to this great and good hobby of ours....and I am glad that Hermit Pete befriended you....I can relate to Hermit Pete because I can relate to him and his behavior....in those days, I would have been a Hermit Pete for sure! I also personally believe that many of us who have been enthralled with all of your stories have not only taken a liking to you, for for Hermit Pete as well....I sure would have liked to pay my respects to Hermit Pete, but it LQQKs like that is impossible to do, and that's your right to keep it private....with respect to BLM and RV spots....when I go for my "recon mission", I will be able to peep everything out, and I am sure I will be able to find some out-of-the-way spot to park my buggy....I relate to Hermit Pete, and I really don't like too many people, and I don't let anyone into my world very easily....that's just the way I am....it's just me, and it's the thing that makes me tick....I think I am going to make a move soon to go to those area's.....I have to coordinate some time off with my wife since I have a very sick doggie here that requires 24/7 care now....I am retired, so I don't have to deal with any issues connected with a work schedule....Lastly, as I mentioned to Lanny, I will read the landscape, and I will let "her" whisper to me while I intently listen and hear what she has to say....SushiDog

 

[SushiDog]

Oh!!! I almost forgot!!!! EagleDown.....what are the restrictions on BLM land? Do they allow metal detecting, etc.?

 

[EagleDown]

Oh!!! I almost forgot!!!! EagleDown.....what are the restrictions on BLM land? Do they allow metal detecting, etc.?

I'm really not sure about the metal detecting in the Briceburg area. I used mine while I was up there in August, but the BLM didn't come down-river while I was there.

The Bagby area is designated as a prospecting area, so I doubt there are any rules against it. Keep your eyes open for rattlesnakes, as this time of year, they like to come out and sun themselves on the rocks.

Eagle

 

[SushiDog]

Thanks for the 411.....and thanks for the heads up for rattlesnakes....I pack my service .38 cal; 6 shot; smith & wesson special at all times, and I have buck shot loads in the chamber....I will never kill anything unless it is absolutely critical to do so (life/death situation)....I will do some research into the BLM land do's and don't's.....again, thanks for the 411....SushiDog

 

[EagleDown]

Thanks for the 411.....and thanks for the heads up for rattlesnakes....I pack my service .38 cal; 6 shot; smith & wesson special at all times, and I have buck shot loads in the chamber....I will never kill anything unless it is absolutely critical to do so (life/death situation)....I will do some research into the BLM land do's and don't's.....again, thanks for the 411....SushiDog

You're welcome my friend.

Just out of curiosity, check out this link. When you get in, click on "Menu". When the page comes up, look on the left side of the page and open up the photo galleries. Then come back here and tell me why you would want to drive 150 miles (one way,) when you're already in the heart of the Mother Lode country.