|
|
CERRO
GORDO UPDATE |
|
Cerro Gordo is again
open to day visitors, road and weather conditions
permitting.
Please phone
(760-876-5030) for current conditions before venturing out!
A caretaker is living
on on the site and visitors must check in before venturing
around the ghost town.
No supplies or accommodations are available at Cerro Gordo and
visitors should bring plenty of drinking water and haul out their
own trash. The dirt road from Keeler to Cerro Gordo is a steep,
eight mile ascent. Four wheel drive is not usually required, but
vehicles should have adequate ground clearance.
Phone 760-876-5030 for current
information or contact us through email at:
|
|
NEW
CERRO GORDO BOOK ! |
|
Robert C. Likes,
co-author of
From This Mountain--Cerro Gordo,
has completed a second book about Cerro Gordo.
Click on the
cover image (above) to learn more.
This is a
story of a generation that sought its own self-identity in a
world that suddenly became more complicated with an
uncertain future and values.
This epic
journey was staged on desert mountains, on steamboats
carrying silver bullion across a desert lake, and on a
freighting trail that traversed 200 miles of inhospitable
desert. |
|
|
|
Mules can
taste the difference--so can you |
|
LOGO T Shirts Available
|
Explore Historic California with our logo depicting the
California backcountry and its rich history both true and
farce. |
We now offer
shirts, sweats, jerseys and cups with our logo. |
Click the shirt for details! |
|
|
|
|
Friends
of Last Chance Canyon is a new organization interested in
sustaining and protecting areas within the El Paso
Mountains, near Ridgecrest, California. The main focus is
preserving and protecting historic sites like Burro
Schmidt's tunnel and the Walt Bickel Camp.
Please click
on either logo to visit the FLCC site. |
|
We
support |
|
|
Bodie Foundation
"Protecting Bodie's Future by Preserving Its Past |
|
|
|
Click on Room 8's
photo or phone
951-361-2205
for more information. |
|
|
The Panamint Breeze is a newsletter for people who
love the rough and rugged deserts and mountains of
California and beyond.
Published by Ruth and Emmett Harder, it is for people who
are interested in the history of mining in the western
states; and the people who had the fortitude to withstand
the harsh elements.
It contains stories of the past and the present; stories of
mining towns and the colorful residents who lived in them;
and of present day adventurers.
Subscriptions are $20 per year (published quarterly –
March, June, September & December) Subscriptions outside the
USA are $25 per year. All previous issues are available.
Gift certificates are available also.
To subscribe mail check (made payable to Real Adventure
Publishing) along with name, address, phone number & e-mail
address to: Real Adventure Publishing, 18201 Muriel Avenue,
San Bernardino, CA 92407.
For more information about the
Panamint Breeze e-mail Ruth at: echco@msn.com |
|
|
It's always FIRE
SEASON! Click the NIFC logo above to see what's burning. |
|
|
Visit Michael
Piatt's site,
www.bodiehistory.com, for the truth behind some of
Bodie's myths. |
|
|
Terri
Geissinger is a Bodie area Historian, Guide and Chautauquan.
A long time resident who lives in Bodie and Smith Valley,
she is dedicated to preserving stories of the pioneer
families, miners, ranchers and teamsters. Click the photo
for information on her tours with the Bodie Foundation. |
|
Credo Quia Absurdum |
Explore Historic California! |
Not too many years ago, the family station wagon was the
magic carpet to adventure. Today, that family station wagon is likely to
be a four wheel drive sport utility vehicle or pick up truck. SUV's and
other 4x4's are one of the best selling classes of vehicles. Ironically,
industry statistics show that once purchased, few owners will dare to
drive their vehicles off the paved highway.
Click your mouse through
the
website and enjoy our armchair adventures and the histories behind them.
|
|
New Cerro Gordo
Book a Reality
Cerro Gordo A
Ghost Town Caught Between Centuries
|
Cecile
Page Vargo's collection of Cerro Gordo stories, true, farce
and somewhere in between, is being published in a new book,
Cerro Gordo A Ghost Town Caught Between Centuries.
Pablo
Flores' and Jose Ochoa's discoveries of rich deposits of
lead and silver ores attracted large scale development by
Beaudry and Belshaw. The prodigious output of Cerro Gordo's
smelters during the 1870's was shipped through the small
pueblo of Los Angeles to San Francisco for refinement. The
freight wagons of Remi Nadeau returned to Owens Valley
filled with supplies for the remote mining camp and
fertilized the seeds of commerce that helped Los Angeles
grow.
The book
gives glimpses of Cerro Gordo from the silver and lead
mining days through the early twentieth century zinc era to
its modern place as, according to author Phil Varney,
"Southern California's best, true, ghost town." There's even
a possible solution to the location of the fabled "Lost
Gunsight
Mine" that former Cerro Gordo owner Mike Patterson
once suggested.
We are
proud to team with the Historical Society of the Upper
Mojave Desert in Ridgecrest, Calif., to bring Cerro Gordo
A Ghost Town Caught Between Centuries to print. This is
their first major publishing venture. The book will be
available for sale directly through them or through selected
book sellers.
Limited,
special edition copies from the Ninth Death Valley
Conference on History and Prehistory are available while
supplies last for $20 (including USA shipping) from Explore
Historic California. Email ehcinfo@gmail.com for additional
information or ordering.
|
|
|
|
A Visit to Gold
Point, Nevada
by Roger Vargo |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
We
participated in the Ninth Death Valley Conference on History
and Prehistory held in Beatty, Nevada, November 4-6, 2011.
In addition to our presentations on E Clampus Vitus in
the Greater Death Valley Area and The True
Legend of the Lost Gunsight Mine, we visited Sheriff
Stone (Herb Robbins) in his (near) ghost town of Gold Point,
Nevada.
The town,
first called Lime Point in the 1880's, then Hornsilver about
1908. The name was changed to Gold Point in the late 1920's
to attract more investors. Two thousand people once lived in
the town. The last major mining operations were in the
1960's.
Herb Robbins
operates a fine Clamper-style bar and offers several rooms
for rent in Gold Point. Visit
http://www.goldpointghosttown.com/ for additional
information.
For additional
information on the History Conference, visit the
Death Valley
Natural History Association website. |
|
|
|
Morning
temperatures in Gold Point, were on the cool side. The town
is located at an elevation of about 5300 feet about 25 miles
southwest of Goldfield, Nevada. |
|
|
Sheriff Stone
(Gold Point owner Herb Robbins) greets History Conference
visitors (above) and talks about the town's history inside
the bar (below). |
|
|
|
E Clampus
Vitus Qheho Posse #1919 recognized Gold Point with a
monument in 2004. |
|
|
Visitors take
in the stark, snow-dusted scenery. |
|
|
A composite
panorama image from an abandoned mining site near Gold Point
shows lots of open country in Nevada's Esmeralda County. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|