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Its that thrill of discovery. The mines of Cerro Gordo finally became quiet in 1933. . Nadeau sold his mule teams and built a Los Angeles hotel at 1st and Spring streets -- where The Times now stands. He opened a general store in town and began staking claims to mining property, according to the 1948 book City-Makers by Remi Nadeau, a descendant of a town pioneer. The only sound in town, Patterson says, is the whistle of the wind blowing through all the bullet holes in every building up here.. Underwoods ongoing goal: rebuild the propertys 22 existing structures and explore the abandoned settlement in order to open it up to tourists. 2168 33 :sOV{!>WG~]M;]x-T `{i:u=8M,cb#_ QIe8[Tp? D zJJSV:|CAenn:\;& Pxap5^Aj9JcmP\[aPU0H}E3?6v*!kHvU0OOj' endstream Universities follow the money, Trump is accused of trying to delete surveillance video in classified documents case, Taylor Swift is about to boost L.A.s economy. ?PuzE! U*r$5jpotP|KyEvrgXuXOm;n3)czixS=? It was hoped the arrival of the railroad would signal a return to prosperity in the Cerro Gordo district, but those hopes were never realized. These Mines Collapsed 100 Yrs Ago And Now We're Reopening Them (Cerro Gordo Pt 3) HeavyDSparks 2.73M subscribers Subscribe 2.8M views 1 year ago No risk credit repair from Credit MRI. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, $950 round trip from LAX to Darwin, Australia, on Qantas, Cool, hot and close to home: Celebrate Memorial Day in Southern California, The 15 things to do in L.A. before the end of summer, Kristen Bell, Dax Shepard and kids get kicked out of Boston airport over slumber party, I miss it tremendously. Readers share their favorite spots to eat in Mexico City, How to have the best Sunday in L.A., according to Chris Appleton, The untold story of Californias most iconic outdoor bookshop, He built a booming black market empire inside L.A. County jails. 0000012414 00000 n 0000005639 00000 n Increasing migration to the area was met with resistance from the Native Americans, which limited early mining efforts. In this video, we attempt to dig out and excavate a collapsed mine tunnel at the Cerro Gordo ghost town and silver mine. By operating the Yellow Road as a toll road, Belshaw was able to earn income and control the shipments of silver from the mountain. In fact, he said with a laugh, Its quicklime.. Should it be unfortunately severed, we would inevitably collapse.. Bradshaw had experience with silver mining in Mexico, and he recognized that a smelter would transform the district into a major producer. Shipping 1,000 tons of ore daily, Cerro Gordo became the largest producer of zinc carbonates in the United States. Locals seem more bemused than bewitched about the Molly Stevens legend. But the price of silver began to drop in the late 1870s, and by 1888 Cerro Gordo was practically deserted. In 1977, Enderle became a born-again Christian, finally finding the peace of mind that business success hadnt provided. Beaudry continued acquiring mining rights from debtors until he soon owned a majority of the richest and most productive mines in the area, including partial interest in the Union Mine. If only we proved some history to be true and some not, thats all right., And if he hits the jackpot, hell experience the high that, according to Fred Brust of the National Treasure Hunters League in Tempe, Ariz., fuels the treasure hunter: Theres nothing like digging up a 1-ounce nugget or a $20 gold piece out of the ground. 0000004489 00000 n Cerro Gordo Mines - Wikipedia NOTE: Friends of Cerro Gordo is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit and donations are tax deductible. . When the Vanadium mine was operating in Pine Creek for 60 years, . The pilots wife happened to be a researcher of buried treasure and told Enderle of the Molly Stevens legend. According to Times stories, an anchor was dug up from the dry lake in 1951 and, 11 years later, a pilot discovered a rusted propeller and lifeboat. Cerro Gordo was discovered by Pablo Flores and other Mexican prospectors in 1865. National Dive Bar Day: Is There a Portal To Hell In Memphis? Is Abraham Lincoln Haunting the White House? Cerro Gordo is literally, a stones throw away from what will be a giant open cyanide pit. CBS News Underwood isn't just Cerro Gordo's sole. An influencer who bought a ghost town is ready to die there To test the process, Enderle and his friend took the pilot-photographer to a mine, where, according to Enderle, the aerial photography identified all the veins (the mine owner) knew about and found two veins he didnt know about, and was able to tell him within a percentage the value of the veins., Satisfied that the process worked, Enderle said: We got to talking about why dont we use this on some of these treasures wed heard about.. Maybe a bank. This was Californias Comstock Lode, producing 4.5 million ounces of silver in the 1860s, 70s and 80s. <>stream March 14, 2021 6 AM PT LONE PINE, Calif. Perched high in the craggy Inyo Mountains, between the dusty Owens Valley floor and Death Valley National Park, looms a rugged, nearly roadless chunk of. I dont know anybody looking for treasure who just tripped over something., On this day, Enderle has drilled about 30 holes in the lake, making the surface look like a prairie dog town, lunar landscape-style. Youve done something that nobody thought you could do., Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, California bar suspends 1,600 attorneys for violating rules set up after Tom Girardi allegedly stole millions, Santa Barbara News-Press bankruptcy brings uneasy end to an owners bitter tenure, Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey remains on lockdown in aftermath of riot, He built a booming black market empire inside L.A. County jails. Cerro Gordo in 1980. At separate ends of town, two buxom madams and their bevies of painted, frilled and scandalously clad ladies welcomed miners and threw lavish parties. On the shore of Owens Lake, the town of Keeler was laid out and a mill was constructed to process some of the lower grade ores. During the area's first few years of mining activity, the mines were worked on a small scale by individual . Although the town had gained a new lease on life, it never reached anywhere near the enormous production and resulting riches from the boom years of the 1870s. Yet rumors persist that the Molly Stevens capsized on the lake in 1878, killing 14 and depositing a booty of silver at the bottom. But on their first day on the lake, the weather and faulty equipment stalled them. Inyo County, CA mining, mines, mine owners and mine statistics At an elevation of 8,300 feet, there are three roads that access the site, some of which are not recommended for vehicles with low ground clearance. However, given Cerro Gordo's remote location, the scarcity of essential commodities like wood for smelter fuel and water, and the difficult freighting routes to deliver bullion to markets, the towns prosperity relied on a complex array of enterprises all working in harmony. He is also along because, according to Al, hes an electrical genius and is using a magnetometer to try to detect the presence of metals buried with the boat under the lake bed. The couple were married in 1999. Since 2008, the Ghost Adventures team has investigated some truly terrifying claims. Wood was and is scarce at Cerro Gordo. Coordinates: 363216N 1174742W. Michael Pattersons goal is to keep the town in a state of arrested decay and to finish its first chapel, all dedicated to Jody Stewart Patterson. They were mining in limestone below the 200-foot level and failed to shore up the tunnel with timber, former Cerro Gordo mining foreman Fred Fisher told a Times reporter in 1950. East of Cerro Gordo townsite is (and were) a large number of pinyon pines. Originally a small-scale operation worked by Mexicans between 1862 and 1866, the mine was included in the Lone Pine Mining District organized in April 1866. q"mCp!gHaFF46h|5b9zn%fJDo !Z=O(:=?L\Hap? Excavating The Collapsed Omega Tunnel at Cerro Gordo Ghost - YouTube HKn0D>O+Q@P 9B ]2\IYHGaF0>k80}Aj By 1907 high-grade zinc was found in the old Cerro Gordo stopes, and ore shipments were begun. 2180 0 obj The Gordon House was built in 1909 by Louis D. Gordon, who began the "zinc era" of Cerro Gordo. The limbs and crest of the asymmetric anticline are further . I dont know if that caters to their imaginations or what, but rumors are a dime a dozen. If the ghosts of Cerro Gordo could talk--if they could rise up from the dance hall floors where men were gunned down or float up from the silver mines where others died--they could tell Al Enderle if he is wasting his time looking for buried treasure under the floor of Owens Lake. Unless if youre lucky like I was, you wise up and realize you really cant buy happiness, that happiness is more of a relationship with life, not so much possession of things.. Mining of silver and lead peaked in the early 1880s, with a second mining boom producing zinc in the 1910s. Successful merchant Victor Beaudry was the first person to recognize the potential of the Cerro Gordo mines. This TikTok Famous Ghost Town Has Some Crazy Secrets (Cerro Gordo Pt It was the first major silver strike in Owens Valley. In From This Mountain--Cerro Gordo, authors Robert C. Likes and Glenn R. Day say the demise of the Molly Stevens wasnt nearly as spectacular as Enderle thinks. A group of Mexican miners found silver here in 1865 and named the site Cerro Gordo, after a mountain pass in Mexico. . endobj 0000012596 00000 n HtSIn0~KE,6z- Y>x*,yD endobj Read about it at The California Gold Rush. endobj AP{ef6v&AR?-~kFv'|>c =b*i~>&%lm Cerro Gordo Historical Society: Employer Identification Number (EIN) 770478662: Name of Organization: Cerro Gordo Historical Society: Address: PO BOX 221, Keeler, CA 93530-0221: Activities: Described in section 509(a)(2) of the Code, Historical site, records or reenactment: Subsection: Charitable Organization: 2179 0 obj By 1871 the town of Cerro Gordo was booming. Cardinals, Dodgers have had trade talks, Julie and Todd Chrisleys nightmare prison conditions from no air conditioning to rattlesnakes, kids say, Commentary: George Kliavkoff and the new Pac-9 learn a hard lesson. Then, with hand-held poles that can probe deeper, he hopes to hit what he believes should be the hard bank of a channel. First Episode Available on March 11 With Episodes Dropping Weekly on Fridays. Read more at Where to Find Gold in California. In an interview with VICE magazine, Underwood made it clear that Cerro Gordo will never be done. This one . "Where to Find Gold in California" looks at the density of modern placer mining claims along with historical gold mining locations and mining district descriptions to determine areas of high gold discovery potential in California. <>/Border[0 0 0]/Rect[510.324 617.094 549.0 629.106]/Subtype/Link/Type/Annot>> Cerro Gordo, California. Update July 2018: The town has sold to new owners who say they want to preserve its history for all to enjoy. The editor of a local newspaper described Cerro Gordo as a shooting gallery where pistols continue to crack and good men go down before them., No one cared about that in Los Angeles, virtually drooling over the lucrative silver trade. endstream Back above ground, Underwood discovered in the towns general store a briefcase filled with more personal artifacts from the miners lives, which he said included their their highs, their lows, their bank statements, their divorce settlements, lawsuits, mining claims, love letters, hate letters., It's crazy to find something like that, and it just takes you back into an era, he explained. [via Discovery Inc.]. The Cerro Gordo Mines are a collection of abandoned mines located in Cerro Gordo in the Inyo Mountains, Inyo County, near Lone Pine, California. 0000027774 00000 n endobj If the silver is found, the salvage operation will increase the projects cost dramatically. Remi Nadeau, a descendant of the family involved with the transport of ingots from Cerro Gordo across Owens Lake and by mule train to Los Angeles, has written books and articles on the period.[26][27][28][29][30]. Supposedly its Alphonse Benoit, who was killed in a nearby woodcutters camp in the 1870s, Patterson says. This time, the water from below doesnt fill up the hole as fast. 0000008257 00000 n More Information: Check the link below before you go! Brent Underwood is a resident of Cerro Gordo, a. 2181 0 obj For more on the subject here is a video from Brent's popular Youtube channel, Ghost Town Living. Just as the mines were running out, another silver discovery was made in 1925. A more lethal blow was dealt by falling lead and silver prices, effectively ending this era of activity at Cerro Gordo. endstream With the onslaught of white settlers in the 1860s and subsequent discovery of silver and gold deposits in the Inyo Mountains, the Indians were forced out. Were 90% to 95% sure that it is there. Gold mine near Death Valley sparks controversy - Los Angeles Times The anticline strikes approximately 22NW and is roughly coincident with the axis of the southern Inyo Mountains. Review of Cerro Gordo Mines, Keeler, CA - Tripadvisor California California ghost town with a bloody past suffers a new calamity Brent Underwood stands amid the ashes of the American Hotel on Wednesday, two days after a fire in the Inyo Mountains. 0000000956 00000 n July 1996. Around 2am on June 15th, 2020 the American Hotel burned down at Cerro Gordo. Claim jumpers tunneled into the base of the mountain from all sides, prompting more gunfights. pic.twitter.com/o2JI00n0lz, Its impossible to avoid death at Cerro Gordo, he continued. . You can buy pleasure for a while, but as you buy pleasure, you find the more you buy, the more you need. 2182 0 obj Im going to enjoy probing this hole and seeing what happens. When he does, the pole goes down 10 feet but hits nothing. [11] 0000006102 00000 n Financial success came early. 0000020990 00000 n endobj A new podcast from horror director Eli Roth recounts the terrifying ways the supernatural wrecked the lives of unsuspecting victims. The tractor cut the ore hauling time in half, but still could not keep the smelter in enough ore to be profitable. 0000002540 00000 n By 1869, Americans had taken over the property and ultimately turned it into the largest producer of silver and lead in California, yielding ores that assayed at least as high as $300 per ton. $120,418 raised of $500,000 goal 3K donations Donate now Friends of Cerro Gordo is organizing this fundraiser to benefit Friends of Cerro Gordo. Work was nearly complete when the Brady burned at the dock. She said an old-timer named Jack Carruthers showed her one in 1971 or 1972. Privately owned today, the site includes a number of buildings, the remains of the Union Mine, equipment, and kilns. The particular details of the discovery are obscure, but it is thought that the first discoveries of silver ore were made by Mexican miners in 1865. A developer, Enderle is president of the Enderle Co. and one of the owners of the Enderle Center in Tustin. . Hundreds of miners, prospectors, and businessmen were making their way to the town. Gross production of the Cerro Gordo camp from its early profitable years up until 1938 was about $17 million. There was a lot of bad stuff that happened here, and its part of the towns history, Underwood told Vice. Later, he established a farm and industrial-equipment wholesale business, an electronics company, owned apartment and industrial buildings, and sold and designed swimming pools. Cerro Gordo lies along the axis of the anticline near its southern end where it begins to plunge southward. 0000003613 00000 n One of the last settled areas in California, it was once a promising agricultural garden where Indians worked the land. Part of the towns history also includes unexplained incidents, Underwood said, such as lights that switch on in unoccupied buildings. Every treasure hunter--from the person who walks the beach with a metal detector to Mel Fisher, who after a 16-year search uncovered hundreds of millions of dollars in Spanish treasure off the Florida Keys in 1985--must endure the skepticism of others. 0000027598 00000 n The names of the principal mines attest to the early importance of these Mexican miners: San Felipe, San Ignacio, San Francisco, San Lucas, and Santa Maria. I believe it to be there. Two of its buildings can be rented by overnight guests including the Belshaw House, which was originally built in the 1870s, and the Bunkhouse, built in 1904. The thing we dont know for sure, even if we accept that, is, is it the Molly Stevens? Miners would try to dodge death by stacking sandbags in their beds to deflect any stray bullets from striking them as they slept. Now, in the second year of a lease with the state, Enderle is trying to make a legend come true. The mines were prolific, with historians estimating that millions of dollars in silver reached Los Angeles during the last third of the 19th Century. According to Roger Vargo, of Explore Historic California. In 1972, he returned to Orange County. [34], "Old Ghost Town Is Getting a New Lease on Life: The mining site high above Owens Valley went bust in 1888. [16][17] The buyers, Brent Underwood and Jon Bier, purchased the property with additional Los Angeles-based investors. Cerro Gordo's last shootout occurred in December of 1892 when miner Billy Crapo walked out of his cabin (seen here) one morning and gunned down Cerro Gordo postmaster H. B. 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Small scale mining persisted for many months and despite the clear abundance of rich ore, widespread attention escaped the remote district for some time. Mule teams transported the ore toLos Angeles, 275 miles away, necessitating high-class ore and bullion in order to make a profit, and for the first few years they did as trains of huge freight wagons delivered so much silver bullion from Cerro Gordo that theLos Angeles News, in February 1872 stated, To this city, Cerro Gordo trade is invaluable. The wind whipped across the lake so mightily that nothing could get done. We'll keep trying until we can uncover the treasures hidden within.If you're interested in the history of mining, ghost towns, or just enjoy a good adventure, this video is for you. Despite its reputation as the world hide-and-seek champion, you just may spot one of the elusive beings in one of these 10 hotspots. The towns authenticity extends to the period plumbing -- or lack thereof. 0000004646 00000 n <<55091FE17FA8B2110A00B05E95E2FC7F>]/Prev 751624>> <>/Border[0 0 0]/Rect[81.0 617.094 123.96 629.106]/Subtype/Link/Type/Annot>> But the ghosts arent talking. Inch-deep water provides a breathtaking reflection of the Sierra Nevadas to the west, still graced on this early March day with snowcapped peaks. Most of the metal ingots produced here were transported to Los Angeles, but transportation difficulties hindered the success of the mines. By the end of 1869, over 340 tons of silver bullion had been shipped from the Cerro Gordo mines to Los Angeles. [19] They set the corresponding smelter with careful precision in the shadow of Buena Vista Peak and near the edge of the ridge, which was so narrow, eroded, and not 150 feet--wide, that one Enderle knows he is bucking some historical accounts. In 1868, Mortimer Belshaw[6] arrived in Cerro Gordo (lit. In the early 1870s, two smelters were erected at Cerro Gordo and one on Owens Lake near the rival town of Swansea. Discovery of the silver ore is credited to Pablo Flores,[4] who began mining and smelting operations near the summit of Buena Vista Peak in 1865. It had 700 working mining claims and 37 miles of tunnels, plus five hotels, seven saloons, two brothels and a 600-plot graveyard. At that time it had several vintage buildings, including the general store[13][14][15] and 336 acres (136ha). The district remained prosperous for several years. There was no silver aboard, according to Robert C. Likes and Glenn R. Day, authors of the 1975 book From This Mountain -- Cerro Gordo.. (And its still standing.). <> In 1907 a second smelter was built. Mine Explorers - "Cerro Gordo's deadliest mine disaster | Facebook "Cerro Gordo's deadliest mine disaster struck in the early 1870s when a cave-in killed at least eight and as many as 35 Chinese miners. Man Explores Abandoned 1878 Mine Shaft Filled With Dynamite - Newsweek Mining operations spanned 1866 to 1957, producing high grade silver, lead, zinc ore, and more rarely gold ore and copper ore. [1] Centennial Flat Clay Mine: Southern Sierra Mining: Clays: Cerro Albino: BLM Administrative Area: Mercury: Cerro Gordo: Underground: Copper Gold Lead Silver Zinc: Cerro Gordo: Unknown: Copper Gold Lead Silver Zinc: Cerro Gordo: Mike Patterson: BLM Administrative Area: Copper Copper Gold Gold Lead Lead Silver Silver Zinc Zinc: Cerro Gordo Mine . [22] On the morning of June 15, 2020, a fire destroyed the hotel and neighboring buildings. 0000008886 00000 n Independence, was impressed with the quality of the ore. Long before the area was developed, Mexicans had been crawling the mountain they called Cerro Gordo, meaning "Fat Hill," looking for silver. National Dive Bar Day is July 7, and a small Memphis joint may be pulling double duty as a dive bar and a portal for dark energy. 0000005172 00000 n %%EOF The mining town of Cerro Gordo, in the Inyo Mountains above Death Valley, was formed in the 1860s after silver was discovered there. And while he concedes that the historical evidence is sketchy, Enderle decided the venture was worth a flyover by the pilot-photographer. In 1938, the last inhabitants packed up and left the depleted mines behind. And while many of the locals in the picturesque Owens Valley, 240 miles north of Orange County, think Enderle has holes in his head for drilling for treasure in the lake, he perseveres. The 1871 American Hotel in Cerro Gordo. Something has been lost and you found it. Keeler languished until 1883 when the Carson and Colorado Railroad built a line into town in July of 1883. He destroyed the screen to placate his jittery wife. Investor Buys a Ghost Town and Rides Out Quarantine There Alone! <>/Border[0 0 0]/Rect[383.224 97.5415 454.584 105.5495]/Subtype/Link/Type/Annot>> A newspaper article from 1874 described the town: "It is a cheerless, rocky, disagreeable burg, but full of stout, warm-hearted go-ahead men, who are tearing fortunes out of the bowels of the earth. The financiers were impressed, and Belshaw left San Francisco as a third owner of the newly formed Union Mining Company, with enough capital to begin construction of a smelter to process the Cerro Gordo ores. By 1867, tales of the silver at Cerro Gordo had spread, bringing in flocks of new prospectors. The only modern thing is the guest registry, which recorded nearly 4,000 visitors last year. endobj Cerro Gordo, located at a remote location east of Owens Lake in the Inyo Mountains of Southern California, was Californias largest producer of silver. The Inyo Mountains had been stripped bare of the sparse juniper and pinyon and wood had to be shipped in from distant sawmills to fuel the smelters. 0000003327 00000 n Get Surfshark VPN at https://surfshark.deals/SPARKS and enter promo code SPARKS for 83% off and 3 extra months for free!You can win one of my personal vehicl. The establishment of Fort Independence allowed for the expulsion of native populations, facilitating the expansion of the mining town. Cerro Gordo which means "fat hill" in Spanish was a bustling silver mine. The Cerro Gordo District is located east of Owens Lake in the southern Inyo Mountains surrounding Cerro Gordo Peak. A water company was established to tap and pipe water from springs about six miles away, but these springs were quickly depleted. endobj According to the entrepreneur, at the height of Cerro Gordos infamy, law enforcement steered clear of the 5,000-resident town, where shootouts were frequent and there was around at least one murder a week. <>/Border[0 0 0]/Rect[123.813 144.141 339.156 153.15]/Subtype/Link/Type/Annot>> These Mines Collapsed 100 Yrs Ago And Now We're Reopening Them (Cerro Don't forget to like, subscribe, and hit the notification bell to stay up-to-date with our latest mining adventures!Patreon Account: https://www.patreon.com/MBMMLLCHats, Shirts, \u0026 Merch: https://my-store-c2b497.creator-spring.com/AFFILIATE LINKSWhat's an affiliate link? They could tell the Orange County businessman-turned-treasure hunter what--if anything--really happened to the Molly Stevens, a steamboat used a century ago to transport silver ingots across Owens Lake from the Cerro Gordo mines en route to Los Angeles. A ghost town's caretaker - CBS News Exploring the 200 level of Cerro Gordo's Union Mine - Instagram