"The Hidden Treasure of the San Joaquin Valley"

That's what the Hanford 2012 Visitor's Guide calls Hanford. I thumbed through the guide in my hotel room shortly after I set down my luggage. My interest piqued, I headed out the lobby door and walked a few blocks to see the sights this small city (2012 population 54,324) had to offer.

I spent only three days in the larger area on business, so I'm no Hanford expert. I saw a few blocks of the downtown in perhaps two hours combined. What little I did see in that short time described a past glory, a stable present, and a promising future.

Hanford is the seat of Kings County. This is the most productive agricultural land on Earth, and Hanford sat on the rail line. Judging from the dates on its larger downtown buildings, the city's heyday was from the 1890s to the 1920s. Then came the Depression.

I passed this drinking fountain at the Courthouse Square. I saw no indication of a significant Japanese population in Hanford nowadays. Did the Americans of Japanese descent return to Hanford following their release from the World War II internment camps? I have no idea.

Likewise, I saw no sign of a significant Chinese population, although Hanford boasts the remnants of a small Chinatown, complete with a Taoist temple.

The original Kings County Courthouse, built 1896, is now occupied by businesses.

The Hanford Auditorium, built 1924, still holds events. The seats with their ornate design are original.

Outside the Veterans Center, built 1925, sit two German 77mm field guns from World War I.

The Fox Theater, built 1929, still draws big names.

Hanford takes pride in its past, and is doing what it can to maintain its historic buildings and attract new business. I walked around the downtown when the temperatures were in the upper twenties. I would suppose pleasant weather brings many events and much activity. I enjoyed my short stay. Hanford deserves its self-appointed description of "The Hidden Treasure of the San Joaquin Valley."

Escuela Estados Unidos

My wife and her sister with her grandson,
at Escuela Estados Unidos, 2006

My last post about my wife and her elementary school reminded me of this story.

Panama City years ago named its elementary schools after various countries. My wife attended Escuela Estados Unidos. (This school was 0.6 mile from the Canal Zone, then under United States control.) The United States ambassador made a yearly visit to the school. The students would assemble and sing to him The Star Spangled Banner, in English.

While in Plaza Francia in Casco Viejo in 2006, we met these
students from Escuela Estados Unidos on a field trip.
Note their school badge, with the United States Coat of Arms.

Fifty Years Ago

My copy of the Oakland Tribune

I was playing marbles with classmates during recess at my elementary school in San Pablo, California, when a girl came up to us and said the President had been shot.

About the same time, in Panama City, Panama, my wife's elementary school teacher announced the same thing to her class.

Return to Humbug Canyon

Two weeks ago, I went to the abandoned gold mine of Cape Horn Tunnel in Humbug Canyon. Today I returned to the canyon for some more exploring. I wanted to see if there were abandoned gold mines down an unimproved road I had no time to visit on the previous trip. I found that there can be a big difference between what's on a topographic map and what actually exists.

Leaving the Sacramento Valley, I drove up Interstate 80 to Auburn, and then took the road to the old mining town of Foresthill. I traveled another thirteen miles to China Wall Staging Area, where I parked my truck. No other vehicles were about. This parking lot is just above the snow line. When the snows come, the lot will be filled with trucks pulling trailers with snowmobiles. I put on my day pack and went on my way. The temperature was in the mid thirties. Frost was on the ground. The elevation here is five thousand feet. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. Leaves had fallen from the deciduous trees. Most trees here are conifers.

I wound my way among the manzanita along the canyon rim. My route paralleled a water ditch once used for mining operations. No water runs through it now. I wonder if the ditch was built with Chinese labor, giving it the name China Wall. There's no wall around here, only this ditch. From the rim I could see six miles to Iron Point, the start of Euchre Bar Trail from the Alta side. Euchre Bar is my favorite trail. Indeed, this vast canyon, with its long stretch of the upper North Fork American River, is my playground. I've been to the canyon many times, yet I've seen only a small fraction of it. The rugged terrain alone will keep the vast majority of it out of my reach.

Rugged terrain, yet the early miners apparently scrambled over every square inch of it in their search for gold. After all, they sunk mine shafts in many remote places. I think the hillsides were far more accessible in the early years of the Gold Rush. I haven't researched this, but I think the Indians here used fire to clear the underbrush, as did the Indians in the Eastern forests, to give game such as deer room to thrive. When the first miners arrived, they easily walked about the forest. Later, the miners cut down the trees and suppressed the fires, and now the forest floor is choked with brush. Casual hikers like me aren't going to leave the unimproved roads or trails and plunge into that brush. So I'll never see most of this canyon up close. I can only go so far from a trail or dirt road.

Back to the object of my visit today: to walk down the unimproved road in search of abandoned gold mines.

The topographic map had a discrepancy - the unimproved road was shown as a foot trail. At about one hundred yards, a small tree had fallen across the road. I walked under it. Soon there were small manzanita bushes and pine saplings growing in the road. It had been years since a vehicle had come down here. And then the road completely diverged from the foot trail on the map. With the map loaded in my Magellan Triton GPS, my waypoint was in the woods with no trail nearby, although I was still on the road. I continued on a bit, until the vegetation in the road simply blocked progress. I shouldn't have gone this far. I had left a map at home giving my intended route, and I wasn't following it. Since I was alone, this wasn't a good idea. So I turned around.

I didn't see any abandoned mines along this route. Perhaps this had been a logging road many years ago.

I walked uphill and returned to my truck. My little exploration this day had revealed nothing of real interest. But it had been a pleasant hike nonetheless.

Cape Horn Tunnel

The autumn weather could not have been better for a hike, so off on a hike I went, to Cape Horn Tunnel on Foresthill Divide. I went to Cape Horn Tunnel a few years ago, in the winter, most of that journey on snow shoes. Today there were but a few small patches of snow at the China Wall Staging Area starting point. Two other vehicles were in the parking lot. They belonged to dirt bike riders - there's a network of motorcycle trails in this area. I would be hiking alone. I put on my pack and was on my way. The starting elevation was 5,000 feet. I would descend to about 4,250 feet. This would be a leisurely hike.

I traveled along the rim of the canyon and got a wonderful view of the North Fork area. On the return hike I would see boxcars, almost six miles away, of a westbound freight train traveling the rail line built by Chinese laborers in the 1860s.

View toward Iron Point from near China Wall

An unimproved road leads to Cape Horn Tunnel. I saw a few tire tracks on the first part of the dirt road, and then I saw no tire tracks. Autumn leaves covered many sections of the road. Few people drive down here.

Cape Horn Tunnel is an abandoned mine that dates to at least the 1880s. I don't know if it was a productive mine, or when operations ceased. The adit is next to the road. It's now filled with water.

Adit to Cape Horn Tunnel

The topographic map shows another mine nearby, the Alameda Tunnel, but the adit is down the hill a bit, in heavy timber, and since I was alone I didn't want to wind my way down there.

The unimproved road continued a short way to the creek in Humbug Canyon. At the end of the road was a tub. What a tub was doing here, I had no idea, but someone had hauled it here for some purpose. I also found some one-inch black plastic line, possibly used for water, but the line was disconnected. This was a beautiful spot, the small creek running through a steep gorge. Some mining activity had been going on somewhere around here. I'm not sure when the activity was going on. There didn't seem to be recent activity.

On the return, at a clearing with a view of the opposite hillside, I saw a young Giant Sequoia. These hillsides were logged about a century ago, and the trees date to then at most. Giant Sequoias are rare in these parts.

Young Giant Sequoia

I passed quartz outcrops by the road. I broke off a piece of quartz. It contained a very small amount of gold. If this quartz had gold worth taking, there would be a mine shaft here. But there is only a small amount of gold. I tossed the quartz to the ground and continued on.

Quartz outcrop

Downhill from Cape Horn Tunnel is a new mine shaft. I took the dirt road to it. The work on the mine appears recent, within one to three years. The miners had dug a horizontal shaft some forty feet into the slate, placing substantial timbers to support the walls and ceiling, and then they stopped their work. It had been a while since they last worked here. I noted the cobwebs on the safety helmet hanging on a beam. And the lack of fresh footprints in the mud. And there were no tire tracks in the dirt road.

 

 

 

 

 

I continued uphill. I passed several piles of bear scat on this hike.

I noted side roads leading here and there. I'm sure they go to mines not listed on the topographic map. I'll have to explore those dirt roads someday.

A Seldom Seen Stretch of River

Oftentimes while panning for gold at my favorite spot on the North Fork American River, I've looked downstream and wondered what lies in the one-third mile stretch to where the North Fork North Fork enters. Access is difficult, and few people go into this place, I'm certain. Indeed, few who hike Euchre Bar Trail from Iron Point venture far beyond the footbridge.

Going there in the springtime is out of the question. The gorge is swollen with runoff from the snowmelt. Getting caught in the current is death.

A solo visit this time of the year would be foolish. While the river is at its lowest, the algae on the smooth river rock makes walking difficult. Google Earth shows some pools where a short swim might be required, and the water temperature is cold. Little sunlight reaches the river. Should trouble come, nighttime temperatures are cold, and the narrow canyon walls might block the signal from a personal locator beacon. A night spent on the river could mean exposure.

My guess is that the best time to enter the stretch alone is late summer. The river will be a bit higher than in early autumn, and algae could make walking on the river rocks difficult, but the water temperature would be tolerable. Swimming through the small pools would not be uncomfortable. If trouble came, nighttime temperatures would be tolerable, and a night could be passed without danger of exposure.

Gold is where you find it, and Google Earth shows some promising spots for gold. I'm sure it's been a long time since many of these spots have been touched. Hopefully, next summer I'll have a chance to visit this stretch of river myself.

Euchre Bar Trail and Southern Cross Mine

I had wanted to hike both the Euchre Bar Trail and American Eagle Trail, from Iron Point to the American Eagle Mine, but I got distracted and poked around too long at the Southern Cross Mine and what remained of its stamp mill, and I got behind schedule. When I reached Humbug Bar, where the two trails meet, I realized continuing to the American Eagle Mine would cut it close for daylight on the return hike. Since I was hiking alone, I figured it best to turn around.

No other vehicles were at Iron Point when I arrived. I gathered my gear and commenced the hike. I reached the footbridge at Euchre Bar and crossed the North Fork American River. After a short elevation gain, the trail largely parallels the river. I would see no others until the return hike.

Mining activities from the Gold Rush, and in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, left their mark in the canyon. Euchre Bar Trail is the main trail, but there are other mining trails not on the topographical maps. These are seldom used and in some cases much overgrown. There are terraces - level spots dug into the hillsides by the miners for their camps. In these terraces is found debris such as broken glass, shards from broken pots and dishes, and old nails. At one terrace, someone with a metal detector had dug in several spots. Many people with metal detectors have been there before him. The trail passes a water ditch, built to send water to mining sites.

From the trail, one can see down to a few pieces of equipment from the Southern Cross Mine. There's a trail leading to the site, but I never took the time to go down it. Until today.

Made by Risdon Iron Works, San Francisco, CA

The claim plat for The Southern Cross Gold Mining Company shows that gold was discovered here on October 6, 1884. This was 129 years to the day before my hike.

The Mining and Scientific Press of August 27, 1904 has an article discussing the Southern Cross Mine, including a photograph of the power house. It mentions the 10 stamp mill, the remains which I poked around. The heavy equipment had been hauled 35 miles from Colfax over a wagon road, and then dragged down a 2.5 mile slide from the ridge above to the mine. The river was dammed 2600 feet above the mouth of the tunnel by a timber and stone dam 35 feet high. This might be where the massive Penstock electrical generator now rests.

By 1917, however, the mill had burned and the mine was idle. This is from Mines and Mineral Resources of the Counties of El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, and Yuba. (1917)

It's amazing how much the forest has recovered from those days. About a century ago, the canyon had active mines with dams and generators and stamp mills. Then the mines closed and the buildings burned or were torn down. Today only the metal remnants lie amidst the trees and brush.

The mines shut down when it was no longer profitable to extract the gold. But there's still plenty of gold inside the hills. The U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper, Issue 1300, Part 1 (1984) states:

Based on past production and the geologic setting, these mines clearly define a zone of substantiated mineral-resource potential for gold and silver. It is estimated that 1.4 million tons of demonstrated lode resources averaging 0.04 to 0.22 oz of gold per ton occur at or near the Rawhide, Black Hawk, and Southern Cross Mines...

At today's gold price, that would equate to between $74,138,400 and $407,761,200 in gold in these hills.

But environmental laws being what they are, the gold will stay in the hills.

Very Lazy Exploratory Gold Panning Hike on Euchre Bar Trail

With the hot days of summer behind us, I was overdue for a hike down Euchre Bar Trail to my favorite gold panning spot. I arrived at Iron Point this morning. Rains the previous day had cleared the air of haze and left a light dusting of snow on the crest of the Sierra, some 25 miles to the east. Mists were rising from the canyon of the North Fork. No other vehicles were about. I would be the only person in this section of the canyon this day.

View of Giant Gap from Iron Point

I'm always awed by the view of Giant Gap from Iron Point. Back in the 1870s, after the transcontinental railroad was built, and when nearby Dutch Flat was the largest town in Placer County (due to its hydraulic mining activity), rich folks from San Francisco would take the train to Dutch Flat, to enjoy the air, and they would travel to Iron Point for a look at Giant Gap.

In case of emergency, I had my cell phone, but it would work only at the higher elevations. Same with my Kenwood TH-F6 ham radio. Deep in the canyon, surrounded by the steep hillsides, only the signal from my ACR ResQLink personal locator beacon would reach out. And even that depended on the amount of tree limbs overhead.

While still atop Iron Point, I made a radio check with my ham radio to the Sierra Foothills Amateur Radio Club 2 meter repeater in Auburn. I got a reply that my signal was weak but readable. Considering I was transmitting on five watts, and the repeater was about 27 miles to the southwest, I thought this was pretty good.

I shouldered my Osprey pack. Now I was ready to go.

My destination

The ground was a bit wet from the rain the previous day, so I had to be careful of my footing. The trail is steep, a drop of some 1,800 feet over about 1.25 miles. I find walking down a steep trail more taxing on the leg muscles than walking uphill. There's that extra bit of control needed to slow down due to gravity.

Near the bottom of the canyon, where Euchre Bar Trail connects with the North Fork North Fork Trail (an old miner's trail, now very seldom used), is the foundation of a small building that dates to the mining days of the late 1800s. Back then there was placer mining and drift mining and hard rock mining on this river and the ridge above. Miners were all about. The building that stood on this spot was a general store, a saloon, and a brothel. Besides the concrete and stone that was part of the foundation, there remains some metal objects such as pipes and cans, and broken glass, and ceramic shards from plates and such.

The history of the building was given to me by a man I met at the spot early this year. He was from nearby Alta and very familiar with the local history.

The foundation of the building

The trail continues downhill, past large boulders from a glacial moraine from the Ice Age, and then it reaches the footbridge over the North Fork American River. After crossing the footbridge, the trail climbs about eighty feet, and then largely remains level, as it parallels the river. This is where Euchre Bar Trail is at its glory. There is a roar from the river below. The forest canopy largely blocks the sunlight. The forest has a rich smell. There is the solitude. I wonder if around the bend ahead is a black bear walking my way.

I reached the turnoff to my gold panning spot. This hike was really exploratory in nature. I wanted to check out some different spots. I plan more trips in the weeks ahead. There is a pile of iron pipes by the river. These likely date back to the late 1800s. People hauled them all the way down here for mining operations and then apparently never used them.

My test pans showed no color, but I made the tests in spots I never worked before. I plan on more trips and I will get some gold.

This was really just a lazy day down on the North Fork. I enjoyed the fresh air and the scenery and the solitude.

I have many years of good hiking ahead of me, but the day will come when my legs won't have the strength to get me out of these canyons. Until then, I'm going to get in as many hikes as I can.

The angle of the sun meant it was time to pack it up. I gathered my gear and headed up to the trail. I reached the footbridge and looked to the water below. Several nice sized trout were lazily swimming about. I don't think many fishermen come down here.

View upstream from the bridge

From the footbridge, it was all uphill to my truck at Iron Point. I made the walk slow and steady, and I made it without stopping. Never before had I hiked out of the canyon without stopping. But then again, I was well hydrated, and I had not spent hours shoveling river gravel into buckets.

I reached my truck, and it was the only vehicle there. Just as I was ready to drive away, another vehicle arrived, but it was too late for those folks to hike to the river. I put my truck in drive and headed home.

American Fire

Last Saturday, around the time I finished my mountain bike ride to the two mines on Foresthill Divide, a fire broke out on Deadwood Ridge, about three miles to the southeast. This is an uninhabited area with steep hillsides covered in dense timber unburned for several decades.

As of this writing, Sunday, August 18, the American Fire has covered 12,950 acres and is 45% contained. There are 1,433 personnel involved in the firefighting operations.

At times this past week the smoke has drifted into the Sacramento Valley. I've watched firefighting aircraft heading to or returning from the fire pass near my house.

I had wanted to ride my mountain bike today to the site of Damascus, an abandoned mining town on Foresthill Divide. But with temperatures in the nineties and smoke from the fire, I decided to go another day. Instead, I drove to Foresthill to check on the smoke conditions. At Foresthill is an overlook of the Middle Fork American River. The canyon had less smoke than I expected. The winds were carrying the smoke in another direction.

A Tahoe National Forest ranger was at the overlook to answer questions from the public. She stood by a large board with a map of the fire containment boundary, plus other information. I stayed at the overlook for some forty minutes and several people came by, many asking questions.

The ranger didn't know when the fire would be extinguished. Lightning storms were in the forecast and they could complicate matters. No historic mining structures had been destroyed. The cause of the fire was under investigation - she wouldn't elaborate on this.

The cause of the fire prompted conversation amongst the visitors. Deep in the national forests including this one are marijuana grow operations, often manned by illegal immigrants from Mexico. (If you're hiking on a remote trail and see PVC pipes, you're in trouble. If you're hiking on a remote trail and you see PVC pipes and empty Jarritos bottles, you're in real trouble.) The general consensus amongst the visitors was that people on a marijuana grow operation had started the fire.

Hopefully the Forest Service will find who caused the fire.

Tahoe National Forest ranger answering questions

Smoke in the canyon of the Middle Fork American River

Wheatland Hop Riot Centennial

The Wheatland Hop Riot occurred one hundred years ago today. The site wasn't too far out of the way of my other business, so I drove there for a visit.

An electrical substation now sits where the conflict occurred.

It was an awful summer for picking hops. About 2,800 people arrived at Durst Ranch looking for work but there were only 1,500 needed positions. With a surplus of labor, wages were low and living conditions were horrendous. There were too few toilets. The workers felt they were being cheated of their wages. Into this mix of heat and filth and discontent were some Wobblies, members of the Industrial Workers of the World, who agitated for better conditions. The ranch met some but not all of their demands. The Wobblies called the workers together. Speakers addressed the crowd in English, German, Italian, Spanish, and Arabic. A larger meeting was called for the next day, August 3rd. With a strike brewing, the ranch called in the local authorities to evict the Wobblies. 

The confrontation took place at a meeting of the workers. The armed authorities tried to arrest a Wobbly leader giving a speech. The crowd went after them. When the shooting ended, the dead included a district attorney, a deputy sheriff, and two workers. Several others were wounded. Workers immediately fled the ranch. Two hundred National Guardsmen sent by the governor arrived on August 4. They surrounded the camp containing the remaining workers and assisted the authorities in serving warrants. The event made national and international news. Two Wobbly leaders went to jail for over a decade.

Today an electrical substation covers the site of the riot. Seen in the distance is the Durst Ranch house. Further down Spenceville Road, the hop drying bins still stand.

Highwater Brewing Company in the Bay Area has commemorated the riot with their Hop Riot IPA. (8/4 update: I found a bottle of Hop Riot IPA at Wine Plus and will open it soon.)

The hop drying buildings still remain.

Some Scenes in San Diego

Work took me to Southern California from July 7 to 16. My travels took a circuitous route, my first meetings in the San Diego area, followed by ones in the Palm Springs area, then on to the San Bernardino area, thence to Orange County, and back to San Diego for my final meetings. What follows is a bit of what I saw.


Otay Mesa Border Crossing

I spent one night in San Diego at a hotel about an eight-minute walk from the Otay Mesa Border Crossing. This is six miles east of the San Ysidro Port of Entry, the busiest land border crossing in the world. With the upsurge of violence in Tijuana these past years, I had no desire to cross the border for a quick look. But I did want to get as close to the border as I could, so off I went.

I've crossed into Mexico five times, three times in Texas during my Air Force career, and twice at the San Ysidro crossing over the past ten years. I can't recall my thoughts on the crossings in Texas, but on the California crossings I reminded myself that I was no longer under the protection of the US Constitution.

View to the Otay Mesa Border Crossing

The Otay Mesa crossing point handles the truck traffic that would otherwise have to cross at San Ysidro. Passenger cars and buses also use it, and there is foot traffic. Many Mexicans make the crossing each workday to and from their jobs in San Diego. There are Americans who work in Mexico.

People on the left returning to Mexico, people on the right headed north.

Headed to the crossing for foot traffic.

 

Vehicles entering Mexico. The northbound lines are far longer.

 

The one-way gate, with Mexico just a few feet beyond.

San Diego Pride Parade

On Saturday the 13th I drove to Balboa Park in San Diego intending to visit the museums. I found a parking spot on the north end of the park. There were announcements of a Pride parade. With many people in rainbow-colored clothing walking north on Park Boulevard, I figured the parade was nearby. So I put the museums on hold and walked to the Pride parade.

I've decided to not include on this blog post photos I took at the Pride parade.

Let's go on to Sunday!


USS Midway

On the 14th I toured the USS Midway.

These two thoughts from the tour:

1) The United States military is what stands between us and the Dark Ages.
2) The small digital camera I carried in my hand had more memory storage than that contained in the UNIVAC computer that almost filled a small room aboard the USS Midway.

God bless the men and women of the US Navy and the Marines!