Staring Ed Czajka (My Dad)
This is a History Mini-Series covering the desert near Ballarat, CA. So much history is overlooked in this area especially related to the 49'rs that escaped Death Valley through the area.
Full series episode list can be found here:
edwardczajka.blogspot.com/201...
On this adventure, we explore parts of Surprise Canyon, and show some historical video of us going up the waterfalls with two-wheel drive motorcycles to Panamint City before the canyon was closed. We also show the stagecoach stop, as well as a tool road that many don't notice on their way up into the canyon. We also look at Chris Wick's camp,
Banjo Short by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommons.org/licenses/...)
Artist: audionautix.com/
History:
The story of Panamint City began late in the fall of 1872, when veteran prospector Richard Jacobs and his partner Robert Stewart trudged up a nameless canyon in the western Panamints, hoping to locate the source of silver float Jacobs had spotted earlier in the lower canyon. Back then, this was rough, unchartered wilderness. Ballarat, Lookout, Skidoo, and most other local legends were not yet on the map. Only a handful of emigrants had set foot in Panamint Valley. But both men had a keen eye for minerals: Jacobs had spent much of his life prospecting in California and Mexico, and Stewart had prospected up and down Panamint Valley for a decade. Deep in the mountain, the canyon flared into a valley so unexpectedly green that they called it Surprise Canyon. It was there, on the pine-dotted slopes, that they discovered the silver-bearing quartz veins they had been looking for, which would soon give birth to Panamint City. When they returned to civilization a few days later, pushed back by an early snowfall, they found that their samples assayed hundreds of dollars per ton. Anxious to secure their discovery, they returned in April 1873 and claimed the richest ground they could find. Jacobs optimistically named his the Wonder of the World, and Stewart located the Stewart's Wonder.
The discovery occurred in the wake of rich silver strikes at Cerro Gordo and Nevada's Comstock, and it sparked wild speculation. Throngs of prospectors and miners rushed to Surprise Canyon. By the end of 1873 every square foot of ground that showed the slightest promise had been claimed, and the Panamint Mining District was in place. Jacobs was first to develop his property. In association with a few friends, he incorporated the Panamint Mining Company in November and hired no fewer than three dozen miners to sink exploratory shafts. The following summer he hauled a second-hand mill to his mine, hoping to reduce his ore to a hefty $1,000 per ton.
Mining didn't start in earnest, however, until Nevada senators John Jones and William Stewart stepped in. Both men had just made a fortune at the Comstock Mine, Jones as a superintendent and Stewart as a lawyer. In the summer of 1874, they and a lawyer partner, Trenor Park, purchased almost every claim in sight, as well as Jacobs' mill, for about $250,000. This high-stake acquisition triggered a second, even wilder rush, one of the biggest the Death Valley region ever witnessed.
Негізгі бет Dusty Desert Trails - E4 - Surprise Canyon
Пікірлер: 54