There´s Gold In Them Thar Hills!!
Gold Fever is the term they have given it. That insatiable urge to seek out the Noble Metal. Since the days of the Forty Niners, gold has shaped the history of the state of California. Stories of the mother lode swept the planet with tales of unimaginable wealth. People came from far and wide to have a stake in the riches that were yet to be found. Over time stories became legends and the riches that were mined formed the state that we see today.
A while back I happened to be researching an area known as Mountain Pass California. Anyone who has headed to Las Vegas Nevada from Southern California on the 15 Freeway has crested over this pass on their way to the State Line. There is a large rare earth mineral mine owned at the time by a company by the name of Molycorp. The only rare earth mineral mine in the U.S. and I was applying for a job at the location. While internet searching the area I came across a local legend I found extremely interesting.
The legend concerns cave systems that are said to litter the entire Mojave desert and how they are linked by an underground river. More specifically the legend of Kokoweef Peak and Earl Dorr´s underground river of gold. As the gold rush of the North began to dry up a secondary gold rush ensued and that rush encompassed the deserts of California. Earl Dorr came to here in search of riches and began exploring the Mojave based on local stories. Tale tells he befriended two local native american brothers who lost a third by plummeting to his death in a cavern. They told Dorr the tale and he decided to explore the dangerous cave
Through a sworn affidavit that was passed on to The Times, Dorr explains the journey he took. He and another individual by the last name of Morton descended into the cavern system thousands of feet until they reached what was described as a huge chamber thousands of feet tall. This chamber was said to have levels that seemed to be where the underground river had once ran before carving its way deeper.
Dorr and Morton followed the underground river for miles, noticing that it ¨breathed¨ raising and lowering like tides. As the tides would recede, a dark black sand would appear and that sand is what Dorr was attracted to. He panned a small amount and found it contained a LOAD of gold. Dorr then carried out a few pounds of the material and in his paranoia, blew the entrance to the shaft shut. At the end of the affidavit he states the black sand was estimated to contain $2, 144 USD of gold per US yard with gold at $20 USD an ounce. The entrance was ultimately lost over time and no other person would visit the river of gold after Dorr.
The price of gold at $1000 USD per ounce has sparked serious search for the river, creating gold fever for many adventurers. At the current price it would put the black sand at somewhere near $100,000 USD per US yard making it very profitable for anyone who found it. Over the years the legend has sparked controversies about it even being real, with people spending their life savings in search of the river.
I had been discussing this story with a friend of mine for a few days and one morning he calls me and tells me to pack up, we were headed to Kokoweef! A few of us headed out the few hour drive to explore the legend. As we rolled up to the peak we noticed a several properties that belonged to the caretakers that lived on site. After padding the bill we were given permission to explore
The property had several old diesel trucks sitting around and we noticed a nice area to park next to some drilling trucks. They looked like they had been sitting for a while but had taken some core samples at one point.
I decided to walk around the peak and check out the property before entering any mines. There were a lot of rusted things on the property and I came across an engine that looked like it may have been used to hoist something or run something, as it was attached to a wooden frame.
Near it there was an entire truck frame with a whole motor still attached.
There were also closed off mine shafts that looked to have collapsed. The bright orange mesh was there to make sure the property owners were not liable for anything that happened.
I came across several mines and small shafts along the side of the peak.
And some of these side mines appeared to have been worked and still had equipment outside of them along with scaffolding
I made my way up to the top of the peak and noticed a large animal den I thought was a vertical shaft
Once at the peak I noticed the geodedic marker. I snapped a shot as well as a few shots looking around the area.
After heading back down the peak I met up with the others and we all decided to descend the main shaft to explore. I took a couple of pictures of the signs outside of the shaft telling the tale of Earl Dorr
We essentially broke in to the mine as the door was locked and there was only a small entry way at the top left of it we all climbed through. We didnt think of it as trespassing as we had already worked a deal with the caretaker to explore the property.
I saved my battery and didn't get any photos inside the shaft but it was essentially a strait shaft that descended down into the peak. The floor was composed of some of the richest red clay I had ever seen. As we walked deeper water started seeping from the walls making the clay very sticky. I thought about how great this material would be to make red brick. Once we reached the end of the tunnel there was a pool of water not allowing us to go any further. We couldn't really see into the pool so we didn't know if the shaft was flooded or if it just ended there. We made our way back up and out of the shaft and back out to the truck. We decided to explore the other side of the peak. We noticed the road went around it when we came in so we drove that way.
We parked right outside a mine shaft and all decided to explore this one as well
NOW THIS MINE WAS DIFFERENT! The weather outside was very brisk but the moment we entered the shaft we felt the temperature actually increase. I have never set foot in a mine shaft where the temperature drastically increased on the inside of the shaft. There were many awesome precipitate formations which we passed as we descended down.
The most amazing thing I have seen to date inside a mine shaft was here, when we came across this old mechanised ore cart. I have seen ore carts in person before but never one that ran on its own power.
After exploring most of the level we were at, we reached the end of the line. A shaft with a really rickety ladder led down to a level lower than what we were on. As none of us had repelling equipment, we were out of options at that point.
As we drove home all we could discuss was what could have potentially been down that ladder. Did it lead down to the river of gold we had read about? I haven't been back since, so as far as I know it very well could.
Thank you for taking the time to read this post and I hope you enjoyed the legend of Earl Dorr.
All photos, unless otherwise noted or sourced, were taken by
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!steemitworldmap 35.4230626 lat -115.5259848 long ´Kokoweef Peak California´ D3SCR