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CERRO
GORDO UPDATE
6/01/2014 |
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Please contact owner
Sean Patterson for information about visiting Cerro Gordo
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sean@smpatterson.com
Contact
us through email at:
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Join
Friends of
Cerro Gordo
The
Friends of Cerro Gordo is a 501(c)(3) public benefit
corporation established to assist in the preservation,
interpretation and public enjoyment of Cerro Gordo.
Help support these efforts by becoming a member.
Click on the FOCG logo (above) for additional information
and to join or make a donation.
First year membership is only $10. |
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Now Available
Cerro Gordo
A
Ghost Town
Caught Between
Centuries |
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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.
ISBN: 978-0970025869
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 (HSUMD) in
Ridgecrest, Calif., to bring Cerro Gordo A Ghost Town
Caught Between Centuries to print. This is their first
major publishing venture. The book is available for
sale directly from HSUMD or through selected book sellers.
Contact
HSUMD directly to order:
P.O. Box 2001, Ridgecrest, CA. 93556-2001.
Phone: 760 375-8456
Email:
hsumd@ridgenet.net
Announcing our Arcadia Publishing Book:
Cerro Gordo
by
Cecile
Page Vargo and Roger W. Vargo
ISBN: 9780738595207
Arcadia Publishing
Images of America series
Price: $21.99
128 pages/ softcover
Available
now!
(Click the cover image for ordering information)
Available at
area bookstores, independent retailers, and online
retailers, or through Arcadia Publishing at
(888)-313-2665 or
online.
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Mules can
taste the difference--so can you |
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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. |
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We
support |
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Bodie Foundation
"Protecting Bodie's Future by Preserving Its Past |
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Click on Room 8's
photo or phone
951-361-2205
for more information. |
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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 |
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It's always
FIRE SEASON! Click the NIFC logo above to see what's
burning. |
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Visit Michael
Piatt's site,
www.bodiehistory.com, for
the truth behind some of Bodie's myths. |
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Credo Quia Absurdum |
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Explore
Historic California! |
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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.
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Bringing
Cerro Gordo from Bust to Boom
in the New Millennium
By Cecile Page Vargo |
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Cerro
Gordo's American Hotel is highlighted by rays of
sunlight through storm clouds. Owens Lake and the Sierra
Nevada Mountains are in the distance. |
On August 13, 2014, exactly one hundred years and 30 days after
the anniversary of the incorporation of Cerro Gordo Mines under
the direction of Louis D. Gordon, the Friends of Cerro Gordo
joined hands with current town owner, Sean Patterson, in efforts
to assist in the preservation, interpretation and public
enjoyment of the town. Immediate goals are to raise funds to pay
for enhanced insurance and an assistant caretaker/historic
interpreter to assist town manager Robert Desmarais so Cerro
Gordo Ghost Town can again welcome visitors next season.
The remnants of the little mining town that made Los Angeles
grow sits precariously high in the Inyo Mountains, a testament
to Pablo Flores and other Mexican miners who discovered silver
in 1865. Since then the Fat Hill, better known as Cerro
Gordo, has gone through several booms and bust cycles under
the reign of mining visionaries the likes of Victor Beaudry,
Mortimer Belshaw, Thomas Boland, and Louis D. Gordon. A few
large companies tried their hands at keeping mining efforts
going through the mid 1900’s, until (then) caretaker Wally
Wilson became owner in lieu of unpaid back wages.
A woman named Barbara Lee wandered up the back side of the
rugged mountain from her more recent life as an actress in
Hollywood and fell in love with Wally. Together they tried to
keep struggled architectures and faded histories alive for the
adventurous who traversed the unkempt dirt roads on back country
adventures. Barbara outlived Wally and wound up facing the dream
alone. She went down the mountain and found herself another
husband to help, but he died, and she was single again.
Eventually Barbara became Mrs. Jack Smith, but the financial
burdens of keeping the old place going still took its toll. Jack
called upon his niece, Jody Stewart, an Owens Valley girl like
Barbara, who had wound up in Hollywood as well. Dressed like a
city girl, Jody got in her sports car and traversed much of the
old bullion trail now turned highway until she got to the Yellow
Grade Road. From there she slowly climbed up the dirt road until
she reached Cerro Gordo. The town called to her and she helped
finance Jack and Barbara’s dreams. Jody wound up with all of
Cerro Gordo in 1984.
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| Jody
Stewart shares some of Cerro Gordo's history with
visitors. |
Jody Stewart and her partner (and later husband), Mike
Patterson, lead Cerro Gordo into the new millennium, shoring up
and restoring old buildings for a state of restorative re-use.
The former mining town began to boom as “the only bed and cook
your own breakfast” ghost town in the world. The popularity of
modern four wheel drive vehicles and backcountry exploration
brought day and night visitors from far and wide. But their
dreams began to slip away as Jody's health began to fail. She
died in 2001. Mike tried to hang on, but died of a broken heart
in 2009.
Since Mike Patterson’s death, Cerro Gordo has been in a state of
vacillation with a permanent caretaker on the grounds to share
the history and to protect the town from the elements of time
and vandals.
Through
memberships and generous donations to the Friends of Cerro
Gordo, the little silver mining town can boom once again.
Please help us in our endeavors and stay tuned for fundraising
and current events on the mountain. The Friends of Cerro Gordo,
Inc. is a 501 (c) (3) public benefit corporation. Donations may
be tax deductable (consult your tax advisor). For additional
information, please click the Friends of Cerro Gordo logo in the
left column or visit
www.explorehistoricalif.com/friendsofcerrogordo.org.
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Headlines from Cerro Gordo
As
Reported in California Newspapers of the Period |
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The Sacramento Daily Union (Volume
35, Number 5333) 1 May 1868,
published
a report from an Owens Valley correspondent:
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| Eleven months later,
the Sacramento Daily Union, (Volume 37, Number 5631)
14 April 1869, reported: |
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The following December,
the Sacramento Daily Union (Volume
38, Number 5853) 30 December 1869,
reported: |
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The California Digital
Newspaper Collection is a free research tool for browsing old
newspapers. While it doesn't contain the archives of all California
papers (Los Angeles is notably missing), there's still a lot to
peruse. The system attempts to convert the page images into readable
text, but not always accurately. We've found it's more accurate to
manually transcribe the page (PDF) images.
Click the image below
to start searching the collection or visit:
http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc.
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