Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

You're Soooooo Vein!

You probably think this tour is about you.....It's a real gold mine, THERE IS STILL GOLD IN IT and yesterday, I had a private tour. This piece of history is right here behind our town and it is fascinating to see the entire process as well as how man went into that mountain and brought the gold out with crude tools and no electricity; levers, hoists, gravity and manpower got it done.

Back in the day, the tunnels we can now wander through were bustling with activity that the dream of gold created. Once nuggets were found in a creek in the 1870s, it was only a matter of time before word got out and crowds gathered to set up camp. Those early campers became our first townspeople. From extraction to the milling process, the Eagle Mine did it all. This one site drew quite a few penniless prospectors that walked away as very rich men.

Our gold-bearing veins here are contained within the Bedford Canyon Formation from the Triassic age (200 million years ago). This formation was at the edge of the North American continent in a shallow, marine-type environment. Dry land was much farther east with the rocks underlying southern California having not yet been born.

The tectonic situation changed during the Jurassic Period (175 million years ago) and a subduction zone developed in this region. When the Pacific Ocean floor converged with the North American continent, this area metamorphosed due to the heat and pressure into a rock known as schist. Today, we call the resulting area the Julian Schist.

Miners wore candles on their hats back then but today it is well lit with our good friend, electricity. I wouldn't want to be in the tunnel without it. During my tour yesterday, we shut the lights off for a few seconds and I could not see my hand in front of my face. Back then, a miner would earn $1.50 per day at a chance to be part of a big find. He also exposed himself to mercury and cyanide in the process. If his candle went out, it might be EIGHT HOURS before someone would check on him. In a pitch black tunnel with 1000 feet of rock overhead as it rumbled from dynamite blows would send me to another dimension. I decided yesterday that my minor fear of being in small, enclosed spaces (aka claustrophobia) would not be an issue and it wasn't-as long as I could see the opening of the mine and the sunlight.

Last year, one of those "Ghostbuster" groups were up here with equipment to determine paranormal activity. These guys went underground, turned out the lights and asked spirits to reveal themselves. Not my idea of a party but one told me later that there were plenty of spooks down there.

There is also still gold in the mountain but extracting it would be dangerous and costly. For now, we can look at these relics of the past to see what those early prospectors went through for the dream of finding gold. The early pioneers and their desire to change their fortune for the better, strike it rich, hit the mother lode still lives. Today, we just buy Power Ball tickets instead and hope our numbers come up.

For now, SD

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/sep/22/53557/

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

Larry Turner – the man who would be San Diego's mayor

Ex-Marine, cop answers the personal questions
Next Article

A cool year in a warming pacific

Pelagic species have comfort zones

You probably think this tour is about you.....It's a real gold mine, THERE IS STILL GOLD IN IT and yesterday, I had a private tour. This piece of history is right here behind our town and it is fascinating to see the entire process as well as how man went into that mountain and brought the gold out with crude tools and no electricity; levers, hoists, gravity and manpower got it done.

Back in the day, the tunnels we can now wander through were bustling with activity that the dream of gold created. Once nuggets were found in a creek in the 1870s, it was only a matter of time before word got out and crowds gathered to set up camp. Those early campers became our first townspeople. From extraction to the milling process, the Eagle Mine did it all. This one site drew quite a few penniless prospectors that walked away as very rich men.

Our gold-bearing veins here are contained within the Bedford Canyon Formation from the Triassic age (200 million years ago). This formation was at the edge of the North American continent in a shallow, marine-type environment. Dry land was much farther east with the rocks underlying southern California having not yet been born.

The tectonic situation changed during the Jurassic Period (175 million years ago) and a subduction zone developed in this region. When the Pacific Ocean floor converged with the North American continent, this area metamorphosed due to the heat and pressure into a rock known as schist. Today, we call the resulting area the Julian Schist.

Miners wore candles on their hats back then but today it is well lit with our good friend, electricity. I wouldn't want to be in the tunnel without it. During my tour yesterday, we shut the lights off for a few seconds and I could not see my hand in front of my face. Back then, a miner would earn $1.50 per day at a chance to be part of a big find. He also exposed himself to mercury and cyanide in the process. If his candle went out, it might be EIGHT HOURS before someone would check on him. In a pitch black tunnel with 1000 feet of rock overhead as it rumbled from dynamite blows would send me to another dimension. I decided yesterday that my minor fear of being in small, enclosed spaces (aka claustrophobia) would not be an issue and it wasn't-as long as I could see the opening of the mine and the sunlight.

Last year, one of those "Ghostbuster" groups were up here with equipment to determine paranormal activity. These guys went underground, turned out the lights and asked spirits to reveal themselves. Not my idea of a party but one told me later that there were plenty of spooks down there.

There is also still gold in the mountain but extracting it would be dangerous and costly. For now, we can look at these relics of the past to see what those early prospectors went through for the dream of finding gold. The early pioneers and their desire to change their fortune for the better, strike it rich, hit the mother lode still lives. Today, we just buy Power Ball tickets instead and hope our numbers come up.

For now, SD

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/sep/22/53557/

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Dulzura’s full of schist

“Where there’s schist, there’s gold”
Next Article

There's Gold in Them Thar Cuyamacas

Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader