OK gotta go on this trek. Lot's of mining history here. Wish I had known about all this mining when I was actively wheeling the Big Bear area 15 years ago. I could never get my wheeling friends to do anything but look for more ways to break their trucks. They only went in circles and never stopped to look at anything.
Great video Charlie, looks like a good day. I really want to see those places. I swapped my balljoint but work has tripled! ...Excuses are like.... I bet you guys have some good snow right now :)
Thank you David! Ha ha on the excuses - no worries buddy. Good news on the ball joint. When your work eases up we can plan another trip. Yes on the snow - finally. We got about 9 inches up here overall - a few areas probably got a lot more. Always nice to have snow on the mountains!
George and Charles were in the second generation of miners, having come from Illinois in the 70's. They were born in the 40's and died in 1918 and 1921. Charles' second son was born in a little log cabin in 1887 in Saragossa Spring, a spring Charles discovered and named while digging through a mountain.
Do any of the roads on the Gold Fever Trail require a 4x4 during the dry season? I have a 2wd Tundra that will be getting an ARB locker in the rear, and a set of BFG all-terrains. Would it be able to handle these trails? They look very easy and tame in the video.
No. Your Tundra will be fine. The trail is easy. Tundra's have good ground clearance too. It' a bit rocky near the end of the trail but not difficult at all. With your rear locker and the BFG's, your rig is capable of handling trails a lot more difficult than this one. Have fun when you get to go.
i recently learned about this doing ancestry and discovering that two of my great-great-great grandfather's cousin's mined here, and Metzger Mine is named for them. George A. Metzgar and Charles L. Metzgar. Their last name was spelled with an "ar", and it was called Moonstone Mine. At some point there must have been some remembrance of the last name of its owner and it took the name "Metzger Mine" spelled incorrectly. There seems to never be any mention of them in descriptions of the mine/Holcomb Valley.
Thank you Kyle for sharing this information with me and thank you for watching the movie. I'm glad to learn more of the story of this Mine. Thanks for letting me know where the name of the mine comes from. If okay with you I'm going to add your information in the movie description. There really wasn't much information about the history of this mine on the brochures. It's good to learn the whole story.
explorethewest No problem. I just visited the mine today (which is why i found your video yesterday). It was not easy. We didn't do the whole trail, but entered from the east end and saw no sites until we ran into #7. We turned around and headed back east and stopped at the little turnoff with the log fencing, and seeing a trail my friend hiked up it first (i am in a wheelchair) and then came back telling me there was a mine. a guy came by on a bike and he asked him if it was Metzger Mine, and it was. It is frustrating that there was no sign at the turnabout or at the mine indicating that it was #11. That sure would have helped.
This is a magnificent little tour. I do wonder . . . how many innocent souls may have perished, upon the Hanging Juniper? The forest looks absolutely stunning, considering the dangerous logging practices, "back in the day". By dangerous, I mean that by wanton negligence, everything was stripped down to the soil floor, for miles around. They skidded the logs out okay, but they just left mountains of slash piles about, namby-pamby, even next to their crude dwellings; they didn't care--a recipe for firestorms and conflagrations. Then to overgraze with cattle and sheep, with the cowboys and shepherds declaring war against each other. Sometimes, the West may have been just a little too Wild--drunken gunslingers cutting down tenderfoots, just for sport. I'm surprised that these settlements lasted into the Great Depression years; most fizzled out, before the turn of the century.
Just did this 2 days ago. Kind of sucks lol. Half the things they show you aren't even real. The guide even says that the hangman's tree wasn't really the tree but just imagine that it is. The saloon says its not really a saloon and that it was actually somewhere else and to make it worse its just a hill there's no foundation or anything. Ended up driving past this crap and going up Gold Mountain instead.
why do you people want to put these horrible soundtracks that these videos did you ever find the place to pan for gold I can't watch the video long enough to find out because of the horrible soundtrack
Good video very interesting. Love this kinda stuff especially in our local so cal mountains
Hi Charlie, I keep coming back to find more cool videos! I really enjoy seeing the history & geology of the region.
Hi Glenn. I'm glad you're enjoying the videos and thanks so much too! It's been a good learning experience for me also.
Definitely looking forward to this trail. I hope that we can plan it for the near future Charlie.
Alex
Sounds good Alex. I'll get with you on the date once we have figured that out. I'm looking forward to it too.
OK gotta go on this trek. Lot's of mining history here. Wish I had known about all this mining when I was actively wheeling the Big Bear area 15 years ago. I could never get my wheeling friends to do anything but look for more ways to break their trucks. They only went in circles and never stopped to look at anything.
Great video Charlie, looks like a good day.
I really want to see those places.
I swapped my balljoint but work has tripled! ...Excuses are like....
I bet you guys have some good snow right now :)
Thank you David! Ha ha on the excuses - no worries buddy. Good news on the ball joint. When your work eases up we can plan another trip. Yes on the snow - finally. We got about 9 inches up here overall - a few areas probably got a lot more. Always nice to have snow on the mountains!
explorethewest I just looked up at baldy and finally some decent snow!
George and Charles were in the second generation of miners, having come from Illinois in the 70's. They were born in the 40's and died in 1918 and 1921. Charles' second son was born in a little log cabin in 1887 in Saragossa Spring, a spring Charles discovered and named while digging through a mountain.
Do any of the roads on the Gold Fever Trail require a 4x4 during the dry season? I have a 2wd Tundra that will be getting an ARB locker in the rear, and a set of BFG all-terrains. Would it be able to handle these trails? They look very easy and tame in the video.
No. Your Tundra will be fine. The trail is easy. Tundra's have good ground clearance too. It' a bit rocky near the end of the trail but not difficult at all. With your rear locker and the BFG's, your rig is capable of handling trails a lot more difficult than this one. Have fun when you get to go.
i recently learned about this doing ancestry and discovering that two of my great-great-great grandfather's cousin's mined here, and Metzger Mine is named for them. George A. Metzgar and Charles L. Metzgar. Their last name was spelled with an "ar", and it was called Moonstone Mine. At some point there must have been some remembrance of the last name of its owner and it took the name "Metzger Mine" spelled incorrectly. There seems to never be any mention of them in descriptions of the mine/Holcomb Valley.
Thank you Kyle for sharing this information with me and thank you for watching the movie. I'm glad to learn more of the story of this Mine. Thanks for letting me know where the name of the mine comes from. If okay with you I'm going to add your information in the movie description. There really wasn't much information about the history of this mine on the brochures. It's good to learn the whole story.
explorethewest No problem. I just visited the mine today (which is why i found your video yesterday). It was not easy. We didn't do the whole trail, but entered from the east end and saw no sites until we ran into #7. We turned around and headed back east and stopped at the little turnoff with the log fencing, and seeing a trail my friend hiked up it first (i am in a wheelchair) and then came back telling me there was a mine. a guy came by on a bike and he asked him if it was Metzger Mine, and it was. It is frustrating that there was no sign at the turnabout or at the mine indicating that it was #11. That sure would have helped.
This is a magnificent little tour. I do wonder . . . how many innocent souls may have perished, upon the Hanging Juniper? The forest looks absolutely stunning, considering the dangerous logging practices, "back in the day". By dangerous, I mean that by wanton negligence, everything was stripped down to the soil floor, for miles around. They skidded the logs out okay, but they just left mountains of slash piles about, namby-pamby, even next to their crude dwellings; they didn't care--a recipe for firestorms and conflagrations. Then to overgraze with cattle and sheep, with the cowboys and shepherds declaring war against each other. Sometimes, the West may have been just a little too Wild--drunken gunslingers cutting down tenderfoots, just for sport. I'm surprised that these settlements lasted into the Great Depression years; most fizzled out, before the turn of the century.
Just did this 2 days ago. Kind of sucks lol. Half the things they show you aren't even real. The guide even says that the hangman's tree wasn't really the tree but just imagine that it is. The saloon says its not really a saloon and that it was actually somewhere else and to make it worse its just a hill there's no foundation or anything. Ended up driving past this crap and going up Gold Mountain instead.
i
why do you people want to put these horrible soundtracks that these videos did you ever find the place to pan for gold I can't watch the video long enough to find out because of the horrible soundtrack
theres places up there passed a big sluceing box in front of cabin up in sugarloaf..looked recently used