We started out by staking out six mining claims and one millsite claim. The millsite was different from the mining claims in several ways. First, it was smaller and was only five acres in a square shape. You do not mine on your millsite, it is supposed to be land that has no mineral value to it. Its use was to erect a millhouse for refining ore, other out-buildings for storage, and a cabin if you were planning to live on the claim. At first, we needed a millsite to store mining equipment and to build a latrine so that we could be comfortable when we spent long days at the mine. By latrine, I mean outhouse. There were rules about building the outhouse. You had to build it at least 100 feet away from any moving water-our creek-and it had to be out of sight of the public view. We selected a spot way up a draw in the mountain side. Our son-in-law, Skeeta, dug the hole for the outhouse about 10 feet deep, then climbed out of the hole with a ladder. We constructed a small shack around and above the hole and put in two seats-a double-holer. We put linoleum on the floor and around the seats and filled the outhouse with magazines and a big bag of lime to sprinkle on the waste material to keep the smell and the flies away, and to decompose the matter. It was a wonderful outhouse because as you sat on the "throne" you could watch wild animals as they passed by on the way to the creek. We saw snakes, skunks, racoons, deer, and once a bobcat. They paid us no never-mind but walked past as if we weren't even there. The outhouse was surrounded by trees and brush and you had to walk up a fairly steep path to get to it. When it snowed in the winter time it was a real challenge to make it to the outhouse because of slipping in the snow and ice.
And yes, San Diego County does have snow in the back-country, and it gets down to -7 degrees in the winter time when it is snowing and the wind is blowing up a storm. Not something you see in the city.
We had made a pact between three of us; Bruce would be the miner, John would be the "money man", and I would take care of the paperwork and interact with the BLM.
We decided that we would build a small cabin so that we could stay at the mine and work her for the entire weekend. Bruce had friends who had friends that were in construction. As they built their apartment buildings there would always be boards that would be cut too short, or doors that didn't fit, and a whole range of material that had been damaged in some way. They were looking for someone to haul it away that could use it and in stepped Bruce and John with their trucks. We hauled that material up into the mountains and began to build a one-room shack. My brother, Charley, was the first carpenter we had and he got the foundation going and started the framing on the house. About this time, the BLM came by and wanted to know what we thought we were doing. Did we plan to live at the mine? We assured them that we were just building a storage shed for tools and equipment and to stay in when we came up on the weekends to work. They asked us to stop building until they could approve our plans.
I drew up our mining plans showing where we intended to make tunnels and how we planned to use the millsite. They wanted to know if we were planning on making roads and just where we were planning to dump the rock we excavated from our mining tunnels. BLM land is public land and many people visited Chariot Canyon on the weekends. Besides, the canyon is ancient Indian land and held many artifacts of their living there and they must be preserved at all cost. Also there were OSHA laws that had to be followed for the safety of everyone involved. So much to consider.
I was working as a Telecommunication Traffic Engineer for Starnet Corporation at the time and I used my tools and training to draw out a plan for all six mining claims and for the millsite. Then the BLM met us at the sites one day and had us explain what we were attempting to do. They looked over my work and then breathed a sigh of relief. They had thought we were going to have an operation like Bruce's dad had with heavy equipment and road building and when they saw our modest plans-a family operation-they approved our plans, although they would be watching us very carefully. One other thing, we must not hurt or scare the cattle in the canyon because the ranchers had a prior agreement with the BLM to run their cattle in the canyon and not be harassed. The cattle became our pets although we didn't see them very often.
So we built a one-room shack out of our materials and would spend the weekends living on the millsite.
Tomorrow we have a crisis in our lives and have to move onto the millsite permanently. With 9 children.
And yes, San Diego County does have snow in the back-country, and it gets down to -7 degrees in the winter time when it is snowing and the wind is blowing up a storm. Not something you see in the city.
We had made a pact between three of us; Bruce would be the miner, John would be the "money man", and I would take care of the paperwork and interact with the BLM.
We decided that we would build a small cabin so that we could stay at the mine and work her for the entire weekend. Bruce had friends who had friends that were in construction. As they built their apartment buildings there would always be boards that would be cut too short, or doors that didn't fit, and a whole range of material that had been damaged in some way. They were looking for someone to haul it away that could use it and in stepped Bruce and John with their trucks. We hauled that material up into the mountains and began to build a one-room shack. My brother, Charley, was the first carpenter we had and he got the foundation going and started the framing on the house. About this time, the BLM came by and wanted to know what we thought we were doing. Did we plan to live at the mine? We assured them that we were just building a storage shed for tools and equipment and to stay in when we came up on the weekends to work. They asked us to stop building until they could approve our plans.
I drew up our mining plans showing where we intended to make tunnels and how we planned to use the millsite. They wanted to know if we were planning on making roads and just where we were planning to dump the rock we excavated from our mining tunnels. BLM land is public land and many people visited Chariot Canyon on the weekends. Besides, the canyon is ancient Indian land and held many artifacts of their living there and they must be preserved at all cost. Also there were OSHA laws that had to be followed for the safety of everyone involved. So much to consider.
I was working as a Telecommunication Traffic Engineer for Starnet Corporation at the time and I used my tools and training to draw out a plan for all six mining claims and for the millsite. Then the BLM met us at the sites one day and had us explain what we were attempting to do. They looked over my work and then breathed a sigh of relief. They had thought we were going to have an operation like Bruce's dad had with heavy equipment and road building and when they saw our modest plans-a family operation-they approved our plans, although they would be watching us very carefully. One other thing, we must not hurt or scare the cattle in the canyon because the ranchers had a prior agreement with the BLM to run their cattle in the canyon and not be harassed. The cattle became our pets although we didn't see them very often.
So we built a one-room shack out of our materials and would spend the weekends living on the millsite.
Tomorrow we have a crisis in our lives and have to move onto the millsite permanently. With 9 children.
No comments:
Post a Comment