After many months of work, we had finished a 10' by 20' shack on the millsite. She was built solidly and we even had put down tile on the floor. Her roof was made of tar-paper and tar over sheets of plyboard. She had two windows and two doors all of which were locked when we were not in the canyon. We were immediately infested with spiders and ants, but we were able to keep their numbers in control. We would come up on Saturday mornings and stay until Sunday afternoon. The children helped us and soon Bruce had prospected out a place to start digging on the first mining claim, "The Golden Oaks."
Bruce had found an exposed face on the mountain side about a mile south of the millsite. On both sides of the proposed tunnel were manzanita bushes and scrub oak. The creek ran by about 50 feet in front of the mining site. As Bruce stood there staring at his proposed site to dig a tunnel, he felt the presence of someone standing behind him. Turning quickly around he saw an elderly Native American who was watching his every move. Bruce spoke up quickly and said to the elderly man, "Sir, I have no intention of hurting or disturbing your land. When I mine I will be very careful not to disturb any vegetation or move any rocks that I don't have to move. I will keep the area clean and restore it to its former appearance when I have finished. I respect you and your land and will be a good neighbor while we are here."
The Native gentleman spoke to Bruce then, "I can tell that you will keep your word and so I give you permission to dig at this spot. You will find what you are looking for, but it will take you years of work to get to it. Honor and respect our land and we shall help to keep you safe."
Bruce said "Thank you very much," but even as he did so he realized that the Native American elder had disappeared. Many times as he was drilling and picking in the tunnel that he built over the years, to a length of half a mile, he would feel a presence and hear words that guided him as to where to dig next. We found gold in the tunnel, but never enough to make us prosper, and the work was mind-numbing.
We would have continued week-end mining forever, but a fly flew into our ointment. I was working as a Telecommunication Traffic Engineer for Starnet, Corporation. We were owned by Ford Aerospace and Communications Corporation, and working for them was like working in a dream. The benefits and the opportunities that they gave each of us to grow made us very happy employees. But one day, Ford decided to sell us to a Telecommunications Company in Portland, Oregon. It came as quite a shock to all of us, and devastation to our family. I was offered a job with the new company but we had nine children, many in their teens, and they had no desire to change where they lived and went to school. I could not in good conscious hurt all nine children nor upset their lives. I determined to stay in San Diego and find work there. I was unsuccessful in finding another job and didn't know which way to turn. I was the chief provider for the family. Although Bruce received child support for his four children, he was a stay at home father because he was disabled with severe back misalignments after having taken a fall from a high scaffold while he was welding one day years before.
I knew that I could not afford for us to live like we had been living. We had to downsize drastically and the first thing was, we could not afford to pay rent on our house; we had to move. But where to move nine children on an extremely low income when San Diego's rental rates had skyrocketed over the years. The only answer that I could come up with was to move the children to the mountains and let them have a very unique experience. Ford gave us a very generous separation pay, plus two months pay and Cobra insurance. This was enough money to get us moved up to the mountains and situated.
At this time I was struggling with my mental problems and my psychiatrist told me that I was in no condition to work a normal 9-5 job, let alone a job with the pressures that went along with my position as an engineer. He had me apply for Disability Insurance from the State of California. This went through very quickly and so I had an income that-with Bruce's income-would cover our simple living expenses. A year later, I was given Supplemental Security Income because of my mental condition. This, along with all of the help with mining expenses that John gave us, made it possible to live in the mountains. The children would be going to Julian High School.
We put a lot of our things in storage and then took all of our books, pictures, and homey objects up to the mountain. Of course, we had only the one large room to live in at first, and we were crowded. The older teenagers, five of them, decided to stay in San Diego and pursue their own lives, but the four youngest moved up with us; ages 12-15 years old.
Monday we will talk about the hardships of making such a move into the remote back-country and how we learned to survive.
Bruce had found an exposed face on the mountain side about a mile south of the millsite. On both sides of the proposed tunnel were manzanita bushes and scrub oak. The creek ran by about 50 feet in front of the mining site. As Bruce stood there staring at his proposed site to dig a tunnel, he felt the presence of someone standing behind him. Turning quickly around he saw an elderly Native American who was watching his every move. Bruce spoke up quickly and said to the elderly man, "Sir, I have no intention of hurting or disturbing your land. When I mine I will be very careful not to disturb any vegetation or move any rocks that I don't have to move. I will keep the area clean and restore it to its former appearance when I have finished. I respect you and your land and will be a good neighbor while we are here."
The Native gentleman spoke to Bruce then, "I can tell that you will keep your word and so I give you permission to dig at this spot. You will find what you are looking for, but it will take you years of work to get to it. Honor and respect our land and we shall help to keep you safe."
Bruce said "Thank you very much," but even as he did so he realized that the Native American elder had disappeared. Many times as he was drilling and picking in the tunnel that he built over the years, to a length of half a mile, he would feel a presence and hear words that guided him as to where to dig next. We found gold in the tunnel, but never enough to make us prosper, and the work was mind-numbing.
We would have continued week-end mining forever, but a fly flew into our ointment. I was working as a Telecommunication Traffic Engineer for Starnet, Corporation. We were owned by Ford Aerospace and Communications Corporation, and working for them was like working in a dream. The benefits and the opportunities that they gave each of us to grow made us very happy employees. But one day, Ford decided to sell us to a Telecommunications Company in Portland, Oregon. It came as quite a shock to all of us, and devastation to our family. I was offered a job with the new company but we had nine children, many in their teens, and they had no desire to change where they lived and went to school. I could not in good conscious hurt all nine children nor upset their lives. I determined to stay in San Diego and find work there. I was unsuccessful in finding another job and didn't know which way to turn. I was the chief provider for the family. Although Bruce received child support for his four children, he was a stay at home father because he was disabled with severe back misalignments after having taken a fall from a high scaffold while he was welding one day years before.
I knew that I could not afford for us to live like we had been living. We had to downsize drastically and the first thing was, we could not afford to pay rent on our house; we had to move. But where to move nine children on an extremely low income when San Diego's rental rates had skyrocketed over the years. The only answer that I could come up with was to move the children to the mountains and let them have a very unique experience. Ford gave us a very generous separation pay, plus two months pay and Cobra insurance. This was enough money to get us moved up to the mountains and situated.
At this time I was struggling with my mental problems and my psychiatrist told me that I was in no condition to work a normal 9-5 job, let alone a job with the pressures that went along with my position as an engineer. He had me apply for Disability Insurance from the State of California. This went through very quickly and so I had an income that-with Bruce's income-would cover our simple living expenses. A year later, I was given Supplemental Security Income because of my mental condition. This, along with all of the help with mining expenses that John gave us, made it possible to live in the mountains. The children would be going to Julian High School.
We put a lot of our things in storage and then took all of our books, pictures, and homey objects up to the mountain. Of course, we had only the one large room to live in at first, and we were crowded. The older teenagers, five of them, decided to stay in San Diego and pursue their own lives, but the four youngest moved up with us; ages 12-15 years old.
Monday we will talk about the hardships of making such a move into the remote back-country and how we learned to survive.
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