Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,466
|
Post by Sabre52 on Jul 20, 2017 18:21:35 GMT -5
Just got off the phone with a buddy of mine from back in Hunters Valley, CA. The Detwiler fire, which started right near the poppy jasper sites in north Hunters Valley has now spread to almost 150,000 acres and is threatening Mariposa and Coulterville as well as lots of tiny towns like Catheys Valley. The historic Falany home, really beautiful ranch just a couple ranches down canyon from my old ranch, has totally burnt down. May have got a neighboring place too where a buddy of mine raises cattle and horses. The guy I was talking to says they saved his home but the bulldozers tore up his property so much ( it's for sale) that it is now unsalable. Have not heard if our old place made it or not ( it was an old wooden ranch house) and am wondering about the famous basketball player's really fancy ranch right by the jasper sites. Horrible news anyway as the area was rich with old gold rush relic places, mines, historic sites etc and all the homes were like tinderboxes. Very few not made of wood. Still have a bunch of friends up there and I pray they are all OK as many are very old folks. Sounds like the entire area was devastated. We had two very close calls when we had our place there.
From a rockhound point of view though, the silver lining is, when it rains next winter, all the brush will be gone and old poppy jasper prospects will be exposed all over the place. Most have been covered by ten foot tall manzanita since the 1960s and that may have all burnt off. My old prospecting buddy used to walk the hills every time there was a fire and I was amazed at all the cool old mining stuff he found and all the new gold he'd find as the newly exposed hills eroded...Mel
|
|
|
Post by rockjunquie on Jul 20, 2017 21:43:42 GMT -5
I'm real sorry to hear such a terrible account of things. I saw it on the news, but you made it more real. I hope everyone does as well as can be and that they are safe.
|
|
|
Post by wigglinrocks on Jul 20, 2017 21:51:32 GMT -5
Sure seems to be a wicked fire season this year in the west .
|
|
Tommy
Administrator
Member since January 2013
Posts: 12,685
|
Post by Tommy on Jul 20, 2017 22:51:50 GMT -5
Yeah it makes me sick to my stomach - we're following the news pretty closely. Mariposa is one of our favorite escapes - such a beautiful little town and everyone up there is so nice. It looks like they have managed to divert it away from the town - "put up an aggressive fight" to save the town the Cal Fire guy was just saying on the news.
On the bright side - as Mel said it might finally be time to poke around up there a little and see what kind of rocks can be reached now. We've never been up there to look for the poppy jasper so we don't really know where to go for anything decent. The jasper locations seem to be a well-guarded secret around here.
|
|
|
Post by coloradocliff on Jul 20, 2017 23:20:41 GMT -5
Plus 1 saber and Tommy.. That area will take forever to revegetate. People's land values will drop for a few years too. The rock might be easier to spot if there is public access there will be a gold rush for the poppy material. We always have fires burning here in Western Colorado. A way of life and we usually smell smoke a lot during summers. We live with it and accept it as normal but losing your homes and business is tough.
|
|
|
Post by fantastic5 on Jul 21, 2017 8:15:10 GMT -5
Hope everyone is safe. My husband grew up in SF and he told me that this is one of his most favorite areas. Amazed by the fire map. Is this a 'normal' fire season for California? Crisis Response Map
|
|
Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,688
|
Post by Fossilman on Jul 21, 2017 9:39:04 GMT -5
Fires are crazy this year...So far Oregon hasn't had many.. Montana has has several in my home area...
|
|
Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,466
|
Post by Sabre52 on Jul 21, 2017 14:02:48 GMT -5
Been doing some reading and I think my buddy overestimated the acreage, more like 75,000 but I'm really afraid for some of my friends and they now say almost 60 homes have burned. Glad they saved the town so far though, as that is a beautiful place and my second home when I lived in Commiefornia. Happy Burger is the best in the state! Not to mention the home of the California Mineral Museum now.
Poppy jasper area is easy to spot on google maps but of course Robin Trumbell filed claims on all mine and my buddies sites where the old good stuff came from. The area is huge though and It's easy to direct you there. Since the basketball player closed our access road though, one has to drive n on a rough four wheel drive route that is three times as long. Happy to give anyone directions into the area to prospect but visits to our old pits have to go through Robin. There are lots of areas not under claim and the fires may expose lots more. Maybe I can print out a google map and mark the areas and then photograph it and post it for all ya'll.....Mel
|
|
|
Post by rockjunquie on Jul 21, 2017 16:44:44 GMT -5
Been doing some reading and I think my buddy overestimated the acreage, more like 75,000 but I'm really afraid for some of my friends and they now say almost 60 homes have burned. Glad they saved the town so far though, as that is a beautiful place and my second home when I lived in Commiefornia. Happy Burger is the best in the state! Not to mention the home of the California Mineral Museum now. Poppy jasper area is easy to spot on google maps but of course Robin Trumbell filed claims on all mine and my buddies sites where the old good stuff came from. The area is huge though and It's easy to direct you there. Since the basketball player closed our access road though, one has to drive n on a rough four wheel drive route that is three times as long. Happy to give anyone directions into the area to prospect but visits to our old pits have to go through Robin. There are lots of areas not under claim and the fires may expose lots more. Maybe I can print out a google map and mark the areas and then photograph it and post it for all ya'll.....Mel You ROCK!!! I know plenty of people will appreciate it! I can't go myself. If someone gets a nice haul, maybe they can part with a little.....
|
|
|
Post by coloradocliff on Jul 21, 2017 23:01:31 GMT -5
Been doing some reading and I think my buddy overestimated the acreage, more like 75,000 but I'm really afraid for some of my friends and they now say almost 60 homes have burned. Glad they saved the town so far though, as that is a beautiful place and my second home when I lived in Commiefornia. Happy Burger is the best in the state! Not to mention the home of the California Mineral Museum now. Poppy jasper area is easy to spot on google maps but of course Robin Trumbell filed claims on all mine and my buddies sites where the old good stuff came from. The area is huge though and It's easy to direct you there. Since the basketball player closed our access road though, one has to drive n on a rough four wheel drive route that is three times as long. Happy to give anyone directions into the area to prospect but visits to our old pits have to go through Robin. There are lots of areas not under claim and the fires may expose lots more. Maybe I can print out a google map and mark the areas and then photograph it and post it for all ya'll.....Mel You ROCK!!! I know plenty of people will appreciate it! I can't go myself. If someone gets a nice haul, maybe they can part with a little..... Tela.. That's jasper. Arent you a granite and brass kind of girl? Grin
|
|
|
Post by rockjunquie on Jul 22, 2017 3:21:33 GMT -5
Tela.. That's jasper. Arent you a granite and brass kind of girl? Grin Cliff, You've made several references to me and granite. Yes, there is nice granite marble in Maine, but my purchase was for a memorial marker for my dead parents. I know you're kidding. But, seriously, it's not funny to me. I wouldn't joke about your departed loved ones.
|
|
|
Post by coloradocliff on Jul 22, 2017 9:49:08 GMT -5
Tela.. That's jasper. Arent you a granite and brass kind of girl? Grin Cliff, You've made several references to me and granite. Yes, there is nice granite marble in Maine, but my purchase was for a memorial marker for my dead parents. I know you're kidding. But, seriously, it's not funny to me. I wouldn't joke about your departed loved ones. Yes was only teasing Sorry dear. I understand.
|
|
|
Post by mohs on Jul 24, 2017 9:26:44 GMT -5
I just read that Showtime is going to do a movie about Granite Mountain Hot Shots This tragedy really tears me up I’ve done all the research I can Have no answers
I’ll post this vid but its pretty heart breaking
|
|
|
Post by fantastic5 on Jul 24, 2017 12:39:41 GMT -5
I’ll post this vid but its pretty heart breaking Tough to watch. Thank you for posting.
|
|
Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,466
|
Post by Sabre52 on Jul 24, 2017 14:10:39 GMT -5
Yeah, hard to watch and very sad. Scary if you are in one of those fire areas. I almost got burnt up myself in a Hunters Valley fire one year. Did not appreciate the BS climate change comments though. My pop was in the CCC's in the Sierras when he was a kid in the early 1930's. When we'd go deer hunting in his old stomping grounds he'd tell me fire stories. He said back then, in summer, sometimes the entire Sierra foothills would be on fire and they'd just let them burn to remove fuel and make better grassland for cattle. They would only protect the scattered towns and even they would sometimes burn.. The difference today is not climate change but rather bad forestry practices that allow dead trees and ladder vegetation to build up until its a fire bomb waiting to happen and population increase that has more folks living right in these fire areas. The brush back where the poppy pits were was like 15 feet tall. In his day there were only isolated homes out in the brush. Now they put housing developments out there. It ain't climate change, it's human stupidity. It's like folks who build homes on the beach in hurricane areas and then are surprised when they get washed away. Then ahole political scientists blame the hurricanes on climate change when if you look back in history, those ocean front sites had hurricanes all the time. Only difference is, way back when, most folks were smart enough most the time, not to build homes right on the beach......Mel
PS: That Mariposa area is famous for fires. There are still stone houses up that way from the old days that have "bear doors". They are big steel doors that were actually for closing off the building during wild fires. Many of the town sites up there are ruins because they burnt down. We owned the ranch about 15 years and went through four fires and were even evacuated when we were still in escrow. Saddest news I've heard is that on the outskirts of Mariposa, the "Little Church on the Hill" burnt down. Tiny little church from the gold rush day where folks used to have weddings. Picture showed the church bell sitting in the ashes of the church. Very sad! Heard 8 homes were destroyed down where our ranch was and am still waiting to hear who got hit other than the one I know about.
|
|
Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,466
|
Post by Sabre52 on Jul 24, 2017 17:28:07 GMT -5
Just got an update from our old ranch neighbor. We owned both sides of the road there and the fire jumped the road right by our old farmhouse and burnt up all the cattle pens and our old loading chutes and the front pastures, then it jumped to the other side and burnt up a couple of houses just up canyon from our old place. Missed two of our friends' homes right across the road too so it's all good news. Really an active fire I guess and much worse down canyon. Too much fire truck activity past our place so our friend didn't drive further down. Anyway we are kind of nostalgic about the old farm house so I'm glad to hear it survived. We had a lot of wood fence posts though and man I am glad I don't have to redo 8000 feet of fence. I hate stringing wire *L*.....Mel
|
|
|
Post by aDave on Jul 24, 2017 22:25:56 GMT -5
I just read that Showtime is going to do a movie about Granite Mountain Hot Shots This tragedy really tears me up I’ve done all the research I can Have no answers I’ll post this vid but its pretty heart breaking It's a tragic story no doubt. Problem is, it was totally avoidable - that's perhaps the biggest tragedy. The crew was in a safe area and ended up in an area that it shouldn't have been. I'm not here to be critical of the crew, but there are many questions about why the crew did what it did. Since there were no survivors, no one will ever know the driving forces for them moving from a safe area to a death trap. Dave
|
|