Superstition Mountain History Discussion - OLD B/W PHOTOS

Moderator: somehiker

LDMGOLD
Posts: 440
Joined: Mon Jul 06, 2009 9:30 am
anti-spam detector: No
The middle number please (4): 4

Re: OLD B/W PHOTOS

Post by LDMGOLD »

TERRY:

Government Cave is a very interesting experience. Take warm clothing (temp is 35-45 degrees year around) and a minimum of two light sources per person. The complete trip requires at least one hour if you are fast and agile in the dark with a good light source. I am sure you are familiar with this type of exploration. The day we visited the cave about twenty young people (25-40) made the journey down into the cave. The entrance looks a little scary, but basalt usually is very stable unless there is a tremor of some kind.

Tom K.
User avatar
Space Cowboy
Posts: 213
Joined: Fri Apr 10, 2009 3:59 am
The middle number please (4): 7

Re: OLD B/W PHOTOS

Post by Space Cowboy »

LDMGOLD,

Did you ever find yourself in the Anza Borrego area? I'd surely love to see some pix of the Army Camp that was down in the Carrizo Corridor in its day, or maybe some characters from around these parts.

Space Cowboy
LDMGOLD
Posts: 440
Joined: Mon Jul 06, 2009 9:30 am
anti-spam detector: No
The middle number please (4): 4

Re: OLD B/W PHOTOS

Post by LDMGOLD »

Space Cowboy:

I have only been in the Anza-Borrego Desert one time and that was about 1956. I really don't remember the area. My Aunt Nellie, who live in Oro Grande near Victorville took me down there. She loved the area and was always fascinated with the desert. Her husband, Harvey Wagner, was the hoist man at the old Tennessee Mine in Chloride, AZ before they moved to Oro Grande. At that time they had a "54" Chevy pickup with a homemade camper on the back of it and a window cooler for air conditioning. We visited the Anza-Borrego area around Warner Hot Springs and that is about all I remember. Yes, it was hot, but evenings as I recalled cooled off a little.

Take care,

Tom K.
User avatar
Space Cowboy
Posts: 213
Joined: Fri Apr 10, 2009 3:59 am
The middle number please (4): 7

Re: OLD B/W PHOTOS

Post by Space Cowboy »

Well then, I just I'll just have to enjoy your pix from other places. I do like them.
LDMGOLD
Posts: 440
Joined: Mon Jul 06, 2009 9:30 am
anti-spam detector: No
The middle number please (4): 4

Re: OLD B/W PHOTOS

Post by LDMGOLD »

Kurt:

Here are some old photos of holes in the Horse Camp country, Upper Tortilla, and Music Mountain area.

This hole is about twenty feet deep. One of the deeper holes in the wilderness area. This photo was taken in the early seventies.

Image
Last edited by LDMGOLD on Wed Jun 02, 2010 11:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
LDMGOLD
Posts: 440
Joined: Mon Jul 06, 2009 9:30 am
anti-spam detector: No
The middle number please (4): 4

Re: OLD B/W PHOTOS

Post by LDMGOLD »

Kurt, here is another hole with a block and tackle. I doubt the block and tackle is still there, but I wouldn't have used it anyway because this hole is quite deep. These photos were taken in the early seventies with my Minolta SRT 101. Somebody must have believe there was a lot of gold here to go to such work in such a remote location. I don't know how they hauled all this stuff back into the mountains in those days. The only good outfitters around in those days was Superstition Mountain Pack Outfit run by John DeGraffenreid, Billy Clark Crader didn't show up until about 1968, and I believe this work was done in the late forties or early fifties. Kurt, I spent some fifty years gathering these photos and stories about the mountains, I believe I have about 8,000 slides I took between 1959-2000, and probably another 10,000 photographs taken during the same period. I started using quality digital cameras in 2003. A three year period there I used film, and digital cameras. The early digital were not of a very good quality and the images were lousy to say the least.



Image
User avatar
silent hunter
Posts: 650
Joined: Thu Feb 11, 2010 10:27 am
anti-spam detector: No
The middle number please (4): 4
Location: Apache Junction

Re: OLD B/W PHOTOS

Post by silent hunter »

I really like to see the old boys who made the superstitions there home. The men who gave all there time to the mountains.

Thanks so much
Kurt P
User avatar
cubfan64
Posts: 686
Joined: Mon Aug 17, 2009 7:00 am
anti-spam detector: No
The middle number please (4): 4

Re: OLD B/W PHOTOS

Post by cubfan64 »

I don't know how they hauled all this stuff back into the mountains in those days.
I have to assume they used horses or mules, but even that had to be a major chore. And to think I bitched and moaned to myself about having to carry an extra couple gallons of water on one of my hikes.

Man, we've gotten soft - and I say we meaning mostly me :)
Jim Hatt

Re: OLD B/W PHOTOS

Post by Jim Hatt »

Great photos Tom,

They look alot like a couple of old shafts I found up in the area of Tortilla Pass, a mile and a half or so from the J.F. Ranch.

Jim
LDMGOLD
Posts: 440
Joined: Mon Jul 06, 2009 9:30 am
anti-spam detector: No
The middle number please (4): 4

Re: OLD B/W PHOTOS

Post by LDMGOLD »

Gentleman: Here is another old shaft that has since been filled in by the TNF some time during the mid 1960 when they were doing some limited trail repair and maintenance. This was one of the oldest shafts in the Superstition Primitive Area as it was known then. This old shaft was about twenty feet deep with two tunnel perpendicular to the shaft. The shaft was filled in and completed obliterated. I photographed it shortly after I worked on the Quarter Circle U Ranch in the summer of 1956. I returned to the site after a few years and it was gone. I knew where it was, but couldn't find it.

Many of the old shafts are gone forever. There are not to many of us around anymore who remember them or took photos of them. This shaft was completely framed with native materials, primarily ironwood. This old shaft could have been seventy-five to hundred years old when I photographed it in 1956. I hope you enjoy this old photo and the hard work that went into digging and timbering this shaft Kurt.

Tom K.


Image
Post Reply