CALIFORNIA EMPIRE GOLD MINE EXPEDITION!

On one of my visits to see relatives Out West, my cousin, Ron, and his wife Claudia, took me to see their town's most popular visitor attraction, which is the Empire Mine State Historic Site (www.parks.ca.gov).  I took this photo of the couple at one of many scenic photo opportunities, available  within the location.  

 

The Empire Mine State Historic Site is located in Grass Valley, California, and the massive rocks lining the steps at the visitor center (the former carriage and automobile house of the estate), are very appropriate, since Empire Mine was a source of gold that is from a process called Hard Rock Mining.  This is a different process of mining from "panning" for gold in a flowing stream (called "placer mining").  Both processes were taking place simultaneously in northern California, after the gold rush of 1849.  

  After a visitor pays the small admission fee to take the guided tour, they can explore the entire park, including the manicured estate grounds of the Bourn family, that includes this picturesque fountain.   It is a coincidence that this cousin ended up in a town known for mining, because our mutual grandparents also hailed from a town known for mining---Lead Hill, Arkansas.  At one time, the northern Arkansas location was mined for its lead deposits, although all that remains of any old lead mines there, have been covered up, when Bull Shoals Lake was formed, from a dam on the White River.  

These "A Frame" structures in the garden area, provide a growing platform for the formation of an outdoor arbor.  

Because of its neatly manicured shrubs, intertwined with brick paths, some visitors are reminded of being in a formal English-style rose garden.  

The entire tour group was able to sit on a covered porch, as the tour guide pointed out details of the construction of the property, including the type of stone used throughout.  

The guided tours are led by volunteers and if one goes to the website, there is a disclaimer with the statement showing the hours that tours are offered, that says if there is no volunteer available, there is no tour.  I have done some volunteer work at a state park near me, and I know the important role volunteers play in our nation's park systems, both state and national.  

My cousin Ron is looking over an antique stove that is in the kitchen area of the home.  Ron and I share the same paternal grandparents, and can recall some of the old-fashioned cooking methods they used on their farm.  In fact, one of my memories is when family members gathered to work all day on the slaughter, skinning, chopping, and grinding of a hog, the family raised for food.  I remember there was a giant kettle of boiling liquid, that I was told to stay away from, because they were in the process of making lye soap, from the fat rendered out of the hog.  I remember my parents brought home a congealed "substance" they called souse, which was used as a protein source, as long as it lasted.  Souse is made up of bits and pieces of leftover hog parts, including the organs of the animal, the collagen released during the boiling process, serves as a binder to congeal the substance after it is cooked.  Since we ate it straight out of the refrigerator, it was our form of "cold cuts"!  (Nutrition research now shows that collagen is very beneficial to our health, but since many more people now used processed meats, rather than fresh meat, collagen is deficient in the American diet.  Hence, it is being marketed as a separate powder, to add to one's food or beverage).  Any memory of my maternal grandparents cook stove, includes standing beside my grandma as a little girl, and asking her how she knew when the lard she was heating to fry up the chicken she had just butchered, was hot enough to put the raw chicken in.  She said she spit into the hot grease, to see if her spit sizzled.  Not knowing she was kidding me, I immediately spit into the frying pan of hot grease!  The only thing that sizzled was my rear end, after I was spanked for such unladylike behavior! 

Since my husband was a hunter, the idea of an animal mount adorning the walls of a home seems perfectly natural to me.  However, all of our trophy mounts are white-tail deer, bear, fish, and pheasants, whereas this California family room, shows moose and elk head mounts. 

The Visitor Center of the Empire Mine has what is called "The Secret Room", because it was known only to the mine company's owner and board of directors.  The room contains a 1938 scale model, of the 367 miles of underground shafts that lay beneath our feet.  It is hard to imagine what it must have been like to go to work in the very deepest of these shafts, and spend hour after hour, hammering  away at the solid rock.   The placard told us that about one inch represents the current mine tunnels that one can still enter.  Furthermore, anything below two inches, is now flooded, because of the high water table in this part of Nevada County, California.  The tunnels went deeper than 1,200 feet, which was considered the maximum, during the time the mine was operational.  During that period, it required constant pumping, to keep water out of the lower tunnels.  

One can also tour the abandoned mining equipment and out buildings, that surround the visitor center.  In addition, there are 14 miles of hiking, horseback riding, and biking trails on the 856 acres of forested land that comprises the park.  

It is not surprising that this site has a well-stocked gift shop, with numerous precious metal and precious stones, some in the shape of a heart, that one can purchase as a souvenir of your visit.  It takes a tremendous amount of refining to get the tiny amounts of gold found in ore, extracted, then melted into a form that can be of use as jewelry.  Likewise, it takes a tremendous amount of refining to get ME, to abandon my bad habits and create a pure heart within me!  I am using all the sparkling silver and gold items, and HEART pendants, I saw in the gift shop, as a visual aid for one of my First Place 4 Health (www.FirstPlace4Health.com) memory verses that says, "The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but the LORD tests the heart."  Proverbs 16:3   

This visit to Empire Mine, with my cousins, gave me "MILES OF SMILES"!  Tricia

WINTER HIKING EXPEDITIONS!

 In the Arkansas Ozarks, it "bids well" to hike at "Bidwell" Park during the winter, when the park is less crowded.  And I don't mean, that it is less crowded just because there are fewer campers, picnickers, and boaters in the park.  It is also less crowded in terms of ticks and chiggers!  So if you have been "itching" to get outdoors, now is the time to do it!  If you wait until warmer weather, you will be itching, because those lovable little ticks and chiggers will want to join you on your expedition!

 Bidwell Park is part of a system of well-maintained locations around Norfork Lake, near Mountain Home, Arkansas.  They are under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, as well as the Ozarks Keystone Trail endowment.  

 I was there recently with my female friends who get together on Wednesday mornings to explore different trails around the Ozarks.  On this day, we were exploring one of the sections of David's Trail ( www.davidstrail.org ), that starts across the highway from Bidwell Point Park.  Since there is no parking at the actual trail head, it is necessary to park in the Corps of Engineer park, then CAREFULLY cross Highway 101.

 The entrance to the trail is not visible from the highway, because it drops off steeply down the hill, as soon as you enter it. 

 Walking along this shoreline will give the hiker good views of both the Highway 101 Bridge and the Highway 412 Bridge that cross Lake Norfork.  Those of us who remember having to make these crossings via ferry boat in "the olden days" probably have a greater appreciation of these bridges that you young whippersnappers!

 The current low lake levels, combined with the hundreds of dead, fallen trees from our big ice storm a while back, have created some coves that were piled high with gigantic "logjams" of driftwood.  It reminded me of the log jams I had seen on Pacific Coast beaches in British Columbia. 

 Our group passed by this picnic table, where one could enjoy a time to sit and enjoy the view of Lake Norfork.  If you go back in the summer, you could be sitting at this table and not even be able to see the water, because of the dense vegetation that will fill the space, when the underbrush has grown up, and all the trees have leaves on them.

 Another recent winter hike I took was also on Lake Norfork, but on the western end of the lake, in Pigeon Creek Park.  Pigeon Creek Park is also a Corps of Engineer Park, but through a partnership with a local bicycle club, a wonderful multi-use area has been developed called the Pigeon Creek National Recreation Trail.

 There are parking areas on both the east and west ends of the Highway 201 North bridge.  The benefit of the the East side parking lot is that there is a portable bathroom, which is always helpful!

 There are several different locations where one can begin their hike, and the distance you cover depends on where you park to begin.

 For this hike, I was with a group of my Arkansas Master Naturalist friends ( www.arkansasmasternaturalists.org ).  We met a man walking his dog at this scenic overlook along the trail, and got him to take a group photo of us.  This spot has been nicely cleared of underbrush, and a sturdy park bench added, so that one could enjoy a view of Lake Norfork year-round from high atop this hill, overlooking the water.

 The trail goes by the remains of an old building, giving rise to speculation as to its history.

 At the website www.americantrails.org , one can download, then print, a map of the numerous trails available at Pigeon Creek.  There are no maps available at the trail heads.

 Some of the trails are marked with blue blazes to help one get their bearings.  One of the trail markers also had the GPS co-ordinates on it, as well.

 The trail description on the Internet says hikers will go through a stand of pine trees that was planted over fifty years ago, and they are shown in this photo.  That means they were planted around the time that the Lake Norfork Dam was being built.

 Leaving the state of Arkansas, and driving north into Missouri, my women's hiking group traveled to the Devils Backbone Wilderness, in Mark Twain National Forest to hike Raccoon Hollow Trail ( You can find directions to the trail at www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/mtnf )

 There is not a sign along the highway marking the trail head, so you have to be very alert to see the turnoff to its secluded entrance in a thick pine forest.  There are over 1.5 million acres in Mark Twain National Forest, so be sure to have a good map when you start out on your trek!

 Considering the cold temperatures and distance we had to drive to get to this remote trail, it is surprising that over 30 ladies turned out to explore Raccoon Hollow!  

 Devils Backbone Wilderness Area is one of 8 wilderness areas protected and preserved in the state of Missouri.  It was designated in 1980, and has a total of 6,595 acres.  It was named for a prominent ridge down the center of the area, and is described as "limestone glades", near the little town of Dora, Missouri. 

 I am thankful we are being good stewards of this beautiful land God has created for us.  Seeing the beauty there, illustrates this verse from Psalm 96:12 that says  "Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them.  Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy."  Think of the chorus of joy that 1.5 million acres of trees are singing!!  My First Place 4 Health group (www.FirstPlace4Health.com), is memorizing the first two verses from the same psalm, that says,  "Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth.  Sing to the Lord, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day.  Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples"  Psalm 96:1-3.  So get out there and take a winter hiking expedition, so that you, too, can sing with joy and have MILES OF SMILES!  Tricia