TRIP LEADER: Roger Vargo
On this 3-day "mini vacation" we'll visit a plethora of
historical sites dating from just after the Civil War to just before the Cold
War.
WHAT: Mexican miners named the mountain Cerro Gordo (Fat Hill) for its abundant supply of high grade silver ore. Mortimer Belshaw, an unscrupulous profiteer, acquired the rights to most of the mineral wealth on the mountain. He then gained control of the town’s water system and built a toll road up the mountain. He now tends a blast furnace in Hell. The town has been persevered through several boom-to-bust cycles. Philip Varney, author of "Southern California’s Best Ghost Towns" (University of Oklahoma Press, reviewed 4-Wheeling December 1991), calls Cerro Gordo “...California’s best true ghost town.” Cerro Gordo is privately owned, with some buildings in various stages of restoration.
Hauled in Remi Nadeau's freight wagons, silver from Cerro Gordo’s mines, and the commerce it spawned, awakened a sleepy Los Angeles in the 1860’s and 70s. Some forty years later, LA’s thirst for water would compel another man, William Mulholland, to build an aqueduct from Los Angeles to the Owens Valley. Now more than eight decades later, the concrete and iron marvel of early twentieth century engineering continues to provide relief for LA’s thirst.
In addition to Cerro Gordo, we’ll visit Manzanar, a WW II relocation camp and follow part of the ghost route of the Southern Pacific narrow gage railroad. A near ghost town contemporary of Cerro Gordo, Darwin, is also on the itinerary.
California Ghost Towns by Roger Vargo
WHEN: See Trip Schedule
WHO: Anyone with a fully insured, street legal 4-Wheeler and a desire to get away for three-day weekend. Limited to 14 vehicles.
FEE: Check with Ecological 4-Wheeling Adventures for current fees.
TRIP DIFFICULTY RATING: More Difficult
Ecological 4-Wheeling Adventures
P.O. Box 12137
Costa Mesa, CA 92627
voice: (949) 645-7733
fax: (949) 645-7738
email: info@eco4wd.com
Other Ecological 4-Wheeling Adventures and Fourwheeling Academy Articles
Ecological 4-Wheeling Adventures Website
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