Heading up to the pass Thursday 2/26 to do some nugget shooting and check out the lower and upper tollgate sites. Maybe pick up some coins but my goal is nuggets. Could use some tips on Cleghorn Canyon and Crowder Canyon the old pass road from the 1800's. Also looking for the Chinese camp and placers they worked. If there is someone who wants to go to bust nuggets email me. Pegleglooker your invited I can't send email but can receive them my server is screwed up.
I'm not in that part of CA, but just based on my recollection (from travels, etc...) of that stretch, and basic knowledge of the evolution of road systems and population growth here in CA, I would give the kill-joy view that any coin hunting (from old way-station stops, tollgate sites, etc...) is going to be nearly impossible.
Reasons are multiple: you are in a very VERY extreme growth region of the USA. Ie.: the southern CA/ Los Angeles area. Roads (4 or 6 lane freeways) you see now, were/are not necessarily the same roads (paths) that you see on maps of the 1800s. They got re-aligned (straightened, etc...) over the years of evolution as engineering progressed. And in that process, old turn-offs and pullouts were obliterated. Or..... if a stage stop or toll-gate were at the bottom of the grades in nice convenient flat spots, odds are, they are under a modern shopping center, suburbia, etc.... because people, just as back then, tended to develope in the most convenient flat spots.
That's one of the minuses of detecting in big cities, as opposed to rural areas. You are less likely to find a ruin (reminiscient of something out of a Clint Eastwood Spaghetti western movie) as someone in a rural area/state would find). That's not to say you can't find old coins, but you will tend to get them in urban demo's of some sort, not out in a cow-pasture, so-to-speak.
As far as nuggets, I can't speak on that, as that's a venue I'm not into.
In that area I have found old coins and buttons, on the east side of Route 66. I started hunting from the Gem Ranch (15 north Kenwood Devor Exit), all the way up to the Bridge just before the Cleghorn Exit. That was with my Gold Bug 2. If you have a coin machine just look for places that travlers could stop safely for a restroom stop, or to kick back for a road blockage such as an accident or bad weather.
Because of 911 the railroad security in that area is very strict. They won’t hesitate in stopping you if you wonder into the wrong area. Another thing, if you plan on wondering into the SB National Forest you’re supposed to have an Adventure Pass.
I hear that the SoCal Gang is going to be over in Ontario working the lots on East Holt I believe it is.
My dad told me there is an old road that is on the westside of the 15 hwy. He told me that many years ago my grandfather used to travel some road down in the small canyon and I believe that once when I pulled of the hwy due to massive Vegas traffic. I saw trucks or 4x4's driving that road as if it might go along the 15 heading south. I will try to get exact info from my dad, and let you know if I was correct.
I can't recall the source of the RR map I saw, but might be worthwhile to check out some of the older maps. Remember there were a couple more switchbacks due to the trains having less power to make the grade waaaayyyy back.
Another place to look for is the old area just down from the nudist colony where everyone used to ride dirt bikes back in the 70s.
Oh yeah, if you find the dirt bike area & find a set of keys to a 66 econoline they're mine!!!!!!!!!!
Part of route 66 is still driveable there. There was an area called bluecut there that had a store gas station and bungalows. Farther north there is a turn off that goes west away from the 15. As you drive through the creek there is an area that was a free camping area there on the right. Farther in up on there is an area called lost lake that was used as a swimming hole for years. It was told to be a bottomless spring feed lake. The big bend in the river south of blue cut had good gold many years back. Alot of the area was claimed up and I moved my attention to Lytle creek.
Truth is incontrovertible, malice may attack it and ignorance may deride it, but, in the end, there it is.
Allot of places to hunt in Cajon Pass! You have the almost ghost town of Keenbrook! You have the RR spot, of Blue Cut. Just past Blue Cut, you have the site location, where the Southern house/structure was of the John Brown Toll Road! The toll road was 12 miles long and ended 1.3 miles East of the 15 fwy, the area on the South side of Hwy 138, between the road and the creek below! At that end, there was the Northern toll house/stage stop! Allot of history, up around there, indians, robbers, trails, ranches, etc! Now if you head West of the 15 fwy, on Hwy 138, you have Morman Trail & Rocks! Plus allot of other sites, so go to the library, and check the history books! You'll find something of interest!
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