Peglegs Black Gold Nuggets

[pegleglooker]

Re: Pegleg's Black Gold Nuggets

hey guys,
i know this sounds stupid, but i had a dream awhile back that i left some nuggets in the mailbox at the pegleg monument, with a note saying no lies needed, the treasure has been found. i REALLY would simply like to write about the experience. i mean to close what some consider the 2nd best treasure story ( 2nd to the lost dutchman ) in southwestern lore. but, i think to find "some" nuggets would verify or prove the story. to gollum maybe everyone here has a point, maybe we should " team up " and combine what we have and attack this thing. who knows maybe we are VERY close or maybe it will take awhile. i just wish i knew someone with a 4x4 for sale ( very cheap ) or to rent, or loan and i would be out there immediately, and looking. any way i just wanted to say thankx for the vote of confidence and when i find it i will make sure to let ONLY those who should know know......

best
PLL

 

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[gollum]

Re: Pegleg's Black Gold Nuggets

Well, we have a pretty good picket line already. You from the Santa Rosas to the Borrego Badlands, and me from the border to the 78. We can't miss!

Best,

Mike

 

[pegleglooker]

Re: Pegleg's Black Gold Nuggets

hey gollum,
this may be old news to you but have you heard of a store called " the other store" in palm springs? i went there yesterday and spent about $170. they got everything from usgs 15min maps, to topo maps and about 50 books on mines and ghost towns in so cal. they also have a ton of local history books of all kinds... thought i'd let you know..address is 73-612 hwy 111 palm desert 92260 phone 760-346-1101.

best
PLL

 

[gollum]

Re: Pegleg's Black Gold Nuggets

Never been there. Looks like I'm going to Palm Springs soon!

Best,

Mike

 

[pegleglooker]

Re: Pegleg's Black Gold Nuggets

gollum,
i swear i walked into the store and felt like i hit the mother lode.... i had about 25-33 % of the books they had. but i needed what i didn't have.. i bought 9 usgs 15min maps and sevearl other books... it was well worth it..

best
PLL

 

[pegleglooker]

Re: Pegleg's Black Gold Nuggets

hello everyone,
just thought i would send you all a note about what i had also found lately. i started to RE research my henry e w wilson connection. well the 1st story that appears in desert mag was 11/46 and it was written by.... mr wilson he states that he 1st read about pegleg from a la express article from 7/13/1900. he then goes over all the same info. however he does state a "john o smith" like i have said earlier. which leads me to wonder where he got this info from?/ what i thought was more interesting was a letter to desert mag from a oh eddy dated 11/46. here is the earliest writing that i can prove, mr eddy states that pegleg smith was really lazarus smith and that he was a nephew of jedediah smith. he states that lazarus smith was his great uncle and states that he lost his leg in a sawmill accident when lazarus was 17. 2 years later he came west and found gold on the old spanish trail on the mojave desert. he also states that lazarus was buried in penn michigan after his death...thats about it.. just thought i would let u guys chew on that for awhile... looking forward to hear your thought

pegleglooker

 

[pegleglooker]

Re: Pegleg's Black Gold Nuggets

Hello all,
I just thought i would post a update since its been awhile. I have been following several leads. But, I think I may understand a little more and maybe able to make sense of some of it. When I first started I didn't know " jack " ( not that I'm a expert or anything now) so I decided to go back and reread some of my material. I went back to Bailey's Golden Mirages, and found a interesting story about a man who says he was a guide with someone who claimed to be " Pegleg Smith ". Bailey quotes a Charles Knowles who was born in 1865 and was about 20 at the time he re-met a man named Price. he's the story:

" I don't you suppose you remember me. You was too young to remember much of anything; but my boy saved your life when you was a kid. My name is Price, an' I'll bet your name is Knowles."
This casual meeting grew into a real friendship and later a partnership. Price and Knowles wintered together at a camp near Cour d' Alene (Idaho) and prospected whenever the weather permitted, and it was there that Knowles first heard the story of the Lost Pegleg Mine. It seemed that, about 30 years before, Price and a man named Pegleg Smith had acted as guides to parties crossing the Colorado Desert from Yuma to Warner's and the coast; but about a month before Pegleg found the mine, Price quit his job as guide and got work in LA. It was there that Pegleg, on his next trip in, showed him the nuggets and told him how he had found them.
He said he had left Yuma with a small party and headed for Warner's by the usual route through Carriso and Vallecito. They made about 2/3 of the distance to Carriso without mishap and camped for the night on New River, a few miles east of the Slough Lakes. They planned to make a early start the next morning and reach Carriso before it became to dark, as there was little moonlight. However, the mules wandered off, and the party was more than 2 hours late getting under way.
About the middle of the afternoon Smith saw they were in for a bad sandstorm, and a hour later it was blowing so hard they could hardly make headway against it. It was almost impossible to keep to the trail, for the blow-sand covered it up or blew away all traces of it in less than a 1/2 hour. The line of the mountains ahead was completely lost,and even the gap to Carriso was so badly blurred that Smith was not sure they were headed for it. In Instead of letting up as it began to get dark, the wind blew harder. At last it quieted a little; but it was not until they began to ascend a gradual slope that kept getting steeper that Smith knew for certain they were off course. They had wandered into one of those long, ramp-like canyons north of the trail they should have followed.
Smith told the party to wait where they were and he would go up a little higher to see if the could cross the hills instead of back-tracking through the sand. He climbed up the ramp for some distance to a small butte; it looked as though it sat on a ridge, so he went to the top. hoping he would get a better view of the country. But all he saw was Bad Lands and would have to take the long way into Carriso. While up there he noticed that the ridge was sort of hog-back made of 3 or 4 buttes connected by saddles.
"Well," Smith told Price, " I started down the shortest way but I stepped on alot o' loose stones that covered the hull hill, an' if I hadn't dug my pegleg into the rocks I'd slid clear to the bottom. When I started again, watchin' where I was goin', I noticed that the stones I stepped on were kinda queer lookin'. They was all round stones, big as walnuts and black as ink, I never saw nothin', like 'em before, so I put a few in my pocket an' went back to the party."
"Late in the evening' we got to Carriso. We was pretty well used up, an' by the time I had 'em all taken care of I was so tired I jugs' rolled in my blanket and went to sleep. I t wasn't till we was well on our way to Vallecito the next day that I had time to look at my black stones. At first they looked like jus' common black rocks; but when I knocked a couple of 'em together, a coatin' of varnish come off, an' I saw they was pretty near pure gold!... I'm goin' back an' try to find the place soon as I can, although I ain't sure how north I was. We had to plod through the sand for hours in the dark, an' it ain't possible to say how fur off the course we was."
This is the guy I think REALLY found the gold, not Thomas L Smith, the noted guide, trapper and stretcher of truths. In this story there is no Marice LeDuke, no burying furs, and 3 buttes ( but hog-backs ). If they started out the "usual" way and they camped east of the slough lakes that would mean that they ONLY headed west and then northwest to carriso. I spent awhile setting the stage stations in goggle earth and you can better understand the route. (see pic)

 

[pegleglooker]

Re: Pegleg's Black Gold Nuggets

I think they did head for Carriso, remember 2 things that were said 1- they got more than a 2hr late start, and 2- it was the middle of the afternoon when they saw the storm and a hour later they were in the middle of it. I think it's important to note that he says they have a " party" with them ( probably emigrants ). So it wasn't just 2 professionals but regular people too. They then wouldn't try to take any really hard trails. I think they got as far as the mouth of Bennet Canyon and possibly up the canyon. I would think when Pegleg was looking for a way out he headed into Bennet Canyon, how far is the question. But if you look towards the west you will see badlands. If this is not the area then where are there other badlands ( except the Borrego Badlands ). Now to find a " hogback butte ridge". Tell me what you guys think. Is this too far off track or is it something we just haven't though about. Since this is in the Carriso Impact Area that might explain why it hasn't been found and also why it's harder to find the buttes (bombs).Looking forward to your input.

PLL

 

[gollum]

Re: Pegleg's Black Gold Nuggets

Hey Folks,

A little update. The "one line" I noticed in an old book that led me in a different direction, may have been a missing link (no pun intended).

In the revised search area, I have found all kinds of mineralization. I have found copper ore (remember that the Black Gold Nuggets assay at 15-20% Copper), silver ore held in quartz (in very small amounts), but no gold yet. Looks like all the components for a PegLeg Buffet!

I'll post pics later.

Best-Mike

 

[the blindbowman]

Re: Pegleg's Black Gold Nuggets

Hey Folks,

Finally had my book returned.

Here is the only known picture of a black gold nugget. Right next to it, is one that has been chemically treated to remove the black coating.

Best,

Mike

is black paint on his wrest....?

 

[gollum]

Re: Pegleg's Black Gold Nuggets

Good eye!

Maybe, but not likely. I didn't post the other pics I have.

Best,

Mike

 

[Jeffro]

Re: Pegleg's Black Gold Nuggets

I am the first to admit I'm not as knowledgable about desert gold as those of you down in the desert.... but doesn't that gold appear to be extremely water worn? Those look like river nuggets that have traveled quite a ways.....

I have seen a bit of gold from deserts, and while worn, it generally appears a little more jagged that those nuggets.

Maybe taking a peak at ancient river channels would be in order? (Just a thought)

 

[gollum]

Re: Pegleg's Black Gold Nuggets

The story about this gold is that it has sat exposed to the atmosphere for hundreds of years. Before that, it may have been in a stream or river.

Best-Mike

 

[Jeffro]

Re: Pegleg's Black Gold Nuggets

It most decidedly has been. If you can locate the ancient channels in your general area of search, it may help narrow things down a bit.

 

[pegleglooker]

Re: Pegleg's Black Gold Nuggets

Gollum,
I don't see the pixs?? did you post them or am i just a blind THR ?? hehehehe

 

[gollum]

Re: Pegleg's Black Gold Nuggets

Not yet. I'll do it tonight though.

Mike

 

[gollum]

Re: Pegleg's Black Gold Nuggets

OK,

Here are the pics:

 

[gollum]

Re: Pegleg's Black Gold Nuggets

This one I think is Malachite.

 

[gollum]

Re: Pegleg's Black Gold Nuggets

This one is some low grade silver ore. The silver in quartz must still be in my rucksack. I'll get that one later.

 

[the blindbowman]

Re: Pegleg's Black Gold Nuggets

gollum . stright up , who's hand is that . dont beleive the person i beleive that is fake.. not to say the legend is fake in fact i beleive the this legend could be true . but i have not read much about ..at frist sight , i thaught those nuggets in his hand were gewing gum painted . ley me explan . if you were to place a book flat on your hand you would most likely put the booh in your oppisite hand ....if he was left handed . thus if he placed those nuggets on the book to be painted . he would pray with his left hand . this person is left handed ... thus you see specks of paint on his fingers and wrest and this would be why the paint is up high on his wrest , and yes it dose loook like pray paint ...

IMHO this has nothing to do with the validity of this legend this only reflects upon the honesty of this individual.

I believe from your photos you are in fact in right area. I've not read very much about this legend it was out of the area of my research so I cannot relate that he factors of this legend to your search area. If you'd want some insight I would need to know more and I'd have to read up on this legend. I will stop back and check your reply... You look to be doing some good field work stick with it rewards come to those that are willing to put in the effort.