ACCIDENTAL TREASURE TROVE IN THE SESPES, CALIFORNIA

[Havilah_Springs]

In 1985 while on an exploratory expedition into the Sespe Back Country of Ventura County, California I accidentally stumbled on an old dump site with hundreds of bottles laying on the surface. This of course stopped my search for one of the elusive "Lost Padre's Mines," for this trip. After a few hours of highgrading, we stored what we could carry in our packs and placed the rest on a stack of red bricks and behind the stack in hopes of returning for the rest, however to this day I still have not returned. After researching the site I discovered that this was the site of the first oil well drilled in Ventura County in the late 1880's. It will take a lot of "Bushwhacking" to get back in there as the sage brush gets to be 12' high and requires machetes to cut a trail.​

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STACKED UNUSED RED BRICK​

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SOME OF THE HAUL​

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THE CREW​

 

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[riverdiver]

Damn, what are you waiting for?

I grew up in Simi and spent my summers in that canyon swimming and snorkeling. Your photos have brought back some strong memories of the area, your crew looks a lot like my brothers friends that used to drive us out there. I am glad that you did not recover it all as I am moving back to Ventura County when I retire in 6 years and would love to help you bushwhack back to that site and dig/detect it.

 

[Havilah_Springs]

Damn, what are you waiting for?

I grew up in Simi and spent my summers in that canyon swimming and snorkeling. Your photos have brought back some strong memories of the area, your crew looks a lot like my brothers friends that used to drive us out there. I am glad that you did not recover it all as I am moving back to Ventura County when I retire in 6 years and would love to help you bushwhack back to that site and dig/detect it.

Love to have you along. Keep in mind, although this site is within several hundred feet of your swiming spot it is miles away as the site is ontop of the cliff.

Keep in touch,

Rick (Havilah_Springs)

 

[riverdiver]

Thanks for the invite Rick, I will keep in touch.

I will be back next summer in 2012 to visit my folks who still live in Simi and to check out the job prospects for a retired Firefighter, I was out last November and talked to my son about heading out there as he is my dive partner and after looking into it I see that the area around the swimming hole is now a park with established trails so I wonder if diving/swimming is even allowed now?

I gotta tell you Rick, that area is so awesome for hiking/swimming and just being a kid. I am so grateful that my folks raised me in such an awesome county. Mind you now that I have been gone since 1984 but during my visit last fall I was able to take my wife and son to my favorite fossil beds in the Arroyo Simi and still recover the same shell fossils I got as a kid.

Matt (riverdiver)

 

[Havilah_Springs]

Wow, What a small world! I grew up in Simi as well, and lived there until I went into the service in 75 as a Fire Fighter. I was also a Fire Cadet at Sta. 46. I used to hunt fossils in the Simi Arroyo too, nice crabs. There is also another favorite site of mine for bottles at the mouth of Tapo Canyon, of course I have not been there since 1975, but it is still open.

Let me know when you are back in town and I will take you out for some treasure.

Rick

 

[riverdiver]

Hi Rick,

Where in Simi did you grow up at? I went to Valley View Jr. High and Simi High and into the Navy in 1984 to be a Firefighter. I grew up in the Santa Susana end of town (Hope town). I dug bottles in the Black and Box canyons and in the Simi Foothills above my neighborhood at the end of Stow Street above the tracks. I spent a fair amount of time with Grandma Presby at the Bottle Village and dug an awesome amount of spiral cone shells from the blue clays of the Simi Arroyo where it passes by the Brandies Institute and parallel to LA Avenue, it was all pepper trees back then in the 70's and now it is business parks. I have never dug in Tapo canyon but did ride bikes up there on most weekends.

 

[Havilah_Springs]

Hi Rick,

Where in Simi did you grow up at? I went to Valley View Jr. High and Simi High and into the Navy in 1984 to be a Firefighter. I grew up in the Santa Susana end of town (Hope town). I dug bottles in the Black and Box canyons and in the Simi Foothills above my neighborhood at the end of Stow Street above the tracks. I spent a fair amount of time with Grandma Presby at the Bottle Village and dug an awesome amount of spiral cone shells from the blue clays of the Simi Arroyo where it passes by the Brandies Institute and parallel to LA Avenue, it was all pepper trees back then in the 70's and now it is business parks. I have never dug in Tapo canyon but did ride bikes up there on most weekends.

I lived across the street from Valley View (Tapo and Kadota) I too went to Valley View Jr. High and Simi High. When I was a kid I used to run into Grandma Presby at the old dump behind the airport on Tapo. She used to collect her bottles there to build her home. In Tapo Canyon right at he mouth there are a couple of old cabin sites. I also pulled some bottles out of the old ghost town "La Quinta Ranch" up Las Llajas Cyn.

Yep the 60's and early 70's were the days to grow up in Simi.

 

[SODABOTTLEBOB]

Hav ~

Are others, like myself, allowed to join your expedition? I live in San Diego and would love to participate. I will watch for your reply here.

Thanks.

Bob

 

[Havilah_Springs]

Hav ~

Are others, like myself, allowed to join your expedition? I live in San Diego and would love to participate. I will watch for your reply here.

Thanks.

Bob

The more the merrier! It helps to have a few people along as the brush can be a pain. There were four of us the first time. We would cut a trail for thirty minutes then go back and get our packs, hike to where we left off and start all over again. Probably wont be going in until late spring or summer.

Rick H_S

 

[SODABOTTLEBOB]

Rick ~

Thank you. Count me in! I am totally up to the rigors involved, and will count down the days until it comes to pass. If possible, please give me at least 30 days prior notice so I can arrange things ahead of time to be gone.

Bob

 

[dougw]

Did you go?

I know this is a old thread but did any of you go up the Sespe as discussed? I was at 41, 43, 45, and 46 in the 28 years I worked in the valley. Still working for a few more years and just started on new things to do besides fish.
Thanks
Doug

 

[jaystuw]

I was in thousand oaks in the 60's and 70's and joined the army in 75. So i was doing the same stuff as hav, at the same time, right next door to simi. Funny how we shared the same interest, lived so close and never crossed paths. my buddys and i hit newbury park (stage coach inn) oxnard, ventura, santa barbara and santa paula, including sespe creek for bottles. Mostly probing for trash pits and out houses but also a few dumps. We some how over looked simi. didnt realize at the time how much history was there. I live in moorpark now, even closer to simi. Now I shop and eat there, ride my bike along the creek were you guys searched for fossils and as a edison co senior splicer inspect all the underground electric stuctures in simi. I am very familiar with the area! John

 

[tapoutking]

I live in Simi at the top of Tapo Canyon and Walnut. Been out here since 78.

 

[sunrunner]

yeah when Hector was a pup !