Frenchmans mine

[Isayhello2u]

this is just a story i was told about fifteen years ago, I can't vouch for it and have no other details, I had forgotten this story until something else made me remember it
so i thought I'd post it.

toward the end of the Julian gold boom a prospector who became known as the Frenchman because of his accent had a mine somewhere in the california desert sand hills west of El Centro. The entrance of his mine was built from wood that he salvaged from a ship wreck. He is assumed to have perished in the desert.

 

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[pegleglooker]

This mine is in Philip Bailey's Golden Mirages (ppgs 100-104)> Talks about 2 frenchman named Georges Le Ponde and Louis Pindree ( french Canadians). they had found a mine somewhere in the desert east of Julian. It also involves a black man with the name N#@@$r Jim. Sorry that the only way i will say what is written. I don't promote racism although, That is the word used in the book. It seems that after the 2 frenchmen found their gold Pindree came back to Banner to get supplies. When he decided to have a drink he made the mistake of paying with raw gold from a small pouch. That let everyone know that he had a GREAT find. Around 2am when he left the bar he was shot and Jim came to his rescue. Jim took him to his shack and tried to care for him but he died. But before Louis died he said something to Jim and after that Jim was a " man of importance ".
As Jim was going to take some supplies to the other frenchman ( Georges Le Ponde), George came to town. he was furious about his partners death and went crazy trying to find the murderer, but no luck. He and Jim then left Banner and went to the mine. About a month later Jim came back with " a buckskin bag full of gold marbles". It was leaf gold rolled into balls- according to Bailey. Jim also said that Georges went to Yuma with 12 bags of gold. In the book Bailey also says that Borrego Springs was originally called n#@@$r Springs. The end of this story says that in the fall of 1875 a prospecter came to Banner form the Chocolates. he said he was working a area of placers called Mesquite Flats and found a body east of Salton Sea near the ancient beachline.The body was next to a partially burned tree and there was a bag of gold next to him, which he took.what happened to the other 11 bags?? Road trip??

 

[Isayhello2u]

Yes thats it. the right story thanks

by the way do you have any old california map links mine dont work anymore and
my computer is rejecting the cd i put my copies on.

there are a couple of place names in the colorado desert Im trying to track down.
where they would be today

Palma Seca -somewhere along the bradshaw trail just beyond Dos Palmas
could it be the stage stop that was destroyed in the 1930's-40's near Oasis

Algodon trading post or Rancherita Algondon
(I think its near the sand dunes but the description given was as a source of timber
{cottonwood?} several hundred feet above sea level )

ps reading some of the old stories and seeing how many folks died next to a watering hole makes me wish i could dive and check out those now sunk under the salton sea.

 

[Hazy_Desert]

Very Interesting Isayhello2u.... I have also had the thought of what’s under all that water... I’ll let you guys know if I find anything