SoCal Legend of the Lost Padres Mine

[canamrider]

Hi Guys, I am not a "mine" guy but have hiked up to Red Rock and looked for other mines while riding my ATV. I live up in Pine Mountain Club and did a video of the mines that I found up here. Here it is (youtube)

 

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[Army of 1]

Great video canamrider , plenty of mining history there , awesome sound track . cheers Mick

 

[bobinsd]

Scott, probably the same "Mott" from Julian that claimed to have spoken to an old-timer who found the Viking ship buried in the sand somewhere around the Laguna Salada, south of Mexicali. Oddly, I have posted pictures of rock art in the mountains east of SD showing just such a serpent ship. I don't know if it's still here and I lost my old pics in a computer crash.

 

[blazintowers]

come on canam, that was a cool video and areas riding...where is it? im going search, if i die its gonna be on you@@@ J/K cool vid for sure... so has it been found or not?

 

[Oroblanco]

Too bad there is not a way to splice these So Cal lost padre mine threads together. Interesting story though, I would not get too discerning on exact details which may have become muddled in the retelling. Not to say this point is a falsehood, but for example the 35 mile trot, may have been an exaggeration or pure estimation, not an exact measured figure.
Oroblanco

 

[canamrider]

blazin, sorry been out of touch, reply so we can get this going.

 

[Old Bookaroo]

An essential source for the Lost Padres Mine (was it the mine or the Padres that were lost?):
Mines, Murders & Grizzlies: Tales of California's Ventura Back Country by Charles F. Outland (1998).

It's a great collection of 19th Century newspaper accounts. To say Mr. Outland is skeptical is to put it mildly, indeed! He correctly points out that many editors were boosters for the local economy and not always reliable reporters of fact.

The hardcover edition was published in a limited edition and it’s a bit pricy – but, in my opinion, well worth it.
This book is a great example of an author presenting original research with analysis and knowledge of the area. And offering a new take on an old story.


Good luck to all,

~The Old Bookaroo

 

[blazintowers]

Ok, what ever happened to this story? Where is Hoge? Have any new info or pics of the mine? Anything being retrieved?

Canam, been out exploring lately?

 

[tapoutking]

I'm getting ready to head out again in the next few weeks to a couple promising spots I found on my last outting. Ill also spend a day or two trying to get lost to see if I find anything. Great thing about the sespe is that there is a lot of it.

 

[grnlin]

Hi tapout. How did your last outing go??
I've found a few areas I think look awesome. Let's pick each other's brain sometime. Good luck and happy hunting.

 

[3sell]

Has anyone ever heard of the old little town that in the mountains behind Santa Barbara and the river? There is a old 1800's school house, cemetary, and old little abandoned homes. My dad use to work for the forest service and had keys to all of the back county in Los Padre forest and he would go packing and he's shown me pictures of this place and now I want to go metal detecting!! He said there is so many old stories from back there and old things just laying around. He told me about this HUGE cave that had indian things all in when he was in the boy scouts but he can't remember where, we tried to find it. There is suppose to be hidden gold mines back there that Mission Santa Barbara ran and hid it after they killed all the indian slaves because they thought they would show people the mines. My dad says those were the rumors in the forest service and he actually thinks the lost "Los Padre's mine" in actually in our back country because so many slaves were killed to hide it and our mission has a lot of gold.

 

[dannyg]

Well just a small fragment of info on that 3sell all the missions were built a days trip across land from each other and around mines for the profit of spain. And anytime there was a threat to the mission things were hidden. Theres indian marker trails and spanish marker trails going to most of the mines because both the indians and the spanish knew about the precious metals here. Look into it maybe youll be able to identify a landmark and get to the mine?!

 

[3sell]

I think this "lost mine" fits more in Santa Barbara also because our mission is famous for its dark history. From records it shows that hundreds of chumash were murdered and they are buried all over the place. There is a huge rose garden out front of the mission and when the city dug around there was mass graves everywhere thats why they can't build anything new now. It just seems so strange that out of all the missions, Santa Barbara is "the nicest looking" most expensive built one around. It hasn't really changed its actual look for over 100 years. Its been fixed because of earth quakes but thats about it. It just seems weird for this mass murder that took place on the grounds. You can actually go to the mission and look into the records so its fact.

 

[dannyg]

Man thats interesting. And if i remember correctly the los padres national forest stretches from north san luis obispo from northern la county.

 

[3sell]

Yes you are correct. Dude I'm telling you, the stories my dad would tell me from when he worked up in the forest service makes you wonder. He said they all heard about the stories and they think this lost mine is right here behind Santa Barbara. There is a lot of haunted missions too and Santa Barbara is one of them. When you look into the records its just very weird. To many indians were killed here and for what? They all were slaves or were forced to work for the mission, no wonder the Chumash died out so fast. I think its because of this. It's hard to find markers because I'm not really sure what to look for or even where to start. There is a lot of homes around the area now and I've done a lot of hiking but have never seen anything out of place.

 

[blazintowers]

Yes you are correct. Dude I'm telling you, the stories my dad would tell me from when he worked up in the forest service makes you wonder. He said they all heard about the stories and they think this lost mine is right here behind Santa Barbara. There is a lot of haunted missions too and Santa Barbara is one of them. When you look into the records its just very weird. To many indians were killed here and for what? They all were slaves or were forced to work for the mission, no wonder the Chumash died out so fast. I think its because of this. It's hard to find markers because I'm not really sure what to look for or even where to start. There is a lot of homes around the area now and I've done a lot of hiking but have never seen anything out of place.

dude that's some very cool info and does make since. if you know the locked gate area your dad spoke of, that's your starting point. maybe try google earth to search the area for any sign's of structures or foundation sights?
wish I was closer to help with your search!

 

[3sell]

So I did a little more research at the mission and found out that the indian slaves did in fact work a bunch of different mines including a gold mine around the same time the Santa Ynez River had a mini gold rush. The records state that the mine was in a days ride so I'm thinking its got to be the mountains behind Santa Barbara and I guess I would need to look for old camp spots around the river. I'm sure they didn't keep coming back to the mission each day because they wouldn't give the slaves horses.

 

[HappyTrails55]

Just for a little credence about the Missions and Gold Mining....a little known Documented FACT about Mission San Miguel. I found a Survey done by the Southern Pacific in 1854 and it declares Gold being found by Mexicans and Indians in the San Marcos Creek Drainage that empties out into the Salinas River, about 1 to 2 miles south of the Mission. The Survey relates some History of this Discovery at the time of the Founding of the Mission. Darrell

 

[dannyg]

hey 3sell did the info state which direction because the missions were spaced a days ride apart and I'm showing a current gold mine east of nipomo. so its still doesn't rule it out I think. and hows it going darrel?

 

[Dustytrails]

Are there any updates to the LP Los Angeles County, are we still looking for it? Has it been found again? or has this one ran out of gas?