Monday, August 29, 2011

Gold! Crystals?

Gold Crystal
Hmmm... What's wrong with this picture?

I've never really thought of Gold as being crystalline, but if it is vaporized and allowed to re-coalesce, it forms as a crystal. In a process, that I won’t even pretend to understand, heat, vacuum, and other chemicals leaches gold from other substances, then allows it form back into 99.99% pure gold. The picture is what the gold looks like when it joins back together. The process is called “The Van Arkle de Boer process”.



The following photo is Platinum formed with a similar process. Iron crystals called "hematite" form at the mouths of volcanoes from a natural occuring chemical/heat process.
Platinum Crystal

Iron Hematite

Touchstone for determining gold purity.
 I actually found all this information while I was looking for the word "Touchstone". I knew that a "touchstone" was used as a test for quality, but I didn't know why until I looked it up.

By using a two pieces of gold, of a known quality, to make marks on a touchstone. Then one gold mark of an unknown quality, the grade of the unknown gold can be determined by using mixtures of nitric acid and watching to see which mark disoves first. The term "Acid Test" also comes from determining the quality of Gold. Not being from gold county, I probably seem a little niave to the Mother Lode people.

This blog used to have a commenter by the name of "Gemboy" that knew all of this stuff. I havent heard from him since the post that I did on the Island Mountain Copper mine.






55 comments:

Anonymous said...

That gold crystal is very interesting. Dave Hall explained to me one time that he saw a gold line rubbed onto a touchstone and they used 3 different acids to determine the quality of that piece of gold. I may remember that wrong but that is the way I remember it.
Now I see they claim to have discovered a diamond planet the size of Jupiter. All crystallized carbon but 11 light years away.

Oregon

skippy said...

Gold? Crystals? I had no idea.
Your link to the Island Mountain Copper Mine was fascinating. You wrote in that link:

"The (Island Mountain) mine produced ore from 1915 until 1930. They mined 4100 tons of copper, 140,000 ounces of silver, and 8,600 ounces of gold. I'll bet that you didn't know that the Eel river had gold did you?"

No, Ernie, I didn't. Not on the Eel-- and not on your life. This is hard to fathom. The above figures, if accurate and assuming they're troy ounces, indicate nearly 9,600 pounds of silver and 590 pounds of gold surfacing from the Island Mountain depths: at today's values, this would be the equivalent of $5.7 million in silver and $15.3 million for the gold.

The copper? About $36.5 million, give or take. $57.5 million for the total haul; throw in some "gem quality rocks and crystals" as extra frosting on that feverish cake and it's about time to take another look at assessing and assaying what might be left from those mining days of 1915-1930 at Island Mountain.

Having spent two summers of gold mining elsewhere (Denny) and having some amateur knowledge of the area and subject, this was surprising to find out.

spyrock said...

i found an old claim on shell rock creek. but i don't know how long it lasts. but it's way up shell rock creek near the source. they had another one on the other side of iron peak mountain. i've got the logistics. but i don't know if its legal for us to dig up those pot plants and mine for gold.

skippy said...

A bit off subject here, but the Island Mountain mine location and some related pictures can be seen here.

If you zoom in on the map and look towards the lower right of the mine and crossing over the river bed, an odd feature is seen. Is it the bridge-- and it's shadow-- leading to the Island Mountain tunnel?

Ernie Branscomb said...

Yes Skippy,
That is the Island Mountain Railroad bridge, a stones throw away from the mine. The Mine is actually a stones throw away from where your map shows, but it's close enough.

They actually formed a company to reopen the mine back in the '80s. They used a loader to dig the dirt away at the entrance. The water from the mine poured out and right into the river. There was a small fish kill. Dozens of people saw it, and the envirinmentel movement had the tool that they needed to get the mining stopped. The company went bankrupt.

Ernie Branscomb said...

By the way skippy, there is no "off subject" on this blog. if you have somthing to say...Dive in!~

charlie two crows said...

You can look at geocommunicator.gov to find old claims and their statis.
On infomine.com will show you every mine in the world(old and current)on the sat map.

charlie two crows said...

A miners tail; in 98 my son wanted to sell an old clarinet to buy video games. So we went down to the vegas pawn shop and the man said do you want fifteen dollars or tear it apart and I'll give you more??
So we started looking for more and my son sold those. But they held a secret!! So in 2001 we loaded up the orange cad. Eldorado with the 10ft miller board on the roof.(You may have seen it) and we spent all summer looking for clarinets and flutes. From eureka to denver and back. We made a big haul. Now to the secret and sunday. Yesterday I found an old clarinet in the paper for $50. So I called. And sure enough it was pre 1900 and had the secret silver smith's hallmark under the keys. So I got it. Now I have 5.5lbs of pure silver I removed from that old clarinet. Spot price makes over $3700. Now you know my secret!

Anonymous said...

charlie two crows-- nice find(s), good secret (or it was; thank you), and those old clarinets and flutes must be getting rarer by the day.

skippy said...

Here’s some brief information about the Island Mountain Mine. From The Mines Register, Volume 12, 1916:

”ISLAND COPPER CO. CALIFORNIA
Office: Security Bank Bldg., Oakland, Calif. Frank A. Leach, pres.; O. H. Wilcox, v. p.; E. R. Leach, mgr.

Property: 4 patented mining claims and other property aggregating 265 acres, in the S. W. corner of Trinity county, within 500 yards of the Northwestern Pacific R. R., operating from San Francisco to Humboldt bay. The post office is Island Mountain, Trinity Co., Calif.

Ore: lenticular bodies of copper-iron sulphides occur in metamorphosed sedimentary rocks, outcropping at several places. Development is said to indicate that these various outcrops are part of one mass, whose estimated dimensions are 90 to 100' in width, 450' in length and a proven depth of from 60 to 145'. Ores are stated to carry 2J4% copper, \y2 oz. silver and $2 in gold per ton.

Development: 4 tunnels and 4 shallow incline shafts with 1,100' of underground workings, is estimated to block out 275,000 tons of ore. Some of the workings are now caved. Jan., 1916, company reports having recently shipped 2.500 tons ore.”

Is there still gold locked away under Island Mountain after operations ceased around 1930? Undoubtedly.

James W. Wilder’s 1996 oral history of his earlier days owning and operating mines in California gave this brief description of Island Mountain:

You know where that country is, up Eel River? Have you taken the train up to Eureka? …Oh, boy, that's a shame because that's a beautiful ride. I don't think they're running that, now, though. But about two years ago, I took that up there a couple of times and it was neat. .. I mean, it's just slow. Chug, chug, chug. And you wonder, why do you go so slow? You look out and you go, "Oh, my God, slow down!" It's spectacular.

"But Island Mountain has a copper mine up there. It still has about 35,000 ounces of gold recorded still in the ground there. Well, that's interesting. Island Mountain Copper Company.


If Mr. Wilder is correct, $63 million of gold— at today’s valuation-- still resides in the mountain’s Franciscan formation shear zone, untapped.

charlie two crows said...

Skippy, I read that the mine has a 60 ft. Vertical shaft (vent raise) an air shaft. You could go in that way and high grade the vein. Use a dredge Hooka rig from a dredge. Or barrow Ernie s confined space air monitor from the fire dept. And lower it down the shaft. I have 100ft of Hooka hose if you need it. Also my son and I take platinum out of the north fork of the NavarrO River by comptche. Reports say there's also Zircons and Iridiums in the Navarro.
Skippy I just sold all of our new river gold nuggets.

charlie two crows said...

Skippy remember a mine like this where copper and gold are together, ARSNIC will always be present. So be careful. Maybe Ernie could take the fire trk out there and train confined space entry. And use skippy as the test person into the mine. Take samples if you go!

skippy said...

…An earlier description (and pictures within the link) of Island Mountain are contained in The Copper Resources of California; California State Mining Bureau, 1908: p 147-50:

Island Mountain Consolidated Copper Mine.—This important but slightly developed property with its quite remarkable outcroppings is situated ninety miles north of Ukiah, just over the Mendocino County line. It lies by Eel River, in sections 9, 10, and 15, township 5 south, range 6 east, Humboldt meridian, in the Horseshoe district, and comprises seven claims—the Leach, Shotgun, Annex, Island Mountain, Merritt. Gore, and Day.

“The development work consists of one crosscut tunnel running north 490 feet, one running on the vein northwest 40 feet, and several open cuts across the outcrop. The croppings can be traced for 800 feet, and are in places 130 feet wide. The vein has a northwest and southeast trend. The southeast end line starts on the north bank of Eel River, and the claims extend northwest diagonally across Lake Mountain to the south bank of Eel River, the river making a horseshoe bend. The vein is capped with large boulders containing much copper and iron sulphides.

“Slides have occurred, and many boulders have found their way to the river bed, a distance of 500 to 700 feet. One boulder, imbedded about 100 feet north of the river bank, is 60 feet across the base and estimated to contain 4500 tons of copper sulphide ore.

“Large boulders have accumulated along the north bank of Eel River for 500 feet, one weighing 160 pounds is reported to have yielded 10 ounces in gold, 5 ounces in silver, and 4 ½ per cent in copper per ton.

“The long tunnel was started 50 feet north of the river bank, and extended across the country rock 490 feet with the view of cutting the vein. This work was done in 1899 by the London Exploration Company. No timbers were put in. The rains made the ground heavy and the tunnel caved at several places. In 1900 the shorter tunnel was run 40 feet and its face was solid sulphide ore. As far as the vein is exposed on the level, it has the appearance of dipping into the mountain at a very low angle.

“The country rock on the hanging wall is soft sandstone and the foot wall calcareous shale. Several trenches from 3 to 5 feet deep have been made across the outcrop, northwest of the 490-foot tunnel, showing the croppings to be from 60 to 130 feet wide. The water running from the tunnel is highly impregnated with copper…

“Island Mountain is on the south side of Eel River and directly opposite the claims. Owner, Island Mountain Consolidated Copper Company, San Francisco.”

Ernie Branscomb said...

Red Mountain just east of Leggett Valley California is one of the richest nickel ore deposits in the world. It is 100% accessible. But do we mine it??? Nooooo....

Iron Peak is rich in iron, nickel, and copper. We have way more Gold and Silver than anyone would ever believe. We have a tungsten mine between Kings peak and Ettersburg. but do we mine it Nooo...

The main reason that nothing is mined, is that mine operating corporations can't be trusted with our environment. So, we buy gold from South America where it is scratched out of mud and hydraulic mined with huge water nozzles that wash the mud and gold through sluice-boxes and directly into the rivers. Now, granted, it’s their country, and we don’t have any say over how they mine, but why the hell are rich Americans allowed to buy the damn gold???

American environmentalists are the most two-faced liars in the world. Why don’t they try to stop importing polluting causing products From China and other countries of the world??

skippy said...

This is a shame, Ernie. I would think that in this modern day and age, appropriate mining technology would be at the domestic forefront bringing these resources properly to market. Trinity County and their neighbors could resolve some fiscal concerns if the mining was allowed-- and done right. It sounds like the resources are there to be tapped.

charlie two crows said...

Ernie.... There's a coal vein out by Mina that's a foot thick. The family from the rock shop in philo have to be choppered into the north fork of the eel for two weeks at a time. Because of zero access by land. I used to have a sticker on my trk that said; Earth First, we'll mine the other planets later! I parked my trk in arcata and they broke my windows out. I have a tree hugger friend that hates that I'm a hard rock miner. I remind him every time he opens his lap top at star bucks the guts in that computer I dug out of the ground!!!!!!!!
EPIC! Would never let you mine Island Mtn!

Ernie Branscomb said...

Skippy and Two Crows, here's the problem.

I’m not that familiar with the operation of a pulp mill, so I want to make it clear that my knowledge is not complete, and I can’t stand people that talk about crap that they don’t understand. So, I now that I have set the ground rules… To my understanding, we just closed one of the worlds cleanest pulp mills, that only discharged a simple sugar that caused a small algae bloom, that fed the fish. Yet, we buy our toilet paper from China, where you can look directly at the sun, no birds live there, and no fish live in most waters, and only rats thrive there.

Now, How is it fair to compete with that kind of pollution, and why is it acceptable? Who is telling us what to think? Why aren’t there any news reports about the unfairness? Why do our environmentalists think that they are saving anything by “Thinking globally and acting locally”? This is all one Earth, if one part dies we all die. We need to start “Thinking Globally” period, and stop ALL pollution.

Our environmentalists are like little wind-up toys of destruction. Somebody has wound them up tight, told them that they are saving the world, filled them with pat mantras, and turned them loose on US.

Who?

Why isn’t there a mass outcry to bring our jobs home. We can log, mine, and manufacture products better than any other place in the world. Why not?

charlie two crows said...

Ernie... You can ask any mill wright that worked at the Pulp Mill while the chinese were running it and they will tell you the same thing.
First: The water district had relied on the two pulp mills to cover 3/4 of there over head with high usage of water the out fall pipe in the ocean needed one million gallons of water flowing through it to keep the pipe on the floor or the ocean. The chinese paid the overdo bill left by the former fly by nights. But couldn't get the usage price down.
Second: the chinese only had temp. Use permits. The Viro's wanted the discharge to the ocean to stop. And a pond built for drinkable discharge or reuse. And Surf Riders had just won a land mark case in LA. And had millions to fight the pulp mill if they had to.
Third: EverGreen was getting a high price for chips barging them to washington. A working price for the chips was never achieved I was told by one of the suppliers!
Fourth: when the temp. Permits ran out they were gone.
Fifth: Nolan buys the mill hoping to get Stimulus Money. Well only the banks got it. Nolan had a company salvaging the stainless. But now that has stopped.
Fifth: That's why we buy chinese TP! Peace.

spyrock said...

speaking of the eel river, i found out today that someone that i met online drowned in the eel river last march near legget at a place called judge's hole. a chp who knew her stopped her for a suspended license and she took off running and jumped into the river to try to swim to the other side and drowned. i'd like to drop off some flowers and burn some sage for her someday.

Ernie Branscomb said...

Spyrock, I was not on that call, but I remember it well. They couldn't get to her until the next morning. They had to use the Technical Rescue swift water team with their rubber raft to access her. It was very sad. She only made the one mistake. Why she went in the river is anybody's guess. It was distressing for everyone to feel so helpless.

spyrock said...

i met her through a paranormal group based in sacramento. they all met up at covelo and some of the locals showed them all the haunted old buildings and an indian told them about the little people, bigfoot, cattle mutilations, and about people going into another dimension on that highway to covelo in certain places.
she had friends in covelo and had some cahto indian friends at the rez in laytonville. i never did actually meet her.
she told me that she had a friend named louden that died the year before at spyrock but i think she was talking about another spyrock. she said that's why she was emailing me, because my name was spyrock.
she wanted to show me her spyrock. she went up to mt shasta for a vision quest. that was back in 2008 when you guys had all the fires. i thought she was a very interesting person.

skippy said...

Ernie, Spyrock, and charlie two crows bring up some interesting facets, nuggets, and pearls. Ernie, pointing out the nearby mines of earlier days, reminded me of what is called a line of strike.

Charlie two crows, thank you for the suggestion of rappelling down the 60’ air vent of Island Mountain. Being familiar using both hose hookahs and Scott Air Paks yours truly would venture into the Island’s depths to another’s chagrin-- since hydraulic monitor mining is no longer an option these days. Why is gold so valued and rare? Because it’s hard to get.

Yes, arsenic’s a consideration. An early geology report recorded: “The deposit is a lenticular massive sulfide body consisting predominantly of pyrite, chalcopyrite, and pyrrhotite, with smaller amounts of magnetite, arseno-pyrite, galena, and bomite.” I’m guessing arseno-pyrite is… arsenic. The former Horse Mountain copper mine has the same toxic stuff.

Now, could a ‘line of strike’ exist between Island Mountain, the nearby mines Ernie mentioned to the south, and the north-easterly gold bearing areas of Trinity County?

Mine owner and operator James Wilder speculated,

Well, you've got to look at one thing. Name one gold mine. One gold mine, no other mines around it. Just name one. Couldn't you think of one? I can't. There's usually another one nearby. There's generally about four or five nearby. So that means if there's one here… (...there’s another one in the ‘line of strike’, both close and also far away).

“I got a theory that I don't think I'm wrong on. One reason being that I can pick up tracers. I can pick up some things, like this "line of strike" theory that I think is pretty right.

“Down here, I’ve laid maps on top of each other and have them stacked up this and that way, and I started looking. "Hey, wait a minute." This one fits here. If you look at mercury mines, you look at hot springs, you look at gold, you look at manganese, you look at the chromite. And they shift-- but the trends are the same; the line of strike is on all of them. That means we're following a line of strike.


Mr. Wilder continues by bringing up specific examples between Trinity, Mendocino, and Lake Counties. He specifically points to Island Mountain as having companion lines of strikes not discovered yet. He also says that while modern techniques can’t look precisely below the surface assessing ores of vast areas, his ‘line of strike’ theory indicates there’s still untapped potential following these geologic lines in our region of California-- just as Ernie pointed out existing in nearby areas— but unfortunately no acceptable way of accessing or bringing them to market.

I hope charlie two crows hits that line of strike… for all of us.

charlie two crows said...

Skippy, draw a line from Hay fork down to island mtn. The reports say the Geo-structure are the same. And the gold at hay fork and island mtn. Had a secret. The ore contained platinum and iridium. Both aren't listed because the miners through it away. The processors for both areas were deducting two dollars an oz. For fine semi-white metal in the black sand. So there's more money than you think. Also galena is the salt sulfide holding the gold to the pyrite and black sand. I have the same here. Galena is Epson salt. I grind my ore in an old concrete mixer with used de barker chain then use citric acid to break that down. I save a little acid to make Sunny Delight. You should go pan at hay fork and a sample from island,the assay will show the same isotope structure.

skippy said...

Now that's fascinating! The most interesting thing read today.

Ross Sherburn said...

Off Subject,But is Jerry Flora still Kickin' ??

charlie two crows said...

Gold Standard:
Ernie if we went back on the gold standard. They couldn't keep printing money. And would stop the spending on both sides of congress. This would shore up the american dollar. Is it really that simple?
What do you think ernie?

spyrock said...

personally been around Holly when she picks up on spirit energy. A couple of years ago a friend of mine was dying up on a mountain at about 9:20 a.m., Holly called me at 9:20 a.m. and asked me if I had friends up that mountain and I said yes... why? She informed me that I needed to call my friend Louden, whom she had never met, and said, 'Something is horribly wrong and you need to be in touch'. He came to Holly to tell me to get to where he was at! Quite concerned I called my friend Louden's cell phone.... no answer… so I called my best friends cell phone (they were dating and had gone up the mountain together), she answered SCREAMING! She said 'Louden is dying I need your help! Get over here now!' She was actually doing CPR on him at the exact time I called! Unfortunately, my friend Louden did die that day.. and one of the things that shocked me the most is that Holly had never met Louden yet he used her psychic abilities to contact me on that very sad day. I do believe Holly DeLaughter has a wonderful gift and I am so grateful! Thank you again, Holly.
Nicole Pollard
nicole is the lady who drowned in the judge's hole. anyone know holly delaughter from covelo or willits?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

spyrock said...

i like that line of strike idea. up at dove's there's a mine on the other side of our hill. they found the gold in quartz in that area. i saw some quartz with some gold in it in the neighbors garden. which might be in line with the mine or not depending on the direction. there are old mines all over the place up there. any other indicators with line of strike?

olmanriver said...

The fellas here have far better information than Gemboy.
The Sierras are famous for their gold crystals, there are amazing books out with gorgeous photos of specimens in a variety of shapes. Gnomes make them, that is the only explanation that I have found has merit.

Nobody is going to find gold crystals in that copper mine.

Some years back I made friends with Tim, the deceased dishwasher at Sicilitos. His family had had land in the path of a large waterpipe constructed in the 1800's south of Shasta in the heart of the gold country. Pre-pre-eminent domain, the property was stolen by the movers and shakers of the day. Tim had gone over to the Harrison Gulch/Peanut area as a child with his parents and described to me breaking up quartz crystals for the gold that they found in them. These claims were south of 36 and the ranger station there. Lots of quartz up there. I bought a bunch of topos and went looking in late March. Ha ha ha said mother nature, as the whole area was under feet of snow, and few roads off 36 were open. Although anecdotal, those are the only somewhat local gold in quartz stories I have heard, apart from Spyrock's.

As for other gold mines in the area of the Island Mntn. copper mine, never heard of such. In the course of pursuing a rumor of amethyst crystals east of 101, I was told that the geology more towards Laytonville might be more conducive to having crystals in the quartz family, and indeed, the Laytonville quarry has some in that green riprap rock.

Knowing that amethyst is often found in the Mexican silver deposits, I perked up when I read that one of the oldtimer Arthur brothers had some land towards Alderpoint and "claimed" that he found a silver deposit.... but a landslide had covered it and he never found it again. uh huh.

With copper worth so much more than it used to be, you don't suppose those RR proponents are looking at more than a gravel mine in that area, do you? As Ernie said, keeping the copper water runoff out of the Eel would be a feat.

It does seem like a potentially lucrative deposit at today's prices. I am surprised it hasn't been sold off to foreigners already.

charlie two crows said...

OMR....you were close to the right spot. Go to Hells gate camp ground. Go work under the 36 bridge. The concrete slows the water down. And now that the river is pretty low you will find what your looking fore. The bridge works like a natural sluice box. Also the inside turn in the river between the bridge and Hells gate camp ground. I promise it's there! Closer to home, go to Miranda to the Kernen gravel plant and say you. Need the fine sand under the conveyor tail pulleys for your roses. There's loads of gold there. Peace!
PS Hurry, other people read this blog.LOL

river o' gold said...

Charley, you know too much,I admire you depth of mining knowledge!
I will put you in my will after getting rich quick!

golmineriver said...

ps. C2Crows--I need a partner with some sense. I live in a potgrowers paradise and don't grow pot. I lived in gold country and only wanted to mine quartz crystals.

pss. My great uncle was the 1st deputy marshal in Alaska, collected oldtimer stories, and their gold claims. Lost 'em all in the depression when the family couldn't keep up. We went up there in '59, and went looking up the old claims and found a huge dredge on the middle of an artificial lake on one of the former family holdings. Did I mention that as well as being a confirmed useless contrarian I am very lucky? lol

charlie two crows said...

OMR.........We found a piece we thought was Amethyst. Turns out it was petrified HONEY! We also just found a soccer ball size chunk of Jasper that weighs 25 lbs. I will send you pix on E-mail.

charlie two crows said...

River-a-gold.........
Psssssss........... I'm so Lucky I have to carry a gun.
If you leave me in your will. I like prune cake. Food of the gods. They found prune cake in king Tut's Tomb!

Gemboy said...

Back in the early 80's, Gemboy used to hike a short distance down to a small quartz outcrop above the tunnels of the Red Ledge mine, a known gold crystal location.
We would spend long hours pecking out very very small bright quartz crystals, mining in a gentle and respectful manner. It was rare to find a specimen even an inch long, there was no financial motivation, just the fun of being outdoors treasure hunting. We were certain that we were well above the tunnels where the precious gold crystal specimens were found.

One day whilst digging, a number of bullets zipped overhead. This got our attention and we fled to higher ground and our car, after a brief discussion. Subsequent returns to the location just weren't fun anymore, and we stopped going, feeling offended.

Some years later at a gem show I saw a specimen of gold quartz many inches long from the Red Ledge Mine worth over $20,000. It had a root going through the piece. Oh.
Perhaps digging near the surface wasn't as innocent a practice as thought.

Ross Sherburn said...

My dad was mixed up in a Gold mine about 30 miles Northeast of Foresthill.This was in 1961.The Partners were Warren/Claude Branson,&Darrel Swithenbank.
Darrel and my Dad got out of the deal!
Later Partners were Everett Hanks,Forest Martin.Robin should know these names.

Ernie Branscomb said...

Ross
I know all those names myself.

Back in the late 1800’s, Jack Farley, from the south end of Long Valley in Laytonville, kept a rather large "gold nugget" on his mantle. The ranch is littered with quartz. When they built the Hell's-Half-Acre freeway from the south end of Long Valley toward Willits. My Uncle Pat Franklin and My aunt Lillian would go to the construction site and gather rather large iron pyrite crystals.
I've often wondered if Uncle Jack Farley's gold nugget was actually Fool's Gold.

charlie two crows said...

Everyone, I had a friend that was born in eureka in 1930 and spent summers in Garberville at a YMCA camp called ______CLiff. What can you tell me about it?

spyrock said...

seein we are talking about uncle jack maybe you won't mind the history i found about the asbils. this is not my blocksburg frank. this is his uncle frank's family. the interesting part is that he married a wylacki and their son married an hawaian princess from maui. also, the asbils were 1/4 cherokee.
Frank Asbill was the first of four brothers to arrive in California (1840-1854). He was the first white man to view the beautiful valley in Northeastern Mendocino County. The Indians called the valley "Ukum Halty" becaues of its extreme beauty. Frank gave it the name of Round Valley. Here he made his home, Peirce and Europe settling in the same locality while John made his home in Lower Lake County California.
Frank's first marriage was to an Indian woman of the Wailaki Tribe of North California. Her name was Henocme Wonote Kakini. She died when her first child, John B. Azbill, was a small boy. Frank remarried this time to a white woman by the name of Mary Frost. To this union was born one son, Frank Azbill, Jr., who never married. He died recently in Cornning, California.
The son, John B. Azbill, was born April 16,1861 at Fort Seward, California. He married Mele Kainua Keoala Ohana Allii Nue Kaaian, great granddaughter of Kaaina, high chief of the Island of Maui, Hawaiian Islands.
Previous to the marriage she became an American citizen and took the name of Mary Kainna Kelly. There were four children born to this union, two of whom are living, Henry K.Azbill and John Frank Azbill. Henry never married. John Frank married a full blooded Indian girl of the Wailaki tribe, Effie Elliot. One child was born to this union, Kenneth John Azbill, who lived at 1602 Jones Street, San Francisco in 1954.
The above report was given by Henry K. Azbill of San Francisco,Californis in 1954

"please don't tell anyone we are indian."

spyrock said...

Tyre Asbill, son of John Asbill and Elizabeth Coyle, and father of John, Pierce, Europe, Frank, Mary and Elizabeth Asbill, married Sally Asbel, daughter of William Asbel and Alah Van Cereitete on January 10, 1829. Alah was one-half Cherokee Indian. An interesting story concerning her is found under William Asbel, her father.

The family of Tyre and Sally migrated from Madison County, Kentucky to Howard County, Missouri about 1833. The trip was made overland to the ohio River where supplies and stock were loaded on a barge. The party including Ezekiel Bennett and his sons,John and James Bennett and other Asbills drifted down the Ohio to Caro, Illinois. Here they reloaded on a river boat and proceeded up the Mississippi River to St. Louis, than up the Missouri River to Glasgow, Missouri. The Bennetts then left the Azbill party and travelled by horse back to Macon County Missouri. Here clains were staked out. The Bennetts returned to Kentucky for their families.

Tyre and Sally Asbill stayed in Missouri until 1844 at which time they crossed the plains to Oregon. In 1851 they moved to Sonoma County, California and settled near Bodega where they reared their family.

Tye and Sally Asbel Asbill had the following children and grandchildren:

1. John Asbill

2. Pierce Asbill born October 17, 1835, married Katie Robertson September 12, 1880. Their childred:
a. Frank Azbill
b. Irma Azbill
c. Sybil (Sarah) Azbill married Mr. Spiken,now lives in (1955) in Oakland, California.

3. Europe Azbill

4. Frank Azbill (died 1912) married (1) Henocme Wonote Kekina of Walaki Indian tribe. Their children:
a. John B. Azbill (born April 16,1861 and died May 1932) married Mary Kianua Kelly (died September 8,1932), Hawaiian Princess. Their children:
(1) Henry Keoala Azbill (born Sept22, 1899, lived at 1602 Jones Street, San Fransico, Callifornia and sent orchids and leis by plane to Asbill Family Reunion, Richmond, Kentucky, August, 1954
(2) John Frank Azbill (born October 14,1906) married Effie Elliot (Wailaki Indian tribe) Their child:
(a) Kenneth John Azbill (After the death of his wife, John Frank Azbill went to Detroit, Michigan)

5. Mary Azbill

6. Elizabeth Azbill
i don't think the lady who wrote this knows anything about last of the west.
did i do good or what

spyrock said...

so here's the hat trick. check out the history of round valley on the ukiah forum. there is a dude on there calling himself "old timer" giving a detailed history of covelo, basically from the indian point of view. this dude lives in kulu, maui. do you think this dude might be the descendent of john b asbil the half walaki son of frank asbil the 1/4 cherokee white man who discovered round valley. the john asbil who married the hawaian princess, the great granddaughter of the kaaina, high chief of the island of maui. sure sounds like it would be a son of henry or ken. if you've ever been to hawaii, some of the "pure" bloods have this same kind of attitude. of course, nobody is admitting to being biracial. which might do wonders in healing these old grudges.
so here's the asbil that wants to rewrite last of the west. he already did.

Ross Sherburn said...

Spyrock??? Do you know when the last "Hanging" was,in Covelo/Round Valley?


Thanks!

Ernie Branscomb said...

Charlie Two Crows

The place is called "Camp Raven Cliff". It was Built by the Eureka Rotary club, In 1935. The Garberville Rotary Club built the fireplace and some other projects there as some of their first projects after forming in 1938. There was a Rotary wheel in the center of the fireplace, up until recently. They say that it is still around, but who knows.


It has been a YMCA camp. It is built just north of Redway on the west side of the South Fork of the Eel River. It was an old indian Village, but any artifacts are long, long gone after 75 years of kids picking through it.

Ernie Branscomb said...

I heard a rumor that Bud Harwood died. Can anyone clue me in? I can't find an obit....

spyrock said...

john and fred simmerely moved out of covelo after joe died and that bad winter in the 1890's over to spyrock. the jack littlefield hanging was around that time. i will have to ask aunt ruth.

charlie two crows said...

Thanks ernie about the camp. My friend has passed on but he told me that camp was the greatest thing in his life in the late 30's. The Rotory changed many a boys life there. Rotory rules!

Anonymous said...

Hey there, I'm sure there has been some hangin's more recently around Covelo and Garberville too. Say within the last40 years or so.
Seems like I heard back in the 70's there was a body found hangin', from a tree, across from the Bluff's in Garberville.

Oregon

spyrock said...

on second thought, asking about hanging might upset my 100 year old aunt ruth and i think oregon is right that some other people up there have a better idea of which tree and where the bodies are than me.

spyrock said...

after reading every single post about covelo history on the ukiah blog, i've come to some conclusions. here we have someone who is related to the white man who started it all attacking him and his contemporaries in exactly the same way his ancestor supposedly treated his indian relatives with whom he now identifys with at the same time totally in denial about any responsibility of his own white blood. how convenient and how tragic. you are the same dude as your ancestor dude. nothing has changed. you have the same family dysfunction. you just hate the white color in this time instead of the the red.

Ross Sherburn said...

I'll rephrase my question.
When was the last ""Public"" hanging in Covelo?

charlie two crows said...

Ernie.. Could I buy items from your store with pure gold? Our Federal Reserve chairman says gold is not a currency. His Quote: you can't buy anything with gold.
Yesterday I went to my High Dollar cancer doctor for a checkup. I took 8 grams of fine gold. I gave it as a gift. He said he would take it as payment! He didn't bill my insurance. He said his wife make custom jewelry. He would gladly take gold for payment anytime. So on the way home we stopped at a large RV dealer to look at a new travel prospecting Rig. We asked up front if we could trade one oz bar's for the rig. The salesman was gone a few minutes. He returned and blew me away. The owner said even trade. They would pay tax and lic. Its 1850 all over again.
Ernie....would you take mattole silver in trade

Also has anyone heard a oral history from local indians of a pacific island Of MU! That some west coast indians say their ancestors came from. Death valley shoshone have petrogliffs talking about the island of MU!

Anonymous said...

C2C's,
The Island of Mu sounds close to being a Pacific Island. My friend JackieLee told me one time that the Wailaki were of Hawaiian decent.

Oregon

spyrock said...

from in the land of the grasshopper song, big steve who is a kurok is talking about breeds. "indian have a trouble. pay one hundred dollars. never think of it no more. breed has a trouble, much talk. take one hundred dollars for trouble. every time get drunk, come back and talk about trouble." "indian got god, white man got god, breed, he no got god, he no good."

spyrock said...

yes, i've heard various theories about mu. and i'm very interested in athabaskan speaking peoples like the wailaki. frank asbil's wailaki wife, henocme wonote kekina may have been chief lassiks daughter. so her son may have had something in common with the hawaian princess. the first time i went to hawaii, i went to a bar and i had a lot more in common with the few locals that were there than all the tourists. the last time i went to the big island the locals called me uncle. so i really think there is a connection to an ancient race of peoples who live all over the world these days. i don't believe in any one theory but i do check them out.

Anonymous said...

The girl mentioned who drown at judges hole was my friend. She called me a week prior crying saying the cops were going to kill her. The medical examiner told Nicole's mother that she had been tazed yet no mention anywhere about that.