Westwood High School - Chipmunk Yearbook (Westwood, CA)

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The Town of Westwood looking toward the West The volcano Ml 1 assen is seen in the distance during a period of eruption in June. 1916. this mountain being thirtv miles on an air line west of the Iownof Westwood.

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The Lo YOUNG man with his burro and prospecting out- fit had just crossed a meadow in a valley among the hills of the northern end of the Sierra Nevada Mountains He had unpacked his food and blankets, picketed his burro and made camp beside a clear spark- ling spring under some tall pines. lie had begun to prepare his evening meal when he chanced to look up and see a tall, haggard old man leading a jaded burro toward him. He immediately arose and greeted the stranger and, finding that the latter was out of grub, invited him to share his food. The young man soon learned that the old stranger’s name was Tim London and that he was a prospectoi Lke himself and Tim learned that the young man's name was John Roland but that he was called Jack. When London had warmed up he began to talk. ‘ Bill Walters ai.d 1 were partners. We had prospected together over most of this country and we were about to start for Montana when we happened through here. That night we decided to look a little farther, so early next morning we started up that mountain you see over there. We had crossed some rocky ground and had started up some steep rocks near the top when Bill f?ll about ten feet to the base of the rocks. I climbed down and found that he had sprained an ankle a d that he was jarred up quite a bit. ‘T pulled off his boot, helped him on his burro and took him down to a small stream of water. I fixed him up the best i could and made camp. A sprained ankle meant that Bill must be quiet for several weeks, so we camped there. For the next two weeks 1 hunted around among the hills looking for gold. One day 1 passed four clear, cold, deep mountain lakes, in which were many fish. I returned to camp by a longer, more round-about way and I saw two more clear mountain lakes. But then §t Mine were no traces of gold. I went almost every where, north, south, east and west, but no gold. •'One day Bill got out his boot because he wanted to try to walk around a little. One of the boots was torn where a rock probably cut it near the sole so he set about mending it while I made breakfast. A little later Bill called me and I went to see what was the matter. lie showed me a small piece of gold about the size of a grain of wheat that he had found wedged into the sole just below the cut. It must have stuck to his boot when he fell from the rocks. I went there im- mediately and there, at the base of the rock where Bill had sprained his ankle, was the gold. “I dug up some dirt and found nuggets, some as large as hen’s eggs and others as small as to be merely specks. The following month Bill and I had sunk a shaft only about ten feet deep and we had taken out about a hundred thousand dollars worth of gold. Most of the gold we dug was put into a heavy box, which we k» nt just inside the mouth of the mine. “One day about noon the earth began to shake. Bill and I hurried down into the meadow so that no ro k= would roll onto us. The next day the earth rocked and swayed. The third day the earth stopped quaking and Bill and 1 started back to our mine. But no mine could we find. Almost everything was changed, the large rocks that had been near our mine had shifted and as 1 later found out, only two of the six lakes I had seen one day were to be found. “Bill and I spent years and most of our money bunt- ing for the mine but we never found a speck of gold near there again. “Well, whoever finds it will have about one hundred thousand in gold already dug and a lot waiting to be dug. “I guess I’ll turn in. Good night. JENS JACOBSEN “21.”