Capture Calif

Capture California

What is a YOLT? Well, you may have heard the term YOLO. Gary and Sherri think we can live again, not as James Bond, but as being reborn. Consequently, we are having fun in our life, after all, You Only Live Twice.

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Adventure 051, Site 157 – Oak of the Golden Dream

Capture California, the Game-2012
Adventure: 051, Site 157 – Oak of the Golden Dream
California Landmark Number: 168


Team: Thing One, Thing Two
Date:  October 6, 2012
Location:
Latitude: 34° 22.696′ N
Longitude: 118° 33.83′ W
Address: I-5 and Lyons Ave, Newhall, CA

Description:

This plaque is sort of a double find for us and it seems to be fitting that it commemorates the first gold find in California in 1842. When we found the previous plaque on the first commercial liquid gold (oil) refinery in California, there right beside it, up from the Burger King, was the plaque telling about the first gold strike in California. There is not anything remaining of the gold strike and the plaques are located on a busy street. You have to be willing to step into traffic to read the plaques. But we did and lived.

After writing and researching this, I think that team Thing One, Thing Two found the lazy person's plaque for the Oak of the Golden Dream. After seeing some sites, we probably stopped at a California Landmark plaque for the Oak. But the real oak is 6 miles down the road. By the way, we are glad that we were mistaken. Somehow, it seemed wrong that such an oak would have been cut down to make a Burger King.



NO. 168 OAK OF THE GOLDEN DREAM - Francisco López made California's first authenticated gold discovery on March 9, 1842. While gathering wild onions near an oak tree in Placerita Canyon he found gold particles clinging to the roots of the bulbs. The San Fernando placers and nearby San Feliciano Canyon were worked by Sonoran miners using panning, sluicing and dry washing methods. Lopez's find predated James Marshall strike at Sutter's Mill by six years.
Location: Site: Placerita Canyon State and County Park, Placerita Canyon Rd, 4.6 mi NE of Newhall (Los Angeles)
Plaque: SE corner I-5 and Lyons Ave, Newhall



From Waymarking about the other plaque commemorating the gold find:
It is purported that Jose Francisco De Gracia Lopez fell asleep under an oak in Canon de los Encinos (Live Oak Canyon) and dreamt of gold. When he awoke, he was hungry and dug up some wild onions at the base of a nearby tree with his pocket knife. Clinging to the roots of the onions were nuggets of gold. Lopez and his associates scoured the nearby riverbanks and discovered more pockets of gold. They took their findings to nearby Los Angeles and relayed word of their discovery to their native Mexico City. The gold was assayed by the Philadelphia Mint and found to be .926 fine. Hundreds of prospectors from Los Angeles and Sonora, Mexico flocked to Live Oak Canyon, which was renamed Placerita Canyon. The word "placer" is of Spanish origin and means surface deposits of sand or gravel containing gold. From 1842 to 1847, the miners culled some 1,300 pounds of gold from Placerita. This is the first recorded authenticated find of gold in the area and that which is believed to have kicked off the monumental California Gold Rush in 1842. Additionally, Lopez’s was the first attempt at establishing a mining claim. Historians disagree on whether significant gold finds preceded that of Lopez, but his is surely the most legendary.

The oak tree beneath which Lopez took his fateful nap is now a California Historical Landmark, the Oak of the Golden Dream, and is located within the boundaries of the Placerita Canyon Park. It is the featured site of this earthcache and is a short, pleasant walk down the paved Heritage Trail.






References:



Overall Landmark References:
Posted by at
Labels: , ,
Location: Lyons Ave, Newhall, CA, USA

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)