Curated by Kaylin Paschall, TME

The locations of gold discoveries in our local mountains are not settled history. Among many legends, none may hold as much allure as that of the lucrative Lost Padres Mine.

We resume the hunt from last week with Part Eight of “Deep Dives Into The Archives: Are We Sitting On A Gold Mine?”, a ten-part series where we republish the legend as told by Joyce Campbell, historian and regular columnist for The Mountain Enterprise during the 1960s and 70s.

By Joyce Campbell

“Now we come to the part of the story lived by W. J. Graham; pioneer, miner, smithy and once sheriff of Kern County, who was also reputed to have samples of the first prospector’s nuggets in his possession.

“Tucoya’s [or Tecuya’s] next of kin,…(please see below to view full stories and photographs)

Photo captions:

It’s difficult to understand where Tecuya led Graham and Skinner, considering the story has their entire trip one-way to the mine over 70 miles through forest and mountains.

To see full stories with photos, please purchase a copy of the newspaper at many locations (click this link for a list) throughout the Mountain Communities.

Or, have your newspaper delivered via mail and include internet access. Just call 661-245-3794. Classified ads are FREE to paid subscribers! See front page at www.mountainenterprise.com for details.

The e-Edition is available now with full photos and stories at The Mountain Enterprise e-Edition. Select the 2023-0728 edition.

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This is part of the July 28, 2023 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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