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 Three 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

“Old Frontiersmen do not scare easily, so Bishop ignored Tecuya’s warning. They set out; Bishop, several officers from the fort and a few cowboys. Three days later, traveling hard on horseback, they came to the first prospector’s camp by the spring (the same which Tecuya’s father and the padre had dug a basin around, some 50 years before).

“Everything was as he had described it, and his equipment was there where he had abandoned it (but…(please see below to view full stories and photographs)

Photo captions:

Sam Bishop, several officers from Fort Tejon and a few cowboys head out to follow the simple sketch of a map left by the first prospector to the location of the Los Padres Gold Mine

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 2023-0714 edition.

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This is part of the July 14, 2023 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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