Trading Bike for Hike: Will Heaton's Mine and Ruins

 Another one of those slow work weeks at the office so...

Winter Interlude II

it was off to the East Fork (as in East Fork of the San Gabriel River). If you are unfamiliar, the history of mining along the East Fork dates back to the 1850s, with the first. documented gold discovery there being made by a Captain Hannigan in 1854. The area flourished and, at its peak, nearly 2000 claims were filed in East Fork Canyon and its many side canyons. Beside small miners' camps, two towns existed - Prospect Bar and Eldoradoville, both destroyed by floods.

William Tecumseh Heaton arrived at the East Fork in 1891, prospecting there, and in nearby Cattle Canyon both. Eventually he settled on a mesa above the river known as Peachtree Flat (today the area is known at Heaton Flat). In 1902 he built a small cabin there after filing a mining claim for a site just a short distance away up a side canyon. Below the mine he built another two stone-walled structures. Heaton, it is said, worked the mine everyday until his death in 1924. 

Those two structures, and the Heaton Mine (aka Queenie Mine) itself, were the destination this morning. If I happened to make it further up canyon, to where I knew of another mine, or even as far as the Bridge to Nowhere, so much the better.

Main objective met, we headed up river until reaching a choke point with no way around. It was river fording time, and no way to do so without getting wet in the process. Not exactly cold this morning, but neither of us were looking forward to the next several miles (and hours) with wet feet, so it became time to turn around. *More photos on FB, assuming you are either an FB friend, or have liked Claremont Cyclist.

Heaton's two stone structures

wooden door frame

into the mine

calcium carbonate is seeping in through the walls and ceiling creating mini stalactites and other forms

if you ever find yourself there, don't touch, just look and marvel

Heaton dug out about 127 feet of tunnel with one significant bend to the right. no light reaches in that far

that first step is a doosie

heading up river

East Fork, San Gabriel River

this choke point was no problem...

this one was

will she make it?

I think so.

this marbled granite is fascinating (and beautiful)

Joan Muir, woman in the wilderness

wild

steps to...?

After the hike there was one more quick stop and hike - to explore the old barn and out-buildings above Shoemaker Road