In the case of United States v. Billy Joe Bagwell and Cynthia Gourley Bagwell, decided 24 April 1998, "Judge Parlen L. McKenna declaring three lode mining claims invalid for the lack of a discovery of a valuable mineral deposit... the Bagwells were ordered to vacate [their] millsite and restore it to its natural state within 30 days, as well as pay the United States damages for the past trespass." The Bagwell family, which included three children, since about 1973 "resided on the millsite claim, which borders Monte Cristo Creek in a one-story frame house, which has electricity and running water. The claim is also the situs of a water tank, trailer, sheds, livestock pens, a vegetable garden, and an outhouse. There is a small mill, composed largely of salvaged parts, which is capable of processing 1 ton of ore each day, and assorted mining and milling equipment."
I hate leaving things unfinished, and when I did this hike in June 2021 that is exactly how it felt - I found evidence of neither the Black Crow mine nor the Black Cargo mine; an unnamed prospect with an ore bucket outside it, and mysterious ancient road leading to a nearby second prospect, were somewhat satisfying, but a whole lot of unknowns kept nagging at me as the months passed.
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| hiking in |
The Bagwells' mining and millsite claims encompassed about 65 acres within the Angeles National Forest, originally located in 1934 (the Dora May and Little Ruth claims), 1935 (the Dora May millsite), and 1944 (the Thelma May claim); the claims passed through the hands of various owners until 1973 when the Bagwells took possession. The Dora May is the oldest and most developed of the claims, dates back before 1900 and includes the "small underground gold mine" known as the Black Cargo Mine.
The Black Cargo supposedly consisted of "four adits that were driven at various level along the side of the mountain... and were connected by two 45-foot deep shafts. Mineral ore was carried down the steep slopes of the mountain by a 24-bucket, 2,000-foot-long cable aerial tramway to what is now the site of the Dora May millsite," where it was processed.
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| exploring the Dora May mill site |
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| did this belong to one of the Bagwell children? |
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| stone wall at the Dora May mill site |
Unlike June, March in the mountains is still winter when the willows and cottonwoods bordering Monte Cristo Creek are still bare, just beginning to show the tips of leaves on their branches. Because of that is was easy to notice, through the thicket, the stone walls on the other side of the stream. Crossing to satisfy that sense of exploration and discovery, there were other things to notice - lengths of pipe stick up out of the ground, bits of broken thick window glass, a green plastic cowboy with severed arms, a piece of glazed ceramic tile. There was clearly no mine here, but could this have been the millsite? Or, perhaps, even the Bagwell house?
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| this prospect had a 6" opening last year, now even that is gone |
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| brought my little rock hammer with which to dig around |
Ten years earlier, Billy Joe Bagwell had filed a motion in court for a stay of order to halt his family's eviction from what, by that point in time, had been their home for seventeen years. In some ways it is refreshing to read the Bagwells' story as told in the Los Angeles Times, rather than court documents - the sterile legalese is silenced and the emotions of the matter come through instead. Bagwell spoke to the reporter while he worked deep in his mine, hammering away at the rock face - "This rock reminds me of a federal judge... this sumbitch don't want to break." That week he would file the motion, a last ditch attempt to keep a hold on this bit of land within the forest.
On the other side, District Judge Stephen V. Wilson said that Bagwell was "both mining and living on public land in bad faith... a manipulative trespasser trying to live for free on a virtually worthless gold mine." Further, Judge Wilson noted that "Billy Joe has cleverly manipulated the system... and the government has now exposed his lack of bona fides," seeming to agree with evidence presented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Briggs, who said that "Bagwell had built an elaborate, if somewhat rusty, gold-mining mill next to his house - that mill was built for show."
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| around the gate |
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| spur road / single track |
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| hiker, with pyramidal Rabbit Peak |
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| lunch |
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| Lynx Gulch, where lies the Gold Bar Mine |
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| there's a prospect at the end of that nondescript spur road |
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| mid-day moon rise over Round Top |
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| fractured rock |
"I ain't got any money, but I don't owe nobody. I built a house for my wife and kids. I've got all the tools I need. And I found a way to be the boss of what's going on in my life," said Billy Joe Bagwell. The Times story continued, "His house sits alongside Monte Cristo Creek, which is lined with cottonwoods the Bagwells planted after a 1979 forest fire turned the mountains into a moonscape. All around is equipment in every sort of repair and disrepair. There are barrels, beams, a 1948 boom truck, a 1963 Ford pickup, air compressors, a canary-yellow mining assay truck and a silver cigar-shaped trailer identified as the 'Black Cargo Mining Office.' At the heart of it all is the mill itself, a Rube Goldberg contraption that Bagwell said he and a small army of mining buddies put together from 1981 to 1985."
hiking back down one spur road with Iron Mountain (on right)
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| the sign says? |
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| seat from some old vehicle high up on the mountain |
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| not much more than that really |
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| watch your footing |
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| closing the gate |
The question I posed was mute really, I knew it was the Bagwell homestead site, my USGS topographic map showing the two little black squares signifying buildings right at the spot we crossed the creek. The stone walls probably marked the site of the mill, with the house being just up stream where there was somewhat larger flat area. So, I could now put a check mark next to one of those nagging issues. The hike continued, turning at the junction just past the mill site, steeply uphill on the 4N18. The Forest Service road continued to wind around the side of Iron Mountain, but we turned off onto a little unnamed spur road that, had we followed it to its conclusion would have put us at another prospect adit. Instead, with that road end in sight we called a flattened hilltop our turn-around point and sat down for lunch. The moon rose over 6,316 foot Roundtop while Iron Mountain, Granite Mountain and Rabbit Peak were all bathed by the mid-day sun. Below us, Lynx Gulch fell away to the south, and in which lay the Gold Bar Mine, like the unnamed prospect, just another stones throw away. I tucked that information away for that perpetual "next time."
Briefly stopping at the prospect with the old ore bucket I left at the entrance last year I, this time, noticed all the cable lying nearby, some rolled up chain link fence fabric, and wondered if, perhaps, this was the upper end of that aerial tram system; maybe this prospect was one of those three claims mentioned above - the Dora May, Little Ruth, or Thelma May? A short way back down the service road, we opened the barbed wire gate and followed along another spur road, now little more than a trail. I had followed this to another prospect not shown on any map the previous year, but Tam had not, so the revisit was worth the extra time. This collapsed adit has a lot more waste rock outside it and, again, I wondered if it too was part of the Black Cargo complex, one of those three named claims. Retracing our steps, I told Tam to just leave the gate open, it didn't really serve a purpose any longer, but she wouldn't hear of it, and had to leave things the way she found it, and secured it back in place.
I can't say for sure what the ultimate outcome of the Bagwells' legal issues were, though I am guessing the government won the case, but clearly the family is no longer there and the site they called home has, but for a few imperceptible bits of evidence, been cleaned away.
Like any good unsolved mystery, this one has left me with more nagging issues still to be resolved (not the least of which it locating the Black Crow Mine - I have it narrowed down to a single toe of the mountain, down slope between the road and the creek) and will, eventually, bring me back to this desolate area once again in search of even more evidence of the areas' past.
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