Hi! I just returned from Kansas where I am moving in less than 3 weeks! Obviously between Thanksgiving and a long distance move (I live in SF Bay area now), I'm going to be REALLY busy. I am unsubscribing for now and when I get settled will be back on line. Meanwhile, the Miwok web site will still be up and I will keep my same internet provider and email address in KC. I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas (or Happy Hannukah), and a Happy New Year! Sharon

This article has been sent to me by a nonlistmember-but interested Mariposa Researcher- Jerry Morrisson Enjoy- Carolyn >From the article "How We Get Gold in California" printed in "Harper's New Monthly Magazine" By a Miner of The Year '49— Wm. V. Wells, No. CXIX.—April, 1860.—Vol. XX. —No. 119.— Q … Our tour of the mines carried us into the famous gold country of Mariposa—the far-famed region claimed by the pioneer Frémont. One of the largest mining counties in the State is that bearing this name, which is mellifluous Spanish for our word "butterfly." In the centre of its richest portion stands the picturesque town of Mariposa. This county ranks Number Four in the quartz-crushing interest, which has grown into an immense and lucrative business, despite the disaster and ruin attending it in 1850-'51. It employs millions of capital and thousands of miners, and has grown into the most important occupation in the State. In every part of the region there are found veins of quartz rock, outcropping in many places, and often traceable through leagues of country. These generally contain gold: sometimes so fine as to be invisible to the naked eye; at others the quartz, when broken, is completely studded with the glittering particles. In some instances the proportions of gold is so small that the most economical methods of pulverizing it to extract the gold will not pay the necessary expenses; again the yield has been so large that costly mills carried by steam and water power have been erected, and with such astonishing results that savans have at last been compelled to admit that "quartz is the mother of gold;" and it is now generally believed that gold has been originally formed in, or together with, quartz, and that it is by the gradual disintegration of the later by the action of water and atmospheric influences that the gold has been distributed over the country. The mill situated at the Frémont vein, in Mariposa County, was among those visited during our journey. Like most of the principal ones this mill is carried by steam power; and some description of this, and another in Nevada County, will give the reader some idea of the great interest in quartz crushing. The quartz is conveyed to the works by carts or mule panniers from the vein, near which they are generally erected. The machinery is under the cover of a large shed; the apparatus consisting of a series of iron stampers, placed in a line, and made to fit into iron boxes, which receive the quartz, previously broken into egg size. The stampers are moved by cogs or cans, connected with a revolving wheel, which alternately lifts and lets them fall into the boxes containing the quartz. By this means from ten to fifty tons per day are crushed, according to the power of the mills—yielding, at Mariposa, from $30 to $80 per ton. The quartz operations at Grass Valley, in Nevada County, have probably made the largest returns. Some of the richest veins in the State have been discovered in this vicinity, some of them yielding occasionally two hundred dollars to the ton, but by no means averaging as much. The Helvetia quartz-mill at this place is one of the principal, working thirty-four stampers, and crushing on an average thirty tons a day. The stamping-box, already described, is supplied with water by a hose or pipe. Through a hole made for the purpose the quartz, as it is crushed, passes out in the form of a thick, milky water, carrying with it much of the fine gold, which is thus discharged upon a frame-work, across which are placed several quicksilver riffles, where the gold amalgamates in its passage. Any fine particles escaping the quicksilver are arrested below, as they pass over a hide or blanket stretched tightly across a frame. But even these careful preparations for saving the gold are not always successful; for the "tailings," or refuse from the mill, is found to pay nearly as well under a second process as by the original crushing. The question how to avoid this waste of gold has long been agitated among miners, and is apparently now as far from practical solution as ever. Besides the quartz-mill proper there is the primitive Spanish-American rastra, or drag, which we saw in operation at Bear Valley, in Mariposa County, and other places. This consists of two heavy stones attached by a strap to a horizontal bar. These are dragged by mule-power slowly around a circular trough, paved at the bottom, and through which a small stream of water is constantly flowing. The gold-bearing quartz, previously broken into small pieces, is ground to a paste in the trough, and flows away in the usual milky form, to which it is reduced by friction or crushing; and the gold amalgamates with quicksilver, which at short intervals, is sprinkled through the trough during the grinding. After a certain time the water is turned off, the entire pavement of the trough taken up, and the amalgam carefully collected and retorted. A single ton of quartz often affords a days work for one of these slow-jogging machines; but they do their work more effectually than the crushing-mills, as the quartz is more thoroughly pulverized by this constant friction and rubbing than by stamping; and in proportion as a stone can be thoroughly reduced to a paste, so much the more completely can the gold be extracted. Hence the rasta is used with success at veins which had been abandoned as profitless for the modern quartz-mill. These machines are usually put up and owned by Mexicans, who take the grinding of quartz by the job or ton, from mining companies who lack capital to erect steam mills. In the more retired parts of California, where the distance and difficulties of access have hitherto prevented the rush of population, there are extensive gold regions which have as yet only begun to be known. Years must elapse before the mineral wealth of Siskiyou, Klamath, and Shasta counties can be fully developed, though mining enterprises of great importance have been successfully attempted in all. Not many miles north of the California line on the Pacific is an extent of sea-coast, called Gold Bluff from the extraordinary gold discoveries made there in 1851. An American officer, in pursuit of hostile Indians with a detachment of troops, discovered, on the ocean beach, small shining particles in the sand, which extended many miles along the coast. These, on examination, proved to be gold. In a few months the report reached San Francisco in an exaggerated form, and crowds flocked to Gold Bluff. The result was ruin and death to many and fortune to a few. This style of mining has since been pursued with great success. Whether the gold is thrown up by the surf from a bed of the ocean, or washed down from the inland bluffs, remains unexplained. It is found by throwing off the upper or white sand, which discovers a layer of smooth, round stones embedded in a bank of black sand, in which the gold dust literally sparkles in the sunlight. The stones are thrown aside, and the auriferous sand shoveled into a long trough, on the bottom of which is tacked a course blanket or hide. A stream of water is let on, which carries away the sand while the gold is caught in the furze(sic) of the blanket. If any escapes, it is secured below in a short series of quicksilver riffles at the end of the trough or sluice. Instances are known at Gold Bluff and at Cape Blanco, in Oregon, where parties of four men have made from five to ten thousand dollars by gold-beach washing in a single season. ==============…

Well folks, I sent off the information from the two listmembers (one private) both provided resources saying that Jessie and Charles are buried in Piermont, New York: "Fremont" by Ferrol Egan says they died in different places, he in the east and she in the west, but that her ashes were taken to Piermont, New York, where she was buried beside him on a bluff overlooking the Hudson. and: john fremont and his wife jesse are buried atpiermont on the hudson,n.y. new york erected a monument in 1906.jesse lived 12 years more after gen. fremont died. fremont, pathmaker of the west vol.2 jesse fremont at blackpoint by lois rather ===== The requester sent me back the link to Find a Grave: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/famousSearch.cgi?FSfirstname=Jessie&FSlast name=Fremont showing Jessie's headstone in Los Angeles at the Rosedale Cemetery! Perhaps some of her ashes went east to the memorial forburial with Charles and some stayed in the west? Best, Carolyn

Thanks Anne- I really didn't have a clue where either of them were buried- the requester phrased the question : "Why are Charles Fremont and his Beloved wife buried in different places"? I thank you and will give the requester source and answer. Best, Carolyn -----Original Message----- From: Anne Trussell <atru@ns.net> To: Carolyn Feroben <Sweetwater@Sierratel.com>; CAMARIPO-L@rootsweb.com <CAMARIPO-L@rootsweb.com> Date: Friday, November 17, 2000 9:40 PM Subject: Re: [CAMARIPO] FREMONT BURIALS- >Hi Carolyn, > >Are they buried in different places? "Fremont" by Ferrol Egan says they >died in different places, he in the east and she in the west, but that >her ashes were taken to Piermont, New York, where she was buried beside >him on a bluff overlooking the Hudson. > >Anne Trussell >atru@ns.net > >Carolyn Feroben wrote: >> >> Hi guys! This question has been asked of the CA-HISTORY List admin (me!)= >> But I don't know and have no resources at hand to answer this! >> >> >> I need your help please: >> >> "Why are Charles Fremont and his Beloved wife buried in different places"? >> >> Thanks Carolyn >> >> ==== CAMARIPO Mailing List ==== >> NEW LIST MEMEBERS- Post your querie so we can start helping you!! >

Hi Carolyn, Are they buried in different places? "Fremont" by Ferrol Egan says they died in different places, he in the east and she in the west, but that her ashes were taken to Piermont, New York, where she was buried beside him on a bluff overlooking the Hudson. Anne Trussell atru@ns.net Carolyn Feroben wrote: > > Hi guys! This question has been asked of the CA-HISTORY List admin (me!)= > But I don't know and have no resources at hand to answer this! > > > I need your help please: > > "Why are Charles Fremont and his Beloved wife buried in different places"? > > Thanks Carolyn > > ==== CAMARIPO Mailing List ==== > NEW LIST MEMEBERS- Post your querie so we can start helping you!!

Hi guys! This question has been asked of the CA-HISTORY List admin (me!)= But I don't know and have no resources at hand to answer this! I need your help please: "Why are Charles Fremont and his Beloved wife buried in different places"? Thanks Carolyn

Listers, I am still here. We set upp another pc for my use ( not the kids') and now it is fried, so we are back to sharing a pc..... I am going to get those indices done, I swear I am! If someone wants to come help the kid with his geometry I could get the indexing done alot faster :-). Does anyone really care about flow and proofs anyways? Births, deaths and naturalizations are far more important......... Melanie Mariposa County, California Home to HORNITOS and YoSemite National Prison

Another transcription from our new Mariposa friend and volunteer Steve Miller. Thanks Steve! Carolyn -----Original Message----- From: steven h miller <millerz@sierratel.com> To: Carolyn Feroben <Sweetwater@sierratel.com> Date: Tuesday, November 14, 2000 6:47 PM Subject: Fwd: Marriage, Pettis, A. C. and Celia Collins >Hi Carolyn, >>Another Pettis, for the Archives, I enjoy your Mariposa site, Steve >>Marriage Cert Trans Mariposa County >>Pettis, Adelbert C. and Collins, Celia >> >>Lic Issued Aug. 19,1883 vol 3 page 82 >>Adelbert C. Pettis, born N. Y. age 25 yrs of (town unreadable) Mariposa >>Co, Ca >>To >>Celia Collins, native of Ca, 17 yrs resident of Mariposa. >>"the written consent of parents was filed before issuing licence. Aug 16,1883" >>clerk Jarvis Streeter >> >>Certificate >>Adelbert C. Pettis and Miss Celia Collins >>19th day of August, 1883 >>witnessed by Thomas Goldsworthy of Hornitos, Mariposa Co. and J. F. Thorn >>of #9, Mariposa Co. >> >>Notes: ACP parents were natives of N.Y. >>CC parents were native of England. >>Neither ACP or CC were ever married before. >> >>dated 19th of Aug. 1883 >>S. W. Carr, Justice of the Peace >>filed Aug 20, 1883, S W Carr Esq, Jarvis Streeter, recorder >> >>Transcribed by Steve Miller, Nov 10, 2000 > > >

For new listmembers---the 1880 Mariposa County Census is online-thanks to those who ordered the CD! http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/ca/mariposa/census/1880/ Carolyn

Ed Black- this is for you~! Couldn't pass this up! During an annual 100-mile round-the-Bay relay bicycle race, Emil Agraz from the Garden City Wheelmen is shot by Bay City Wheelman John Hobson of San Francisco but still manages to pedal the final eight miles and win the race with a bullet in his ankle. — Oct. 13, 1902! http://www.examiner.com/reflections/years/1902.html Carolyn

Hey, Hey, Hey, don't know if Robin has seen this yet. Thank You Caroline and Hip, Hip, Hurray for Steve Miller. I just know he is a great guy. >) -----Original Message----- From: Carolyn Feroben [mailto:Sweetwater@Sierratel.com] Sent: Monday, November 13, 2000 10:24 AM To: CAMARIPO-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [CAMARIPO] PETTIS DEATH CERTIFICATE Hi folks- the DCT was sent to me by a volunteer, Steve Miller, millerz@sierratel.com, for posting to this list. Carolyn >Death Cert Transcription >Name Pettis, Charles A. Vol. 3 Page 74 >Local Register # 28 Dist # 2250 State File # >Birth Date Apr. 5,1855 white male >Birth Place Bennington, N.Y. >Date of Death: Oct. 11,1935 9:30am >Age 77yr 6mo 11day >SS# >marital status: married >Usual employer: mining engineer >Residence: Mariposa, Ca >Time in Co. 35yr In State 55yr >Informant: Celia Pettis >Father:------ Pettis, NY >Mother:-------------- >Removal to: cremation @ Parkview Crematory on 10/18/1935 >Funeral Home: Tescornie,Iver and Alcorn Mariposa >Place of death: Mariposa, Ca >Primary Cause of Death: Chronic Myocaratits Arterisclerosis >Secondary Cause: Acute dilation of the heart >Attnd: Jan 1934 thru Oct 16,1935, Last seen Oct 15, 1935 >Autopsy No >Coroner Report # >Attnd phys: J S Webster, Mariposa, Ca >Cert filed Oct 21,1935 D S Kidder, registrar >Transcribed by: Steve Miller Oct. 10,2000 >for the= CA-DEATH-INDEX Mailing List ==== > > ==== CAMARIPO Mailing List ==== If you have a family chronicle I will be happy to add it on the Mariposa County GenWeb Page.

Hi folks- the DCT was sent to me by a volunteer, Steve Miller, millerz@sierratel.com, for posting to this list. Carolyn >Death Cert Transcription >Name Pettis, Charles A. Vol. 3 Page 74 >Local Register # 28 Dist # 2250 State File # >Birth Date Apr. 5,1855 white male >Birth Place Bennington, N.Y. >Date of Death: Oct. 11,1935 9:30am >Age 77yr 6mo 11day >SS# >marital status: married >Usual employer: mining engineer >Residence: Mariposa, Ca >Time in Co. 35yr In State 55yr >Informant: Celia Pettis >Father:------ Pettis, NY >Mother:-------------- >Removal to: cremation @ Parkview Crematory on 10/18/1935 >Funeral Home: Tescornie,Iver and Alcorn Mariposa >Place of death: Mariposa, Ca >Primary Cause of Death: Chronic Myocaratits Arterisclerosis >Secondary Cause: Acute dilation of the heart >Attnd: Jan 1934 thru Oct 16,1935, Last seen Oct 15, 1935 >Autopsy No >Coroner Report # >Attnd phys: J S Webster, Mariposa, Ca >Cert filed Oct 21,1935 D S Kidder, registrar >Transcribed by: Steve Miller Oct. 10,2000 >for the= CA-DEATH-INDEX Mailing List ==== > >

8 Mono baskets recovered, many more are still missing by staff correspondent - -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- NORTH FORK — Eight of the more-than 100 Mono Indian baskets, stolen from the Sierra Mono Museum in North Fork two-and-a-half years ago, have been recently recovered. Madera County Sheriff’s Detective Ray Kern says that Joseph Keith Marsala, 46, of Canyon Country, was arrested in Southern California following a tip that he had some of the missing baskets. Mr. Marsala maintains that he bought the eight baskets from an unknown man. Case reports show that detectives became aware of Mr. Marsala following an offer to trade the baskets for some pottery. While Madera County Sheriff’s retain possession of the recovered baskets as evidence against Mr. Marsala, these priceless artifacts will eventually find their way back to the museum showroom. Because Mr. Marsala pleaded no contest last month to possessing stolen property, his sentence could be reduced to felony probation rather than the three years in prison on each of the eight felony counts he was charged with in connection with the missing artifacts. At the time of the burglary in early August of 1996, unknown persons entered the local museum, taking more than 100 Mono Indian baskets, ranging from large cooking to small, tightly woven containers. One basket was estimated to be more than 300 years old. While museum officials explained that no amount of money could cover the loss of these irreplaceable baskets, they estimated their value at more than $1 million. These Mono baskets, recognized around the world as among the finest, had been loaned or donated to the museum by the Visher, Sherman, Polkenhorn and Carmen families, who had possession of the baskets for years. It was originally believed that these baskets, lucrative on the black market, may have been smuggled out of the United States for sale in London or Tokyo underground artifact markets. Now it is believed that the remainder of these stolen Mono artifacts, valued at thousands of dollars each, are somewhere in Southern California. The baskets are easily identifiable because of their intricate weaving patterns, which have been handed down in Mono families from generation to generation. At the time of the burglary, no alarm was in place. Since the break-in to the main showroom, — the first in 26 years — a burglar alarm has been installed. Anyone with information on the theft or the whereabouts of the baskets can call the Bass Lake substation at 642-3201

Just curious... How did the HARLOW fire get its name? Anne HARLOW Trussell atru@ns.net > Fire safety is always a priority for the residents of Eastern Madera County. > The memory of the > catastrophic Harlow fire of 1962 is still vivid in the minds of many and a > reminder of the need to be > vigilant.

HARLOW FIRE & MARIPOSA COUNTY Another Perspective - PART -2 Quite a few people in later years put in a separate water tank that could hold 2,000 gallons of water and a gasoline engine on it with a pump. Should the power go off, they’d at least have some water to help fight fire. If you had seen this area before the fire came though, especially the DEADWOOD MOUNTAIN area, you wouldn’t believe what had happened. DEADWOOD was a beautiful mountain with heavy timber right on the top. Now, there is nothing but brush. OTHER FIRES We had a fire started in 1944 (one-half mile from where the later HARLOW FIRE started) and it came this way. We called the State and called in a crew of soldiers from HAMMER FIELD in FRESNO. We camped the forest crew at WORMAN ’s Hill. When they got ready to put in the fire line to stop the fire, Lily Light’s first husband, Dick MULLER, was running a bulldozer for the State of California (I was fire control officer for the Forest Service). We went up to the top of MIAMI MOUNTAIN LOOKOUT just about 6:00 o’clock in the evening. It was just getting dark. Dick said, “Start out down the mountain and I’ll follow you with the bulldozer.” We went right straight down toward the CHOWCHILLA RIVER with the fire line. We back-fired it and stopped the fire at METCALF GAP. Once, about 1947 or 1948, we had a fire on the north side of DEADWOOD. We couldn’t get ahold of Dick to run the bulldozer for us so they sent a man from SACRAMENTO who was supposed to be an expert. We showed him where we wanted the line put. He said, “I wouldn’t go down that mountain with a bulldozer or anything else. I wouldn’t walk down there!” Then Dick MULLER came and we showed him where we wanted the line; he said, “Where’s the ‘dozer, let’s go!” He started the ‘dozer and turned it down the mountain and when it got going too fast he’d run it ‘into a tree, run the blade into the tree, and then work the blade past the tree where it would go again, and again, He’d go on down the mountain. He went from DEADWOOD clear down to OAKHURST without any trouble at all and he stopped the fire. >From “ AS WE WERE TOLD” by the COARSEGOLD HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Eastern Madera County History, an Oral and Written History.

HARLOW FIRE & MARIPOSA COUNTY Part -1- Another Perspective The HARLOW FIRE started in MARIPOSA COUNTY and burned south and east to the top of DEADWOOD MOUNTAIN at COARSEGOLD. Approximately 250 homes were destroyed. The little town of NIPINNAWASEE, about nine miles above OAKHURST on Highway 49, was leveled except for the school and one house. The school, first opened in 1912, was named after Craig CUNNINGHAM who was the Superintendent of Schools of MADERA COUNTY at the time the school was built. I went to school there in 1916. This school has more recently been moved to OAKHURST to the SIERRA HISTORIC SITES MUSEUM.. The Harlow Fire started coming southeast. Instead of backfiring in front of it, the firefighters backed off and tried to build a fireline to hold it. The State didn’t believe in backfiring then so the fire got such a start they just couldn’t stop it. When they finally did stop it, it was in the area of the top of DEADWOOD and Highway 41, on the south side of DEADWOOD MOUNTAIN.. My brother, Ned, and I had a sawmill at AHWAHNEE and I had a sawmill at AHWAHNEE and the fire burned it, along with all the lumber, all the logging Equipment, and our house. Bill HULL and the KISER boys saved the school; the boys were high school age. Some of the personal suffering can be described like this: I couldn’t get any news about my mother or brother and it wasn’t until the next day that I learned they had gone near a pond until they could get to OAKHURST to spend the night. My mother lost her house and everything else. My brother had a pressure system on the well; he had lots of water in the well, but when the power line burned through and dropped down, that was the end of the power. He never knew where it came from, but there was a big piece of tarpaper roofing that came through on the wind. It was on fire and landed on the roof of his house. Everything was so hot that when it hit that roof-- woof!!! They were lucky to save themselves! They came down to the old reservoir across the road from the ROUNDHOUSE. Lots of people went to that reservoir; if it got too hot, they could wade into it and save themselves.

HARLOW FIRE - Part -2 By this time the fire was right close to his dwellings and the power supply was all gone; what little water they had was in their tea kettles and pots. He had mowed around his place with a power mower and the grass was pretty short. I told the family I thought we’d be fine and we could probably save their buildings. About this time, a herd of cattle came up out of the FRESNO RIVER to the fence with the fire right behind them. I grabbed the axe out of my pickup and cut the fence down in several places so that the cattle could get out to the road (Road 600). They disappeared towards AHWAHNEE or OAKHURST. By that time, the fire had reached several buildings; the butane tanks had caught and were whistling as the butane burned. Right next to my friend’s house was a horse pasture and a couple of horses. The horses just went berserk but they were in a “fed off” pasture and I figured they were safer there than any place else, so we just left them. We did save my friend ’s house and that of the woman he rented the place from. Across the street, the bus driver HOLDSCLAW had a house and there was no one there. Jim Jordan and I also saved the HOLDSCLAW house. These three houses and a couple more were all the houses left in Ahwahnee and Nipinnawasee. When I drove back towards ELLIOTT’S, MECCHI’S store had burned, CROOKS store had burned, and all the dwellings along the way. In all that time, I never saw a forestry vehicle in AHWAHNEE. I found out later why. The (State) Forest Service men had been down towards the CHOWCHILLA RIVER. This fire had swept over them and trapped them in the CHOWCHILLA BASIN. (U.S.) Forest Service did have a fire camp on the WORMAN’S property with maybe two-hundred-fifty men and vehicles. When I drove in there and told them there wasn’t much left of AHWAHNEE or NIPINNAWASEE, they couldn’t believe it. Bob JORDAN had a big house just past the store but it burned. There were JORDANS who lived across the Street who stayed and saved two houses. On the third day of the Harlow Fire, it was probably a quarter of a mile north of Coarsegold and extended from there north to the Fresno rive. At 9o’clock in the morning a crew had been assembled by Fritz KONKLIN a forest ranger. When I showed up, he asked if I would “fire” a bulldozer line to the line to the Fresno River with a torch. He sent along a Mexican boy named Porfino “Porfy” GARCIA to help. There was a local man, Enos SHAUBACH with a bulldozer and he started building a line from where the highway and the fire met above COARSEGOLD to the north, toward the Fresno River. We “fired” this line with a method used many times by local firefighters. We set the first fire well inside from the dozer line; then “Porfy” came along right at the fireline, setting backfires as fast as he could walk. It took about an hour and a half; we fired this line clear to the FRESNO RIVER. Fritz and the crews came along behind to see that there were no “spots” or “slop-over fires” on this line. When we got to the bluff of the FRESNO RIVER, Fritz stopped us from firing and said that Henry BOHNA, who is a COARSEGOLD resident, knew more about the area going down into the river and that he would fire that. The hope was to keep the fire on the east side of the river. We held up firing on down the fire line while Henry fired way back in the fire to pull the fire away from us. Things didn’t work out just as planned as the fire crowned up through the bull pines and leaned over the FRESNO RIVER. It set fires in one-hundred places on the north side of the river! Our bulldozer man had anticipated this and had his tractor on the other side of the river. He was able, on his own, to contain the fire on the north side of the river! After that, we fired the fire line on down into the FRESNO RIVER and this contained the HARLOW FIRE on the south side towards COARSEGOLD. Excerpted from “AS WE WERE TOLD” A publication of the Coarsegold Historical Society, it is an oral and written history of Eastern Madera County California. It is a wonderful book and a great resource. There may still be copies available.

HARLOW FIRE “Much has been written of the Mother Lode country north of Mariposa, California. Little, however, has been published about the southern end of the gold country. A serious attempt, therefore, has been made to include the histories of old-timers from all walks of life and from all the foothill areas of eastern Madera County. As these histories unfolded it became apparent that many family members married others from nearby areas. Thus the “foothill community” population was one great melting pot. Much of this material has never before been tape-recorded. Please note that the information which has been transcribed or re-printed for this publication is as accurate as the contributor's) could humanly make possible. And each contributor was encouraged to relate experiences and/or memories to the best of his/her ability. In putting this book together we have noticed at times that there are different accounts of the same incident, so we have to emphasize that each interviewee told his/her story as that individual saw it. This is not to say one was right and one was wrong; each just saw the incident from a different angle.” HARLOW FIRE - Part - 1 The day that the Harlow Fire made the big run from CHOWCHILLA RIVER, burned AHWAHNEE and NIPINNAWASEE, and came right to the outskirts of COARSEGOLD, I had to be at the ELLIOTTS, and was going back to our ranch in MADERA COUNTY. I could see that this fire was starting to burn south at a rapid rate, so 1 drove through AHWAHNEE and headed down to POISON SWITCH (on Road 600). I felt that the fire and I were going to get to POISON SWITCH at about the same time. The fire and I did get to POISON SWITCH about the same time and there was a large green, grassy area there where I parked the pickup and rolled the windows up so it wouldn’t catch fire. There was a highway patrolman parked there and he drove off, dust a-flying. I grabbed my shovel and got across the river and CROOKS CREEK to see if any sparks had come across and I could stop them. But a whole shower of sparks came down and very shortly I could see that it was a lost cause. About that time, Jim KATES drove by in a pickup and he continued on towards AHWAHNEE right through the flames. I thought if he can do it, I can too. I got in my pickup and started out and I drove through a wall of flame near where the VETERANS OF FOREIGN WARS is now. Just past the hall, I could see a woman was still there. It was a woman we had previously known; she had been Missed when the people wee evacuated. I knew that to be hauled out of there in very short order or she’d burn to death because there was a big, downed bull pine behind her cabin. She was in her nightdress; I kept urging her to get some clothes on and to grab her valuables and I’d take her out of there. She said she didn’t want to leave. I told her, “Lady, if you don’t get some clothes on and get your valuables, I’m just going to have to put you in the pickup and haul you out like you are.” After a long wait, she did get some outer clothes on and I got her in the pickup and drove her up to the MECHHI’ S store and left her there. I went back to the woman’s place because I had seen a man across the street from her house who looked like he was going to stay there and try to save his buildings. When I returned, it turned out the man was one I had known all my life, Jim JORDAN.

HI ALL Will someone that has the Mariposa 1860 census on CD look and see if there was a family by the name of Wells living in Cathey with a child by the name of Mary F. Tom -- Thomas and Paulette Hilk 1725 Wildwood Ct. Merced, CA. 95340 E-mail address: paulette@elite.net

Confused! I have found references on line indicating that a major fire hit Mariposa County- (arson) in 1961- 106 structures and 2 lives lost=- In 1961 Mariposa County lost 106 homes to the Harlow Fire. HARLOW (ARSON) July 1961 county MARIPOSA acres burned 41,200 structures burned 106 lives lost 2 I then find online references that this fire occurred in Eastern Madera County- found to reference Eastern Madera County: That fire, known as the Harlow Fire, burned 20,000 acres in two hours, destroying 105 structures and claiming two lives. This is one of the fastest spreading wildfires ever recorded Fire safety is always a priority for the residents of Eastern Madera County. The memory of the catastrophic Harlow fire of 1962 is still vivid in the minds of many and a reminder of the need to be vigilant. =============== Anyone have any more information on this fire? Thanks, Carolyn