Page 18 - TalesoftheParadiseRidge-Fall2020_Neat

and firewood for the heating and cookstove. Dad had a week, and farming potatoes and corn. They killed deer
made a sled that could be hooked up behind Trixie, the for meat and were doing quite well considering it was
Shetland pony. We would hook up this sled to Trixie a time of few jobs. Uncle Shorty took them up on the
and wander around the farm looking for wood that was invitation and went up to Perry Creek to visit them. They
suitable for burning. On one such journey, I was walking took him down to the creek and taught him to pan for
side-by-side with Trixie along the trail when Trixie gold. Uncle Shorty, very enthusiastic, walked on down
stopped and jerked her head back pushing me backwards. the stream by himself and came back very excited. His
I got up and started walking past her again, and she again first pan of gold produced something over $60 worth
jerked her head, pushing me back again. At that moment, of gold. You must keep in mind at the time, gold had a
a rattlesnake slid across the trail. I had nearly stepped on standard that was kept at about $36-$39 an ounce. $60
the snake. My brothers made short order of the snake. It was a bonanza; Uncle Shorty was hooked. He dug three
became a trophy to take home along with the kindling. mines in the hillside of Bean Hill looking for the source
of that gold. One is said to be the deepest hand-dug
Another day, we again attached Trixie to the sled, and all mine ever done by one person in El Dorado County.
of us boys went out looking for kindling. We carried a Uncle Shorty continued to prospect but never found the
small axe that Dad had made for cutting kindling. James “mother lode.”
came upon a nice large slab of cedar and picked up one
end saying, “Look, this would make good kindling.” At One cloudy winter day, Mom and Dad took a hike down
that moment Reid said, “Don’t move.” Coiled at James’s Perry Creek. I am sure that with a house full of boys on a
feet was a very large diamondback rattlesnake ready to winter day, it was probably nice to get out and have some
strike. Reid picked up the axe and with one hand slung it quiet time. Dad had grabbed a gold pan, and he and mom
at the snake. Its head was cut off. Another trophy to take struck out downstream. Some distance from the house,
home along with the kindling. Dad found a likely spot to pan gold. He scraped out a
crevice and panned out the sand. He said there was a lot
Shortly after buying the horse Stranger and after the of gold in the bottom of the pan, very good color. At that
broken arm incident, Dad was up at the house, which moment, the skies opened up and started pouring down
was several yards, probably 50 to 100 yards, above the rain, and Dad said to Mom, “We are coming back to this
barn, checking Stranger’s hooves for pebbles. He thought spot.” He turned the gold pan upside down on the bank
a sore hoof might have been the reason the horse had with the intention of going back and panning more. They
been so jumpy. The horse was very fidgety, and Dad never went back. In fact, that early spring we moved to
couldn’t figure out why. I became bored and said I was Plymouth. As far as I know, that gold pan rusted away on
going down to the barn to see my white cow. I started a creek bank.
to run toward the barn. Very few yards from where Dad
and the boys were, I ran face to face with another large There is one other story to be told about Perry Creek gold.
diamondback rattlesnake crawling directly at them. I I will relate that at a later time.
yelled “Snake” and ran back to Dad. Snakes were not
strange to us of course; Dad simply got a garden hoe, Other Short Stories
went over, and cut the snake’s head off. The chickens,
running loose in the yard, swarmed to the head, started I mentioned that Dad kept the family in meat with
pecking, and ran off with it. We never saw the head again. his .303 Savage. He continued to do that as long as
That worried Mom. She was afraid one of us boys would we lived in the mountains, and Coe’s place was no
step on it and become infected with poison. exception. Outside of the front gate of the house was a
“springhouse.” The springhouse was a rock-and-wood
We kept the rattles in a small ceramic cup on a fence post structure built into the side of the hill with a natural
in the front yard. By the time we left Coe’s, we had over a spring flowing through it. The temperature was very cool
half-dozen sets of rattles in that cup. inside the springhouse, which we used as a refrigerator
since we had none in the house. We kept milk and
Gold vegetables cool and apples stored for an extended length
of time because of the temperature within this building.
Before we moved to Coe’s farm, Dad had two uncles We also kept fresh deer meat hanging at all times.
living in the same area above Perry Creek. One was Uncle
Jay. This was near the end of the Depression in the early I remember one visit from Uncle Bryce and Aunt Lee.
1940s. My parents had written to my Uncle Elmer, known Aunt Lee was Dad’s sister and, of course, Bryce was his
as Uncle Shorty, Dad’s brother, to come up and join them brother-in-law. They lived in Sacramento. Uncle Bryce
on a farm. They were panning gold, getting a few dollars asked Dad if he had any extra meat; things were kind
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