December 2019 Del Air Calendar of Events

Del–Air Rockhounds Calendar of Upcoming Events     

December 2019

Thursday 05: Holiday Party: 6:45 pm in our regular meeting room.

Sunday 15: Chatsworth Holiday Parade & Festival: See Article.

Thursday 19: Board Meeting: 7:30 pm at the Dearborn’s home.

Monday 23: Hanukkah: Happy Hanukkah to All.

Wednesday 25: Christmas: Merry Christmas to All.

                                             Tuesday 31: New Year’s Eve: Happy 2020.

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Holiday Party: Thursday December 05, 2019

The Party begins at 6:45 pm in our regular meeting room at:

Northridge United Methodist Church - 9650 Reseda Blvd, Northridge, CA 91324  Guests are always welcome at our meetings and events however our annual Holiday Party in December requires a prepaid reservation in advance.

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December Holiday Party Theme:

 Happy 65^th Anniversary

Del Air Rockhounds Club Inc.

Presented by Chris Ward, president 

Join us for a photo journey down memory lane and relive (for some of us) or experience (for many of you) some Del Air highlights throughout the years. We turned 65 this past October and that’s a pretty impressive milestone. We’ll also elect our 2020 board of directors and enjoy our catered dinner from Boston Market. We will have games and door prizes as well. We had a great RSVP response this year and will have approximately 50 attendees including most of our newest members. We look forward to ending our 2019 year on a high note and entering into 2020 on an even higher note. Happy Holidays to you all! 

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Support Our Hobby...Attend a Local Show!

December 7 - 8: BARSTOW, CA Mojave Desert Gem & Mineral Society Cora Harper Community Center 841 S. Barstow Road Hours: 10 - 5 daily Contact: Danny Watts, (760) 373-1309 Email: vivlea22@ yahoo.com Website: www.mdgms.net	January 18 - 19: EXETER, CA Tule Gem & Mineral Society, Visalia Exeter Veterans' Memorial Building 324 N. Kaweah Avenue Hours: Sat 10 - 5;  Sun 10 - 4 Contact: Gayle Bingaman (559) 802-6029 Email: bandgbing@aol.com Website: tulegem.com
February 14 – 23: INDIO, CA San Gorgonio Mineral & Gem Society Riverside County Fair & National Date Festival 82-503 Highway 111 Hours: 10 – 10 daily Contact: Bert Grisham, (951) 849-1674 Email: bert67@verizon.net	February 15 – 17: ANTIOCH, CA Antioch Lapidary Club Contra Costa County Fairgrounds 1201 West 10th Street Hours: 10 – 5 daily Contact: Brenda Miguel Email: brenda.miguel@yahoo.com Website: antiochlapidaryclub.com
February 22 – 23: VALLEJO, CA Vallejo Gem & Mineral Society McCormack Hall, Solano County Fairgrounds 900 Fairgrounds Drive Hours: 10 – 5 daily Contact: Debra Duhon , (415) 254-1506 Email: dduhonvgms@gmail.com Website: vjgems.org	March 6, 7 & 8: NEWARK, CA Mineral & Gem Society of Castro Valley Newark Pavilion 6430 Thornton Avenue Hours: Fri 10 – 4, Sat 10 – 6; Sun 10 – 5 Contact: Cathy, (510) 305-4196 Email: cdmiller59@gmail.com Website: www.mgscv.org
March 7 – 8: VENTURA, CA Ventura Gem & Mineral Society Ventura County Fairgrounds 10 West Harbor Blvd. Hours: Sat 10 – 5; Sun 10 – 4 Contact: Richard Slyker, (805) 312-8467 Email: info@vgms.org Website: vgms.org	March 13, 14 & 15: VICTORVILLE, CA Victorville Valley Gem & Mineral Club 44th Annual Rockhound Tailgate Stoddard Wells Road/Dale Evans Pkwy Hours: 9 – 5 daily Contact: Ruben Martinez, (760) 429-8263 Email: rmstonewalk54@gmail.com Website: vvgmc.org

 

For more show information, visit www.cfmsinc.org

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Proposed 2020 Slate of Club Officers

                                    

President: Chris Ward

        Vice President: Jeff Dengrove

        2^nd Vice President: Lavere Schmidt

        Treasurer: Shellie Van Winkle

        Secretary: Bob Dearborn                      

        Federation Director: Bob Knox

During the business portion of our Holiday Party, the membership will be asked to vote in our 2020 Board of Directors. We will ask for nominations from the floor before the vote and any nominations received will be added to the roster before the final vote. Any member can be nominated for any position. We encourage new voices with new ideas to join the board to help propel our club to the next level.  

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Welcome to our newest Del Air Club Members…Voted in unanimously at our November 2019 Meeting…

Rudy Rodriguez

Martina Rodriguez

Louise Ratliff

Veronica Becerra

Michele Ramirez

Their contact info has already been added to the 2020 Club Roster which was sent out to all members via e-mail last week. We have two more new members that have paid but will not be officially voted in until our January 2020 meeting so stay tuned.

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INTERESTING SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GOLD HISTORY

Everyone knows that gold was discovered near Sutter’s Fort in Sacramento in 1848 leading to the gold

rush of 1849. What you might not know is that gold was first discovered in Calif. in 1842 by a man named Francisco Lopez. He discovered gold in Placerita Canyon which is very close to where Magic Mountain is today. The first god rush was in that area and consisted mostly of Mexican miners from Sonora, Mexico. Most of these miners obtained their gold by panning.

Gold was mined in the San Gabriel’s and Azusa Canyon by Indians for many years but modern

prospectors who came down from the Mother Lode Gold Field discovered gold here in 1854 and by 1859 a mining town called Doradoville had a population of about 500 miners. During a heavy rainstorm in 1862 the whole town was washed away, along with all the sluice boxes and other mining equipment. The town was never rebuilt by mining continued for many years. You can still find gold here today. Estimates on the amount of god taken from the canyon range up to 15 million dollars.

The next gold strike in So. California was in 1859. Gold was discovered in Bear Valley which is now filled by Big Bear Lake. In May of 1860, one of the prospectors named Billy Holcomb went bear hunting and found a valley north of Big Bear where he discovered gold. LOTS OF IT! Holcomb Valley was named for him. This started one of the largest gold rushes in So. California. By 1861 a town called Belleville had been built in the middle of the valley. In the election 1861 it had more voters than the town of San Bernardino. Today all that is left is one little cabin. Mining continued in Holcomb Valley for almost 100 years and you can still find gold there. Estimates of gold taken from Holcomb Valley range from 10 to 20 million dollars.

In 1864 gold was found in Lytle Creek and a small gold rush started. You can see the remains of the first

successful hydraulic mine at the entrance to the canyon. An area called Texas Point has about half the

mountain washed away by the hydraulic mine. Hydraulic mining was closed down about 1880 because of the mud and silt being added to the creeks and irrigation canals.

Gold was discovered near Mt. Baldy about 1871. If you have been up to the ski lifts at Baldy Notch this is where the mine was located. Gold was found in the rock and loose in the dirt. This is called placer gold. Mining here was also stopped because the mines were sending to much mud into the water.

You can see there was a lot of gold in our area here and probably more is still here to be found. When

you go rockhounding, look around for that glitter on the ground, it just might be some gold

By Jim Berbener. Sources: Mines of the San Gabriel’s, Mines of the San Bernardino’s by Joan W. Robinson

As Reported in the 1995 Del Air Newsletter