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 65th
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
2nd 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
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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