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EAGLE'S NEST MINE: Placer County California, THE
Mineralogical Record, Jan/Feb 2004 by Leicht, Wayne C, Cook, Robert
Just before the State Mineralogist's Report of 1936 was published, Charles "Bud" Greenwood, Jack Greenwood's son, and father of the present mine owner's wife, joined John R. in the mining operation. Bud, like his father, Jack, was a hard-working, industrious miner who learned how to read the signs of pocket mining from his father. When Bud was associated with the claims owned by the DeMaria family, again, many fine specimens were found. he also located two additional claims, the Hope and the Wildcat, and worked them independently of the DeMaria operation. The DeMaria family had no financial interest in these claims. Many of the largest gold specimens found in the district came from the Hope claim during the period from 1900 to 1939, at which time Bud left for military service. Specimens on display at the Placer County Courthouse in Auburn, California, came from the Hope Claim and were sold to the county in the early 1920's by Louis Garbe. The Hope claim is often referred to as the Frenchman's Adit, in reference to a Frenchman named "Frenchy" LaBarr who illegally worked the claim in the late 1920's and early 1930's. Even though the adits for the various claims are separated by some distance, recent geological studies indicated that all of the claims are in the same geological setting with the gold deposited in the same mineralogical event. There is some indication that the Hope and the Wild Cat are potentially richer than the five DeMaria family claims. The mine owner has, in the past, concentrated his efforts on the DeMaria family claims and has left the Hope and Wildcat for development at a later date. However, several large specimens have been found on these claims recently, through the use of advanced metal detectors capable of detecting gold at greater depth than earlier models could.
During the war years very little development, apart from the required assessment work, was done by John R. on his claims. Shortly after Greenwood's discharge from the military in 1945, he was stricken with polio and retired from any mining activity. Bud's previous work on the Hope and Wildcat produced several large plates of quartz containing large amounts of gold. These were passed on to Bud's daughter, Denise, after Bud's death in 1984. When one of us (WCL) asked Bud in 1982, shortly before he passed away, why he saved these pieces he simply stated that he did not know how to prepare them properly for market even though he believed they contained several ounces of crystallized gold. One specimen, which was as large as a dinner plate, he estimated to contain only 10 ounces of gold, but it actually contained much more! This specimen was prepared and sold, and the money was used to help finance future development of the mine. Bud further indicated that most of the gold he mined was sold for little more than bullion value, but he always believed that the price of gold would go up in the future and the specimens he saved would increase in value.
In 1965 Bud's son-in-law, the present mine operator, became involved in the mining operation. Although confined to a wheelchair, Bud taught his son-in-law the telltale signs for finding gold in pocket mines, even though neither had any formal training in geology or mining. At that time, apart from keeping up the assessment work on their claims, the DeMaria's were not actively mining on their claims. John R. undoubtedly felt that his claims were "played out" and decided to lease two of his claims to Bud's son-in-law.
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