Orange County,Cal. 1958

[Pepe Ray]

Looking for old friends. Memorial day W/E, 1958. John Herrman invited me to join his crew for an excursion to Panament.
The ghost town was the site of a mine. We, however were more interested in busting caps and burning powder.
Does any one recognize these guys?

[quilbilly]

My folks would have but I was too busy running around with a single shot 22 chasing jackrabbits and cottontails in the mesquite bottoms.

[Pepe Ray]

quilbilly, hi there. What makes you think that your folks would have recognized any of these guys?
Thanks for your response.
Pepe Ray

[webfoot10]

Hi Pepe Ray: I used to live in Riverside Calif. back in 1958. I too used to hunt jackrabbits and
ground squirrels out in the desert. I belonged to a rock hound group in jr. highschool we used to
go out in the desert hunting semi-precious stones to polish and make into jewelry. We used to
go with that group of guys rock hunting in the Panamint Mts. I don't remember their names as
it was so long ago.
Webfoot10

[quilbilly]

They got to know a lot of the old miners and prospectors who had been around the perimeter of Death Valley since before the heydays of Rhyolite. I remember (vaguely of course) them visiting with some of the old guys who still actually lived and actually pulled a little color out of the "glory holes" around that canyon coming out of the Panamints. Like Webfoot, I got my first taste of prospecting and rockhounding then even though I wasn't even ten years old. I still do it a little. Until a few years ago we still owned a claim for opal up in Northern Nevada. Once it gets in your blood (that and sagebrush oil), it doesn't go away even if you live in the rainforest (aka jungle) of the Olympic Peninsula. BTW - My wife's grandfather wrote a booklet about the Panamint's in 1957 called Panamint Legend by Edward Gilbert so it is in our family of desert people.