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Pegleg Smith Liars Contest
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Pegleg Smith was quite a character, but he was no prospector. When he found those strange heavy black pebbles, he was not sure what they were but thought they might be copper. Wikipedia has a decent article on him at:
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Thomas L. "Pegleg" Smith
As farfetched as the story may seem, it is far from impossible; in many desert places nature can coat the surface with a black coating known as "desert varnish" that has a chemical composition including molybdenum. Copper also, can turn black from oxidation and copper very commonly occurs naturally with gold, usually alloyed to one degree or another.
The old Desert magazine ran a series of letters from a man who claimed he had found (and mined out) the black gold nuggets of Pegleg in 1952, from a spot within a twenty mile circle of the Salton Sea. Some have denounced the letters as a great hoax, but the letters included a couple of black-crusted gold nuggets which were displated at the magazine offices for a number of years. You can read the letters and article at:
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The Man Who Found Pegleg's Gold
A good article on Pegleg at:
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Lost Pegleg Smith Mine
As mentioned earlier, the lost Pegleg was "the" most famous lost mine in the US for many years, before the Lost Dutchman became popular and to confuse (or enrich) the story, of course there are several different versions and at least two Pegleg Smiths. One little known version is not even in southern California but in SW Arizona, and is not black-crusted nuggets but a rich gold lode. There is also the lost "Cowboy" mine of Yuma county Arizona that has a strikingly similar story of finding heavy black stones that turned out to be gold when the crust was broken.
There is MUCH more available on this famous lost mine, which so many have decided must be located within the current Anza-Borrego state park and thus utterly illegal to do anything with, but in my opinion that is a red herring. The clue cited by these theorists is that one from the man who claimed he found the mine, which said within a 20 mile circle of the Salton sea, and the park is in that rage - but they ignore a huge area to the North and East of the accidental lake. Plus, the Chocolate range and mountains to the North are known for gold deposits, both lode and placer. A lucky treasure hunter with a good metal detector just might find this lost bonanza if he or she happens to find the right small hill, the one that old Pegleg climbed to try to get his bearings. It was a small, flat topped hill, and depending on which version you use, was one of three or two that looked similar. The only trouble is there are hundreds of small, flat topped hills in the area to search, and we don't know which route Pegleg used!
Good luck and good hunting amigos, I hope you find the treasures that you seek.
Oroblanco
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http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,23289.msg219941.html#msg219941
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