This month we are featuring not so much a Mystery as a celebration of the past from Christina McDonald. “As the Sierra Mono Museum embarks on a new phase in cultural preservation, let us remember the original ground breaking that took place in the 1970’s. Community members please identify the people in the groundbreaking photo. Let us see who you ...

This month’s mystery is one I am often asked about. When and where did President Teddy Roosevelt and John Muir first meet on their trip to Raymond and on to Yosemite? They traveled in May of 1903 so we celebrate the historic trip 115 years later. There are several theories, so it will be fun to see what folks come ...

The Mariposa Indian War, Campaign from 13 April to 2 May, 1851. The question is to more accurately locate where this particular skirmish took place. The map indicates that it took place along the banks of Fine Gold Creek, somewhere close to Fine Gold Gulch. The text of the report indicates that it was on the Little San Joaquin River. ...

This photo was part of a collection that we recently received at the Coarsegold Historical Society. It says Melvin Place on the back so we know it was taken in Coarsegold, but we need help in identifying the three cowboys in the photo. (click photo to enlarge) Any information would be appreciated. Please comment below or email us at coarsegoldhistoricalsociety.com ...

A local resident brought this sign in to the Sierra Historic Sights Association (SHSA) recently. It was given to him by a neighbor who had since died. The neighbor had told him that he found it in a forest in 1945. The donor had no idea where in the forest his neighbor found it. The SHSA would like to identify ...

NORTH FORK — One History Mystery leads to another. There was one comment on History Mystery #58, “What was the name of the school that Dorothy and Grover Whitener bought and used as their house.” A reader wrote that the school in the photo was torn down earlier, and Grover Whitener built the house in the photograph. Sue Whitener Parker, ...

A School, A House, A Home — This is the photo of the first house that Grover and Dorothy Whitener bought. The building was located along the South Fork of Willow Creek just east of the town of North Fork, and was formerly a schoolhouse before it became a residence. The Mystery — What was the name of that school? ...

In the Blackhawk Lodge area, there is what appears to be part of a mine or mine airshaft complete with wood timbers. The tunnel is slanted at a 45-degree angle and is flooded with water about 20 feet from the surface. E Clampus Vitus (ECV) 41-49 has been working on a project to locate the old Zebra Mine, and several ...

On the Jan. 15, 1939, Southern Pacific Railroad Schedule there is a stop between Knowles and Knowles Junction off the Raymond train called Hillside, not Hills Pride, like the bar in Knowles, Hillside. In several references, including a 1934 Madera County map, Hillside is listed in an article about Alexander McGilvray, who ran the McGilvray Quarry until 1928 when the ...

Here are two pictures of an item the Coarsegold Museum would like identified. It is made from a single piece of wood maybe during the gold rush era. We believe it to be from the Coarsegold area. It measures 26 1/2″ long, 14 1/2″ wide. It is 5 1/2″ high on one end, and 4 1/4″ high on the other ...