RAYMOND – The building in the photograph burned in the early 1990s in Knowles and was a boarding house for many granite quarry workers over the years. But our History Mystery is not about the building but concerns the two stone bears crouched along either side of the stairs leading to the porch.
The two bears, which some folks think look like lions, are now guarding the entrance road to the present day Raymond/Knowles quarry and are easily viewed on a drive through Knowles.
The bears were carved by the great-uncle of a good friend of the Raymond Museum, Walt Blackhall. His great-uncle was the master stone carver, Peter Bisson, who worked and lived at the quarry in the early 1900s and made these bears to sit in front of the Westin St. Francis in San Francisco. They were damaged in the Great San Francisco Earthquake on Apr. 18, 1906, and subsequently sent back for repairs.
Mr. Bisson being a perfectionist, the story goes, made new bears instead and the damaged pair stayed at the quarry.
Our History Mystery is: Are the two replacement bears still in existence today and if so where are they now?
Thank you, Lynn Northrop
Raymond Museum
Followup on History Mystery #67
Last month’s HM was not actually a Mystery. It was a follow up to HM #59 explaining that we solved that Mystery 100 percent by obtaining the names of all the people in the photograph.
We thank those who commented on this on the SNO Facebook page.
