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22 Years And Still Looking


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“Robert Louis Desmarais is the only inhabitant of a Californian ghost town, Cerro Gordo, where he has been searching for a lost vein of silver for 22 years.

A 70-year-old former high school teacher, Desmarais used to visit the remote spot in the school holidays to search for ore. But he eventually moved there full-time, to live away from the crowds "up in the mountains, under the stars".

Cerro Gordo (Fat Hill in Spanish) was once the most fruitful silver mine in California. 

"It helped to build Los Angeles," Desmarais says. 

Convinced there is plenty of silver left, he descends 800ft with a chisel and hammer to "crack rocks and see what's behind them".”

More story and photos at https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-49084230

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  • 2 weeks later...

My son and I collected mineral specimens in Cerro Gordo about 10 years ago in the mine dumps. Many of the abandon mines were still open and you could poke around the entrances. Many of the old mining buildings and structures were still in place slowly decaying. I can believe there is still a lot of ore to be found but the old-timers certainly got the easy stuff. 

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