Feds seek to oust gold miner
Forest Service says 40-year resident of historic town trespassing
January 16, 2003
By Sarah Foster
It may be a close call, but help is on the way for a beleaguered, small-scale gold miner that the U.S. Forest Service wants to oust from an abandoned mining town that's been his home nearly 40 years.
" A 1988 article in the International California Mining Journal estimates there's a bonanza of $20 million in fine gold in the 1,920 acres that make up his mining claim, but he limits his operation to a swimming pool-size pit behind the store, which he works with a pickaxe and shovel, hauling the ore by wheelbarrow or with the help of a burro named "Dusty."
Last summer, Walley traveled to Jicarilla to meet the long-time resident gold miner and see his place first hand.
He keeps his efforts "small by design and philosophy," wrote Walley in an Aug. 18 report for newssite Sierra Times.
"I keep it that way because I don't want to disturb the land more than I have to; I just take enough gold to get by," Fennell told Walley. "I don't use any chemicals and darn little water."
As there is no natural supply of water at his home, what water he uses he draws from a well down the road, hauling it back in an aging pickup truck. A generator supplies electricity for lights and a computer. He has a few chickens running about that he keeps for eggs, and a goat for milk. "
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