Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126338
- if ign ored , the tipsy m iner wou ld take an egg out of the sac k and hu rl it at th e rud e citizen. Usua lly, th e judge would see the humor in th e incid ent a nd Mickey would be released on 30 days probat ion . T he m iner wou ld the n retu rn to Ne w Dal e for ano the r month for things to cool dow n a bit. " Miller also writes a bo ut T ho rnton's antics when he bu rn ed two sac ks of mail a t New Dal e, demolished the post office an d used th e lumber to bu ild himself a shack. Gold Crown Road runs straight, with a few d ips, up the long hill to th e ma in mining dist rict. Don't tak e th e first road to th e left. It 's marked Private. Ab o u t 3 .8 m i les fr o m Highway 62 th ere's a very sa ndy road to the left. T his is th e road you want . It goes to the Virginia Da le Mine. I plowed up the deep sandy track , passing o ne of those fo ur -whe el veh icles stop ped at th e bott om , to th e ridge above. J ust som e old steel ta nks are all that's left , but you have to rem ember tha t th e mine was onl y active between 1885 and 1917. Ther e were on a nd off efforts to mak e it work up ' t il t he '30s, b ut t hey we re unsuccessfu l. Back on Gold Road and 1.8 mil es sou theast I found th e rocky road up to th e Supply Mine , one of th e biggest and best go ld producers of th e a rea . I talke d to two young bikers a t th eir base ca m p whe re t hey wer e prepping both bikes before "getti ng ou t amongst 'ern. " T hey informed me tha t th e stee p, ston y road up to th e Supply cont in ued on over in switchbacks to another, larger m ining sett leme n t. T hey warned m e, however, th at th e going was tou gh and loose. This is most likely the rem na n ts of th e Iva n hoe Mine. . ' I've gotta tell you that myoid Yamaha had a litt le trouble with th e rocky slope up to th e Supply. The road's full of bumps , lumps and rocks, plus the fac t that th e oI' bike is getting a little tired . Can't fa ult th e ma chine though . I bo ught it new in 1971 a nd I've had th e head off once to scra pe the carbon. Never did do a top end or sea l job a nd she still has her original chai n and sprockets. Oh yes, one other thing . She had to haul my 200 pounds up that grade. Still . she made it. . rAt th e top I fou nd a change in th e site. Seven years before I had seen biiildings and som e machine ry. Now , only foundations and the natu ral roc k walls of the office are what is left after die scave nge rs ripped off the wood and fixtu res. Better see it before they take the rocks too l As 1 was tak ing m y pictures, a fourwheel drive truck ground up the hill and sto pped. The d river was a litt le pale; mumb ling something like , " I did n't rea lize it was going to be this sreepl" Made me feel kin da sm ug. My old bike had worked hard to make it up th e gra de, but I had less of a problem than he did . nT he Supply Mine sits in a sadd le on a ridge above th e Pinto Basin . O n this supe r da y I could see the hills , valleys and the spring green ery for 50 m iles. It's seld om this lush on the 2000 ' desert , so I really enjoyed it. ~ I rode back down th e mine road a nd hung a left at the bottom of the slope. This is somewhat of a shortcut to the road for the site of New Da le , soinetim es ca lled Dale The T hird . I say som ewhat , because it 's an old wagon track a nd bum py, but it cuts off about' one mile from the d ista nce you would have to travel on the main (Gold Crown ) roa d to reach New Dale. Just as you strike New Da le Road , take an other left for a cou ple hundred yards a nd you 'll come to a flat spot on your right . All tha t rema ins of this once-t hriving town is some scattering of tin cans and the outline of the paths . (Continued to page 21) Trans-AMA - Trans-AMA Axton, Va. 500cc St. Peters, Mo. 250cc . 1 Dunlop's long history of success at major AMA Championship road races and motocross events tells you why mor e cycles ride on Dunlop than any other tire in t he world. At Dunlop, we believe that a motorcycle is only as good as its tires. That's why we offer a full range of race-proven tires for all types ofmotor-cycles and motorcycling. - ~~~~:~;~l:t(fe~~l: ..~ ~DUI}!5e1J!: DunlOp r" o & Ru""'"Co rco-auoo . P O 80. 1109 BlJ tI ~lo Nf..>wYork 14240 Afore motorcycles ride on Dunlop tires than any other tires in the wad,! SOOcc and 600cc 3 and 4 speed gear boxes Aero, P.A. Rt. 1, Huntley, IL 60142 Phone 815/923·2155 CCM's are lubricated with Castrol oils The Most Powerful Production Dirt Bike Made FINISHER PINS We Make EmAsk LennJ' lor Samples CaI·Mart Platlne 607 s. Hill ST. Suite 631 loa Anv.Ie•• CA 90014 21~ The jersey you 've been looking for 4~11' De~'?~n~~'~!~~t!~ 778 l\,J" M. Cdrl,'ll Blvd Spiuk .... NVAg4J1 702 3~J3 0663 CURNUTT SHOCKS 75992 Base line Twentynine Palms. CA 922n '714/ 367·9179 19