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/126673
go east along a windy two-track road 2.5 mil es to a fork. G o right .6 miles a nd look for a sign post. This is Greenwat er. H ard to beli eve th at 1000 to 2000 peo p le o nce lived h ere. The or ig ina l to wn was two m iles northwest in a narrow ca n von. In 1907 th e to wn m oved here o n 'th e fla ts to ha ve room to grow. In 1884. Doc Trotte r filed th e rep orted first cla im. It was for go ld and si lver. Doc had a burro nam ed " Hon est J ohn " a nd campfire stories said the bu rro was a ble to pick a ny lock wit h a p iece o f bail in g wire. Aga in in 1894 a few cla ims were filed but due to inaccessi bi lity and lack o f water th ey were a bando ned q uickly. Jn 1905. Creaser an d Birn ey di sco vered copper are. In a short tim e over 2500 cla ims were filed . Man y o f th ese were la ter p ur ch a sed for 4. 125.000. ma kin g m a n y very rich . " Sh o rt y" H arri s m issed o u t due to a drunken friend . Ha rr is sta ked o ut rna nv cla ims a nd took th e pa pers to J ud ge Decker in Ball a rat. Decker. dru n k most o f the time. fa iled to file the m. Wh en th e specu lators wa n ted to bu v th e cla im s, h e di sco vered th e sad news. Art h u r Kun ze a n d a prom ot er nam ed Ramseystarted th e town. Many fancy sto ries began to cro p u p a bou t th e fabu lo us ly ric h area. One story claimed the lode was 12 m iles lon g. five miles wide a nd was 75% pure copper. Popula tion went from 70 to over 1000 in 30 days. Th ere reall y was very littl e ore. bu t o ne sma ll pocket tested a t 18%. Stores, banks, saloons an d even a post o ffice popped up. Wat er was hauled from Furnace Creek or th e Amargosa Ri ver. 25 m iles aw ay, at 7.50- 15 per barrel. Prices were hi gh for all goods. G asoline wa s one dollar per gall on just a s toda y. Diam ond Tooth Lil'. a lady o f th e . n ight. had a fan cy $5 "rest stop" next to th e post office. It was estima ted that $30 million was inv ested and now th ere is nothing but ru sty tin ca ns a nd broken bottles to show for it. Sorry, th ere is th e new sign pl aced by a do-gooder so me ti me in 1983. Please be carefu l if yo u do a ny exp loring o ff th e ro ad s because th ere are so me sha fts 1600 vert ical feet deep . T he Greenwat er Copper Compan y sha fts went to a depth o f 1400 feet. Wh en th e boom faded. the town slowl y start ed to di sappea r. Buildings were so ld and m oved . som e dismantl ed a n d rebuilt elsewhere. By 1910, Greenwat er was no more. A visitor in 1941 sa id th ere was nothing left. Not quite true but a lmost. After che cking th e townsit e we went due south 2.2 miles to Greenwat er Spring a nd did find it still h ad a sma ll tri ckl e o f wat er. Return to th e center o f Greenwat er, head northea st 1.8 miles to th e main Greenwat er Vall ey Road a nd turn left. G o three mil es a nd vou will be on th e road used co rning in . Now just retrace yo ur ro u te back to Furnace Cr eek. We were to co nti n ue o n to gold Valley but Mother Nature had co m pl etely washed o u t most o f th e roa d leadin g in to G old Vall ey. I co u ldn' t see riding an other 34 mil es round trip in cru d to see more rusty tin cans. Maybe I'm getting too old. I felt it wasn 't worth th e effort for an attem p t. Maps th at will be h elpful are the USGS (Topo) Ca liforn ia maps o f Furnace Creek, R yan (Ca lifo rn iaNevada ), Funeral Peak , Bennett' s Well, Wingat e Wa sh , Confiden ce Hills and Manly Peak. One of t he most useful maps is th e Aut o Club's Guide to Death Vall ey. The monument publish es a very good map of th e back ro ads , and you pi ck on e up at th e Ranger Station . Th e entire outing wa s a su pe r trip. Good weather, good buddies to rid e with a n d man y n eat th in gs to see a nd .exp!l?re. Take some time and do a ___yhi.t .to my " Wo n der~~n!Ya lley ." . Check the chin strap on your Hondaline' helmet. Because ifit says Hawk, Stag or Hare on it. If it says American Sports Co. And ifit has a date between 1973 and 1982, we'll trade you" A new Snell-approved Hondaline helmet for your old one. Free of charge. Just call or go see your local Hondadealer. After confirmation, we'll get you a replacement helmet of comparablevalue. Were exchanging helmets because our own independent testing revealedthat some of those we bought from American Sports Companymay not conform to Snell standards. We bought them with Snell stickers. And soldthem that way. But when we learned about the possible nonconformance, we decided to take action ourselves. The name Hondahas always stood for safety and honesty. It's a reputation we've worked for and earned. And that's something we wouldn't trade for anything. ... HONDALINE® Cl1983American H onda M Co.. lnc.* Hondali neH Stag or Ha ASC helme will beexchan freeof chargefora newHondaline helmetor 550inthefonn or a check from otor are. wk. ts ged American H ondacanbe issued. -