Newspaper List
Beatty Bullfrog Miner – Beatty, Nevada [was called the Bullfrog Miner during first two months of publication – not to be confused with the Bullfrog Miner, of Rhyolite, Nevada]
Inyo Independent – Independence, California
Inyo Register – Bishop, California
Rhyolite Herald – Rhyolite, Nevada

All new additions to this page will be noted by this symbol --

Cerro Gordo, California

Newspaper Articles
1870

Inyo Independent, July 30, 1870
"MURDER IN CERRO GORDO"
Summary: At Cerro Gordo, California, Thomas Aguilar shot and killed by a Sonoran Indian named Jose Maria Gonzalez.

Inyo Independent, August 8, 1870
"SHOOTING AFFRAY"
Summary: A Cerro Gordo shooting.

1871

Inyo Independent, August 19, 1871
"SHOOTING IN CERRO GORDO."
Tuesday last, in Cerro Gordo, Juan Rojas got into a row with Pasqual Baker, whom he attempted to shoot. Baker received a shot in th wrist, and an innocent bystander whose name we have not ascertained, another through the shoulder. Rojas is now in jail awaiit [sic] the action of the Grand Jury. The would received by stranger is a bad one, though it is supposed he will recover. We have received no further particulars.

Inyo Independent, August 19, 1871
"ANOTHER SHOOTING SCRAPE."
It is rumored that another shooting affray came off in Cerro Gordo, Wednesday night, but who the parties were or what it was about, or how much good was done, we can't say.

1885

Inyo County Register [forerunner of Inyo Register], May 21, 1885
Summary: Obituary for Layman Tuttle of Cerro Gordo.

1887

Inyo Register, January 20, 1887
Summary: Death of Remi Nadeau, famous Cerro Gordo and Inyo County teamster.

1899

Inyo Register, January 19, 1899
"TABOOSE"
Summary: bodies of Chinamen killed in a cave in of a Cerro Gordo mine in 1897 remain undisturbed until a few months ago. One body extracted was found to be almost perfectly preserved. A Chinese leader offered $80 for the recovery of the corpses, but the money was not forthcoming, and the remainder of the bodies were left where they lay.

Inyo Register, March 16, 1899
Captain P.J. O’Sullivan was recently frozen to death near Virginia City, Montana, while lost in a snowstorm. He was an old-time Inyoite, and during the Cerro Gordo days was the captain of one of the steamers then used for transporting bullion across Owens Lake. One of the features of Cerro Gordo was a lively manuscript paper known as the ‘Bugle of Freedom,’ and of this Mr. O’Sullivan was one of the promoters. Of later years he has been mining in Montana.

1905

Inyo Register, February 2, 1905
"ANOTHER PIONEER GONE."
Alvah K. Briggs died at the residence of T.F.A. Connelly Thursday night of last week, at the age of 58 years.
Few residents of the county were better known than "Al" Briggs. Coming here first in 1869 he was in business in Cerro Gordo, Independence, Darwin, and elsewhere for a number of years following. Departing for new fields, he made temporary abiding places in many camps, in California, Utah and Nevada, finally returning to Bishop toward the close of the '70's. He went into the merchandise business, soon afterward erecting the store building now occupied by Marks & Cohn. About 1883 he sold out, and tried farming for a while.
From here he went to Central America, remaining there about 18 months. Again his earlier location attracted him, and he returned to finish his life here. In latter years he has been engaged in various mining enterprises, which however failed to reward him as his efforts deserved. Three months ago he was brought in from Goldfield, suffering from a liver complaint, which terminated fatally.
Mr. Briggs had no relatives on this coast. A brother, H.C. Briggs, ex-Superior Judge of North Dakota, resides in Michigan; a nephew, Glenn F. Briggs, is in New York, and there are several other more distant relatives in Michigan. Though having no kindred at hand, many friends ministered to his every need or want during his long illness. The funeral occurred from the Academy chapel Saturday afternoon, and was largely attended.

1906

Inyo Register, June 28, 1906
Summary: Death of Robert Gourlay. Mr. Gourlay hauled in the first machinery to the mines at Cerro Gordo in 1868.

Inyo Register, September 13, 1906
Summary: Death and obituary of Inyo County, California pioneer Dean Hoskins. Resident of Reno, but old time resident of Cerro Gordo, California.

1908

Inyo Register, February 20, 1908
Summary: Man killed in Cerro Gordo mine blast.

Inyo Register, February 27, 1908
Summary: More details on victim of Cerro Gordo mine blast.

Inyo Register, July 2, 1908
"THIRTY-SIX YEARS AGO."
From the Inyo Independent, June 28, 1872
Summary: Preparations are being made for the trial of the San Felipe versus the Union mining suit at Cerro Gordo.

Inyo Register, July 9, 1908
"THIRTY-SIX YEARS AGO."
From the Inyo Independent, July 6, 1872
Summary: A miner killed at Cerro Gordo, the first fatal accident in this camp.

Inyo Register, December 3, 1908
"THIRTY-SIX YEARS AGO"
From Inyo Independent, November 30, 1872
Summary: Deputy Sheriff of Nye County writes to Sheriff Mulkey that he has captured two of the Mexican horse thieves mentioned last week as having run off Colonel Stevens' horses (Stevens is a Cerro Gordo entrepreneur), and afterward stealing other horses in Nevada. It was necessary to shoot one of the thieves. The prisoners were taken to Belmont.

Inyo Register, December 24, 1908
"THIRTY-SIX YEARS AGO."
From the Inyo Independent, December 21, 1872
Summary: Cerro Gordo is moving to secure a new jail. The committee in charge includes J.R. Hughes, W.L. Hunter and John Beveridge.

1909

Inyo Register, January 21, 1909
"THIRTY-SIX YEARS AGO"
From January 18, 1872 Inyo Independent
Summary: Two important lawsuits filed at the Inyo County Clerks Office, involving the leading mines in the Cerro Gordo section. Suits were brought by the San Felipe Mining Company against Mortimer Belshaw and Egbert Judson, filing for the firm of M.W. Belshaw and Company and V. Beaudry, to recover possession of 2,100 feet of the San Felipe Mine, damages to the amount of $15,000.

Inyo Register, February 18, 1909
"THIRTY-SIX YEARS AGO"
From the Inyo Independent, February 15, 1873
Summary: A shooting occurred between a number of Mexicans and two American men at Cerro Gordo.

Inyo Register, April 15, 1909
"THIRTY-SIX YEARS AGO.”
Inyo Independent, April 12, 1873.
Summary: Charles R. Sharpe, a miner working in the Union Mine at Cerro Gordo, came to his death from a cave-in of two or three tons of earth and rock. It took about three hours to extricate him.

Inyo Register, April 29, 1909
“TRIAL CONCLUDED.”
Summary: A case between the Four Metals Company (of Keeler, CA) vs Troeger and Clinton for possession of Cerro Gordo slag. Submitted before Judge Dehy of Inyo County. Each side has fifteen days in which to file briefs. And the court may then take 90-days in which to render a decision.

Inyo Register, May 13, 1909
“OMIE I. MAIRS DEAD.”
Summary: O.I. Mairs died in Los Angeles. He came to Inyo County during the palmy days of Cerro Gordo. Teamed in that and other mining camps for several years. Mr. Mairs opened business in Independence before the big fire that swept town in 1885. He built the Norman House. Failing health led him to move to Los Angeles. He married Miss Laura Flowers in 1875, who had come from her Maryland home to visit her uncle, John A. Lank. Mrs. Mairs survives her husband. Children are Norman J. Mairs; A.P. Mairs, who is now county Treasurer; J.P. Mairs; Howard Mairs and Miss Nellie Mairs.

Inyo Register, May 27, 1909
“TABOOSE”
"A robbery in which a grip containing several hundred dollars was taken was reported from Cerro Gordo."

Inyo Register, May 27, 1909
“THIRTY-SIX YEARS AGO”
Inyo Independent, May 24, 1873.
Summary: W.A. Fox, a merchant from Cerro Gordo, left for San Francisco taking with him $1,500 of the firm's money, to which to pay bills due. From there, he wrote a string of lies and disappeared. A representative of the San Francisco creditors came to take possession of the store.

Inyo Register, May 27, 1909
“THIRTY-SIX YEARS AGO”
Inyo Independent, May 24, 1873.
Summary: On May 12, a shooting affray occurred at Lida, in which two inoffensive citizens and a gambling house rough were killed. A gambler named George Chiles turned on W.B. Harbin without provocation and drew a revolver. Harbin floored Chiles with his fist. As Chiles rose, he fired at Hugh Scott, inflicting a fatal wound, and shot Scott again as he fell. Chiles fired again, the bullet striking John Duffey, a bystander, severing the femoral artery and causing his bleeding to death. Several persons had a hold of Chiles by this time and during the struggle another shot was fired by someone unidentified, killing Chiles almost instantly. He had been in Cerro Gordo and Lone Pine previous to going to Lida, had a bad reputation. And he was considered a cowardly, would-be badman.

Inyo Register, July 29, 1909
"THIRTY-SIX YEARS AGO"
From the Inyo Independent, July 26, 1873
Our Cerro Gordo correspondent says that it is probable that both the Belshaw and Beaudry furnaces will be compelled to shut down for a time, on account of shortage of men and of water. Regarding the outcome of the Union-San Felipe case, he says that if Belshaw and Beaudry, of the Union, do not win, they will be greatly wronged, and that is the general sentiment in Cerro Gordo.

1920

Inyo Register, September 16, 1920
"WHAT WAS SAID IN '71"
From the Inyo Independent, September 19, 1871
Summary: Cerro Gordo experienced a fracas election night. A gun was drawn, someone knocked the gun away, which sent the shot to the ceiling. Someone else tried to slash the individual in the throat with a Bowie knife with the sheath still on.

2001

Inyo Register, December ?, 2001
“MEMORIES - JODY STEWART: FORMER ACTRESS FOUND HOME AT CERRO GORDO: A FATEFUL TALK WITH A RELATIVE LED TO A LIFE-LONG EFFORT TO RESTORE GHOST TOWN”
By Liz Babcock
Special to the Inyo Register
Jody Stewart-Patterson, 57, beloved owner of historic Cerro Gordo, died Friday, Dec. 7, at home in Swansea.
She spent her last days just down the famed Yellow Grade Road from Cerro Gordo, the former mining village she had transformed into what the international press labeled the only ghost town bed and breakfast in the world.
Born Oct. 10, 1944, in Palmdale, Jody was a graduate of Big Pine High School, where she was labeled “most likely to succeed.”
True to that label, she had an accomplishment-filled career. “Jody had a great deal of drive,” said her husband, Mike Patterson. “She was open to business, adventure, all-around remarkable girl.”
Early in her career, Jody worked in Los Angeles as a TV actress and game-show hostess for Goodson-Todman Productions of New York. Later, she learned how to fly and became an instructor at ground school in Rosamond, where through the Cyclops Program she helped one-eyed pilots earn their flight certifications.
Her involvement in politics included work for the Kern County Board of Trade and on several political campaigns.
She was a highly successful realtor when she made a fateful visit to Cerro Gordo, the celebrated mining town that had turned out $2 million worth of lead-silver bullion in 1874 alone.
“I’ve come to believe very strongly in destiny,” she said later. “In 1973 my uncle, who owned Cerro Gordo then, asked me to help him out in a financial bind. I became a silent partner until 1984, when I bought the rest of the property.”
Although Jody’s association with Cerro Gordo had begun as a good deed, she rapidly grew to love the idea of owning a piece of history. She abandoned her glamorous business attire for jeans and a big smile restoration project.
“She was one of those rare people who made you feel you were the most important person in her life,” said Dr. Jean Bennett, a close friend of Jody’s. “She was wonderful at making people feel welcome.”
Over the years Jody and Mike spent many hours planning the future of Cerro Gordo. After she became ill, the future of the project was a prime concern.
“We agreed that her friends and I would carry on the restoration and the educational activities at Cerro Gordo,” Mike said. “The youth camps, photo workshops, and mineral symposiums that go on there were always very important to her.”
To keep the memory of Jody alive at Cerro Gordo, her friends have set up a memorial fund for contributions in lieu of flowers. Checks may be made out to the Jody Stewart-Patterson Memorial Fund and sent to Jean Bennett, 1275 Sage Court, Ridgecrest, CA, 93555. For more information, call (760) 446-4339.
In addition to her husband, Jody is survived by her brother, Robert Hardin of Houston, Texas; her uncle, Cecil Smith, and his wife, Marge, of Lancaster; her aunt Marguerite Fourney in Bullhead City, Ariz.; her cousin Roger Sprague in Salt Lake City, Utah and numerous cousins.”

Law & Order, Life & Death California Site List

Law & Order, Life & Death Other States List

©2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 D.A. Wright
All Rights Reserved

Page Revised: 05/04/2007