If You Knew Peggy Sue

Day 274

Located just down the highway from our campground is a locally famed diner named after the Buddy Holly song “Peggy Sue”. Deciding on giving it a try, we headed on over for breakfast. Once we entered, we felt we had been taken back in time to the 50’s. From the stools lining the counter, the waitresses uniforms, and the 50’s hits playing on the jukebox, it truly was a place time forgot. The amount of 50’s paraphernalia on display gave the restaurant a museum vibe to the place, I really wanted the full size Betty Boop mannequin stationed in the front entrance. The breakfast was excellent and we had to take a lap through the balance of the restaurant to get a good look at everything before leaving…. Highly recommend to anyone passing this place to stop. 

After breakfast we headed to the ghost town of Calico to explore the abandoned silver mines. Back In 1881, four men made a claim on a mountain peak that they described as “calico-coloured” and  discovered silver. They started the Silver King Mine, named after the prospector, John C. king who discovered the silver vein and became California’s largest silver mine by the mid 1880’s. Below the mine, the town of Calico formed and began to slowly grow as prospectors flocked to the area in hopes of finding their fortune. By 1890 over 3500 people lived in the town with over 500 mines operating in the area. 

Just shortly after 1890 the Silver Purchase Act was enacted, driving down the price of silver. By 1896, it’s value had decreased to $0.57 per ounce, making Calicos silver mines no longer economically viable and began to shut down. The post office was discontinued in 1898, and the school closed not long after. By the turn of the century, Calico was all but a ghost town.

The last owner of Calico as a mine was the Zelda  mining Company, who sold it in 1951 to Walter Knott, who was the nephew of John C. King. Walter who worked at the Calico silver mines when he was younger, had a vision of restoring the ghost town to its former glory. But not for mining silver, Walter had intentions of turning it into a tourist destination, just like his other venture, Knott’s Berry Farm. Referencing old photographs, Walter’s memory, and the memory of some old-timers who still lived in the area, he was able to not only restore existing structures, but design and replace missing buildings. In 1966 Walter Knott donated the town to San Bernardino County, and became a County Regional Park. In 2005 the Calico was proclaimed by Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Governor at the time, to be California’s Silver Rush Ghost Town. 

Lori would not let me steal Betty Boop. 

Calico Mountain 

The folded ridges you see are the result of the Calico fault that runs through the Calico Mountain. 

View from above the town. 

Some miners built little houses into the hills to keep cool during the summer and warm during the winter. 

Lori insisted on doing the train ride. 

Large chunk of silver ore. 

This open pit is where a young school boy found a pure silver ore deposit lying on the ground. It didn’t take long for miners to start digging, yielding $65,000 in silver. The spot was nicknamed the Maggie Mine Glory Hole. 

The Maggie Mine was in operation and ran right past when the Glory Hole was discovered. To reach the vein, the miners dugs from above and below the surface until they connected. 

This section of the mine is still the same as it was back in the 1800’s. The pipes you see along the ground are made from wood and metal banding. 

Freddy Kruger’s second job 

This guy could really use some sun. 

In 1916, a miner named John Mulcahy purchased the mine and gave it the name Maggie after a popular song at the time. He lived and worked the mine until his death. 

This section of the Maggie Mine connects the to Glory Hole above. 

The discarded ore piled up outside the Silver King mine is said to contain millions of dollars in silver, but would cost more than what the silver is worth to separate it.