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bajaric
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The Gold of Northern Baja NEW BOOK
Hello Nomads,
Announcing the world premiere of a new Baja Book:
The Gold of Northern Baja, a History and Travel Guide
I am the author of this book, writing under my pen name, Jens Tobias. It went up for sale on Amazon this week and can be found here:
https://www.amazon.com/Gold-Northern-Baja-History-Travel/dp/...
or by going to Amazon, selecting category "books" and entering search words "Baja Gold". Look for the bright yellow cover.
The book is both a history and a travel guide. Here is a blurb from the introduction:
This book describes regions where gold has been historically known to occur in the northern half of the Baja Peninsula. I refer to this area as Baja
California Norte* (BCN). I hope that readers will find this to be an interesting history of Baja, from pre-Missionary days up until the modern era,
as well as a useful guide to exploring sone of the more remote areas of the peninsula. While this material is written from my perspective as a
hobbyist gold seeker, a desire to dress up like an old hobo and dig in the dirt is not a prerequisite for readers. Nature lovers, extreme hikers,
remote campers and off-road enthusiasts can all enjoy exploring the gold districts of BCN, even if their travel gear does not include a gold pan".
This is a "print on demand" book; if you purchase a copy Amazon prints it and ships it, usually within 2-3 days in the US. Then they pay me a few
bucks.
I would like to thank all the nomads that have shared information on this forum. A few I know by name, Harald, DK, and many others I know only by
their avatar; Geofff, Lance, Goat, TMW and all the rest. Some of the collective knowledge of the members of this forum made it into the book, as well
as many past Baja authors; Heman Hill, Gerhart and Gulik, Crosby, Martinez, North, Nelson, Hale, and too many more to list.
I hope a few copies are sold. If you purchase a copy and are so inclined, please leave a review on Amazon and / or on this thread.
The book includes a few black and white photos, as well as about 100,000 words of text. Also ten hand drawn maps.
Thanks to all, bajaric aka Jens Tobias
 
Baja California gold prospecting Real del Castillo placer placers Santa Clara El Alamo El Arco Calmalli tertiary gold mine Socorro Valladeres
San Roque placers Placer de Cota Juarez placers web site URL for mines and mining claims in Baja California maps of areas of gold mineralization
remote camping primitive camping motels in Guerrero Negro San Quintin El Coyote Meling Ranch
[Edited on 10-31-2023 by bajaric]
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bajaric
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Quote: Originally posted by lencho  | | Quote: Originally posted by bajaric | | This is a "print on demand" book; if you purchase a copy Amazon prints it and ships it, usually within 2-3 days in the US. |
How interesting! I didn't know they did that.
Out of curiosity, did you have the option of offering a Kindle version? It's probably not an ideal format for a work including maps and other
graphics, but I'm interested in how the Amazon ecosystem works. |
Print on demand has been around for a while. I would have preferred to use a traditional publisher, but this is such a niche subject I did not really
shop it too much. I sent one author query email that went unanswered and then just went the print on demand route. It is pretty easy; you cut and
paste a work document into a book template. Of course, I had to write it first. It took five years to write it.
There is an option to make a Kindle version, but I prefer to publish it as a regular book printed on paper with ink. I doubt if it will make the
bestseller list but hey stranger things have happened.
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David K
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That was easy! It will be in my hand on Sunday!
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bajaric
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Thanks DK! Unless someone bought one prior to 3pm today you got the second copy ever sold, the first being to my mother lol. Your book was really
well done, great graphics. I could have used some help with the generic cover but oh well now it is time to set my creation free and see how it does.
The Amazon system (Kindle direct publishing) does enable one to make changes or corrections at will, but at this point I am so sick of editing that
thing that it is just going to get sold the way it is. I think there might be one typo left.
Also thanks for invite to the Baja Expo. I for sure will bring a copy and sign yours if you want. I could have a stack of my books printed at cost
and you guys could try and sell some and we could split the profits to defer your space rent if you want. Or just put one copy on the table with
information on where to buy it. I really appreciate the offer.
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4x4abc
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Mood: happy - always
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congrats to the book!
they are never easy
here is a great tool for your next books:
https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/
Harald Pietschmann
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advrider
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Awesome, on my way to buy one. Is it legal for an American to look for and keep gold in Baja? Say by using a metal detector or gold pan? I was lucky
as a child to have a grandfather that was a gold hunter, history buff and general collector, we had many an adventure.
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wilderone
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Congratulations, Ric. So you told all your secrets??
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bajaric
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I don't want to clutter up the forum with marketing, so will post replies on here addressing several comments at a time:
Harald, thanks. Some of the info in the book about the Pioneer Mine group south of Punta Final can be traced back to your contributions.
advrider, thanks for your purchase. To answer your question, with the permission of the property owner, searching the surface of the land for mineral
deposits is perfectly legal. Beyond that it gets a little complicated, as discussed in the book. In practice, it is usually just a matter of getting
to a long-abandoned mining area that is so remote that no one knows or cares that you are there.
Wilderone, (Hi Cindy!) That thought did cross my mind. Most of the information in the book was already out there, but it did take a lot of research
to uncover it and put it all in one place. However, it is not as if this is plastered all over the internet for free, like giving away the location
of a secret surf spot or an unknown cave painting. Someone has to buy a copy of the book, read it, then go to Mexico and drive on rough dirt roads
and search around to see what they might find. Besides, what fun would it be if no one ever shared their experiences and kept it all to themselves?
Sharing information is what this forum is all about and the world is richer for it. Hopefully I will be a little richer for it too!
In reality, it is pretty hard to actually find a decent amount of gold in Baja. Its Mexico. Labor is cheap. Most anything that can be easily
accessed and dug up with a pick and a shovel is long gone. It happens from time to time, but usually by experienced prospectors with some pretty
expensive equipment in some very remote spots. Occasionally an amateur will make a lucky strike, such as the "Boot of Cortez" a 26-pound gold nugget
found in Sonora by some guy with a cheap radio shack metal detector in the 1980's, but that was a fluke, a one in a million chance.
I view it more as an interesting hobby and an excuse to visit some really cool parts of Baja. I also hope that many people will enjoy the historical
aspect of the book even if they never go to Baja and search for gold.
[Edited on 8-26-2023 by bajaric]
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David K
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Ric, I am impressed with the quantity of information and the newness of the books and websites you recommend.
I appreciate mentioning my book and website, as well. We like to help others find fun and adventure on the peninsula.
The book is slightly bigger than mine and a few more pages, too. I need to get back to reading more. After reading one chapter and thumbing through
the others, I was comfortable to recommend it on my Facebook pages & groups. The cover image is added to the Viva Baja Books page and the book is
mentioned in the 'What's New at Viva Baja" section.
Here again is the link to order the book:
https://www.amazon.com/Gold-Northern-Baja-History-Travel/dp/...
Thank you!
[Edited on 8-28-2023 by David K]
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geoffff
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I ordered a copy Aug 26. Arriving today!
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David K
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Reading update,
Just over half way through BajaRic's (Jens') book...
I am so amazed and proud of the content he included.
The Gold of Northern Baja shows you how much Baja gives us to explore and learn about!
More to come!
 
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bajaric
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Hi DK, thanks for kind words. As it turned out my book does have several references to you and your website vivabaja and your book about the
missions. That is not surprising, because Bajanomad forum is in the DNA of the book. Since you are the most prolific poster on here it was "bound"
to happen.
I think I have probably read every post on this forum for the last ten years. There is a lot of good information on here sequestered away among
political arguments etc. Especially pertaining to road conditions, safety concerns, accommodations. and the like, which all found their way into my
book. Ten copies sold so far! Not bad since this is the first attempt to market it. About one out of fifty people that read the post purchased a
copy. Pretty soon will post it on FB talkbaja, then plan to make some YouTubes, in addition to several YouTube videos I have already made about Baja
Gold under the Channel Jens Tobias.
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David K
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I made a page that includes some of bajaric's (Jens') YouTube videos of how to find (or not find) gold...
Prospecting is kind of like fishing... it's not called 'catching' after all!
Enjoy seeing 'bajaric' in Baja panning and detecting in many places:
https://vivabaja.com/the-gold-of-northern-baja/
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David K
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Amazon now gives you a look into the book
See some sample pages of the book: Pages from the book, here
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BajaBlanca
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Congratulations!
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Don Jorge
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Ordered the book from Amazon and receiving it tomorrow. Will be reading it soon and will be happy to leave a review. Don't worry, I am going to love
it.
Congratulations on finishing the project which no doubt had been thought about for a long time. You obviously have Gold Fever and there is no cure.
I have run across prospectors in Baja and the Osa Peninsula of Costa Rica over the last 40 years and when you meet someone with Gold Fever and share
stories over a few beers it is easy to understand how one can get the bug.
This being a Baja forum and Bahia de Los Angeles being a well known gold mining area it begs the question did you meet Herman in LA Bay? He always,
with just a itty bitty bit of prodding, would go deep into gold storyland.
In the 90s in Bahia de Los Angeles a Canadian firm using water and cyanide chased gold from the tailings in the area. I once gave a ride to the
border to a worker from Canada who hade been left stranded there, or so he said right? He talked about gold the entire 8 hour ride north. He had the
fever.
Congratulations again, you are a published author!
�And it never failed that during the dry years the people forgot about the rich years, and during the wet years they lost all memory of the dry
years. It was always that way.�― John Steinbeck
"All models are wrong, but some are useful." George E.P. Box
"Nature bats last." Doug "Hayduke" Peac-ck
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David K
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Lencho and Don Jorge, RIGHT ON!
Have you watched 'bajaric's (Jens) YouTubes? They are very casual and honest about how it more of a hobby than a source of income.
There are 7 of his YouTube tutorials in this webpage: https://vivabaja.com/the-gold-of-northern-baja/
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bajaric
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Never met Herman, though I read his book with great interest. He said he taught some ranchers in the Sierra Asemblea how to recover fine gold and
purchased the gold they found to sell in Las Vegas. Herman kept his secrets close to his vest. He fit the mold of a true prospector, working by
himself, literally covering his tracks. He got into some pretty hairy situations and there was no one to come to the rescue because no one knew where
he was.
For me it is just an interesting hobby. It has an element of gambling in that you get an intermittent reward, but it is not a sure thing. Once in a
while, if you are lucky, you get the thrill of seeing the yellow flash in the pan. Along the way you get to see some great scenery.
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Don Jorge
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Diary of Richard Stevens
published for the first time. Research pays out. Nice find indeed.
I'm chapter jumping and Chapter 14 was the first I read.
I find your writing a pleasure to read. You have created a very interesting book about a place many of us know and love. Awesome job!
�And it never failed that during the dry years the people forgot about the rich years, and during the wet years they lost all memory of the dry
years. It was always that way.�― John Steinbeck
"All models are wrong, but some are useful." George E.P. Box
"Nature bats last." Doug "Hayduke" Peac-ck
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bajaric
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Thanks Don Jorge.
Richard Stephens.
In his early years, though he had been trained as a civil engineer, Richard Stephens worked on an apple farm with his father in central Canada. He
left Canada to escape the cold climate in 1885 and went to work for the International Company of Mexico. This was an outfit with a concession from
Mexico to survey the land and bring colonists to Lower California. He was hired to assist in the land survey. His living arrangements were split
between San Diego and Ensenada. In 1890, fed up with what he saw as fraud and corruption, he resigned from the International Company and went to work
as a freelance civil engineer and mining claim surveyor in Lower California.
As someone with a keen interest in the mining history of Northern Baja I kept running across his name. First, I found a map he had drawn in
vivabaja.com showing a portion of Northern Baja. Then, on a rare map site, I found another map he drew; the original plot map for what today is
called Ensenada (then called "Carlos Pacheco") drawn for the International Company. Then I found his diary!
The diary is in the archives of the San Diego History center. It consists of several volumes dating from about 1890 - 1915 written in a tiny hand so
small that you need a magnifying glass to read it. I think it is an important part of the history of Baja. He made a detailed accounting of all of
the people he encountered, the land, modes of travel, etc. He also copied his letters written to other people into the diary, including his
sweetheart back in Canada. It really is an extraordinary work. I feel a connection to this man who left his home in Canada to make a life for
himself in Baja 130 years ago.
In the diary he spoke of some ranch land that he owned. He was involved in a protracted legal fight over the title. Recently, I stumbled across a
Bajabound article about a hunting and fishing lodge for American tourists. The former owner was guess who? Richard Stephens!
I was able to photograph just a dozen pages of the diary during the short time I was allowed access to it. I have considered requesting permission to
transcribe the whole thing and publish it but it would be a monumental effort. Each page has to be photographed, then enlarged to read it, and
painstakingly transcribed.
So for now, I want to share a short excerpt for the enjoyment of my fellow Nomads. This is a part the diary that did not make it into my book. To
set the scene, in December of 1899 Stephens was at the tail end of two months of work in the mountains of the Sierra San Pedro Martir. The work was
surveying that was being done in preparation for the construction of a proposed ditch near Rancho Buenavista. This is an old Rancho shown on maps
about 5 miles west of modern-day Rancho Coyote. He fell off a horse and banged up his shoulder and ribs. Then it started raining. Stuck in the
freezing weather with only one small tent, he and his companions decided to make their way about seven miles to "Rancho Colorado" a sort of traveler's
rest stop near Rancho San Jose (today known as the Meling Ranch) that provided lodging and meals. He wrote a letter to his sweetheart, who apparently
had a premonition that he had been hurt, and copied into his diary.
This is the story of Juan Colorado:
"In the morning it was still raining so we packed up and moved back to San Jose to Juan Colorado's camp where there is a little shelter in what is
called a dug out. I was able to walk for my lower limbs were not hurt, and I was better able to walk than ride on horseback. After a six mile walk
in the rain we got to camp Colorado. I believe the exercise did me good - it took out some of the stiffness. Here Don Blas the owner of San Jose
Ranch prepared a tea made out of the roots of some "Yerba" good for internal bruises. It was the color of thin claret, and probably done as much good
as any doctor's prescription would. Cures depend on faith and nature.
So I guess that was what the spirit told you about. Maybe he didn't know just what happened, it was done so quick that I don't know myself. The rain
continued on and off for three days and we did not work on the line. It is a sight for lovers of art to see the clouds hang around the mountains and
shift slowly from peak to peak, sometimes obscuring one gigantic range and then another, veiling their tops in mist or again filling the valleys with
banks of fog. Such atmospheric effects are only seen in mountainous regions and recall some of Black's descriptions of Far Lochaban in the "Princess
of Thule".
Laying in camp somewhat repaired my system and when the sun began to peep through the clouds was able to climb on the old horse again and ride out to
finish the work. We had to go six or seven miles the last two days, but decided to go so far than risk the exposure of an unsheltered camp. It is no
"frasear" to be out all night in a Cailfornia rainstorm.
Now I must tell about Juan Colorado - a man with the character of the old type. Such characters are fast passing away even from such out of the way
places as Socorro. His camp is very characteristic of the man. He keeps a sort of boarding-house under a tree. We boarded with him as long as it
was possible to reach our work from his camp. because he had a few more necessary articles to cook, and to cook with, than it was possible for us to
provide and pack on a burro train - which is about the only mode of conveyance for everyone in these mountain regions. His bill of fare was not very
comprehensive - usually beans and pancakes and coffee: occasionally beef or venison, and oftener quail or jack-rabbit. Potatoes or dried fruit are
luxuries not often obtainable. But a splendid appetite makes up for all deficiencies. His camp is on the bank of San Jose Creek, in a grove of
willows and elder bushes. A beautiful stream of crystal water springs from a meadow in front of the camp. Juan was born in New Orleans - his mother
was Spanish - his father was German or of German descent. He came to Lower Calif. 26 years ago, and has never been out of the country since. Of
course he speaks Spanish like a native, but he is well educated in the English language. His real name is John Mesicals but the Mexicans called him
Juan Colorado - probably from the color of his hair in his younger days - and now he and everyone else prefer that name to the measly one. He has a
very intelligent, long haired, greyish black coyotish wolfy looking little dog - named "Vampero" who will stand on his hind legs and dance all around
a ring for grub. The dog is almost as well known in the neighborhood as Juan having been his inseparable companion for years.
Juan is a prospector of the old type of miners - a free rover - who digs everywhere outside of regularly denounced claims, washed the gravel and
pockets the gold. Every morning after breakfast he and his dog start for the hills. Around 2 or 3 pm he returns to camp, prepares a fire, and cooks
his supper. How much he makes no one knows, most likely- very often nothing - sometimes two bits a day - but on lucky days he may strike a pocket of
gold dust or a nugget. He learnt long ago that if he ever made a few hundred dollars and went into civilization it would all vanish like a dream of
the night. To indulge in in a jolly old spree and a gamble Juan could never resist; so knowing his own frailties he is wise to stay in the mountains
where he can gamble to his heart' content, with fellows who are no more than his match, but only get drunk occasionally when some tenderfoot comes in
laden with mescal.
Juan is a genial, generous, unselfish soul - ragged, dirty, uncombed, unkempt, unhouseled, unanointed, yet with all his imperfections on his head when
he goes to his account - many an old Mexican or Indian with nothing but a ragged shirt, or a dirty blanket - will miss him. If they can pay for a
meal, well and good, if not they feed all the same. Every day seems to bring some bare-footed old troglodyte - often two or three - around at
mealtimes, and they do not go away as hungry as they come. Matt C. 6 - v. 34.- Where they come from is hard to tell, they seem to spring out of the
earth, and vanish into the brush.
Whenever it does not rain which is about 350 nights in the year - Juan sleeps out under the sky - but he has a dug out for emergencies. Maybe you
have seen an old-style potato cave dug out of a bank, with poles laid across and covered with brush and earth? Imagine one end left open and a
campfire in front - as the ideal of a miners dug out. As usually made they are just high enough to stand on one's knees.
At the date of your letter, Dec 16, I was gaining another sort of experience of mountain life. We had finished the ditch line and were preparing to
return to Ensenada. when I got a note from Johnson of Socorro - to come up- that Bob Anderson wanted me to survey a mining claim for him before I
left that part of the country... It so happened that Osuna a Mexican teamster was was going up next day with a load of lumber..."
And thus ends the tale of one Juan Colorado aka John Mesicals, formerly of New Orleans, who lived for 26 years in the mountains of the Sierra San
Pedro Martir before the turn of the last century.
The next portion of the diary, recounting a trip on a freight wagon up to Johnsons camp at the Socorro placers is included in my Book, The Gold of
Northern Baja, by Jens Tobias.
A summary of Richard Stephen's diary collection can be found online in the archives of the San Diego History Center, here
https://sandiegohistory.org/archives/archivalcollections/ms2...
[Edited on 11-6-2023 by bajaric]
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