We first visited this site in 2007 with the Dzrtgrls and Dan. I made a return trip when I was in the area recently to check on the site.
Also known as Von Trigger Springs, the spring and surrounding hills were first prospected in 1858 (some say the 1870s) by a German man named Erick Vontrigger for gold. He found a rich pocket of gold but kept his discovery secret. He died in San Francisco in 1880 taking his secret with him. The area wasn't worked again until 1891 when the nearby California Gold and Copper Mine (also known as the Vontrigger Mine) came into production. Though promoted as such, this mine is not thought to be Vontrigger's original discovery, so the location of the "Lost Vontrigger Mine" remains a mystery.
