Newsletter

  Directed by Gershom Hyldreth www.gershom.tv   Filmed at the Sixteen to One Mine, Alleghany California.      

For a historical perspective of this letter, go to FORUM topic:From the Sixteen to One Archives. Date: 09/18/2008

   The first three carvings were done in honor of the California Sesquecentenial.        "Discovery"     "The Rush"     "Statehood"           "The Dancers"       "Saturday Night"       "The Jug Band"       "Phoenix"         "Rare Beauty"

 These photos are close-ups of tiny carvings by Ron Martinez.  Their length (longest dimension) ranges from 26mm to 78mm.                                      

  "The California Bear"  size 113mm x 71mm x 41mm           "The Eagle" size 75mm x 123mm x 54mm      "The Trout" size 149mm x 110mm x 65mm  

Someone will have to address this unintended consequence: but who’s got the money to even ask the question? The issue arises out of the Sixteen to One’s lawsuit against the group of carpetbagging lawyers who took advantage of a resentful, lame duck district attorney to prosecute a mine accident as a murder case. The murder case was dismissed: the mine and CEO Mike Miller then sued the attorneys’ corporate employer [...]

With the death of Richard C. Sorlien, Sierra County suffers another loss. Although he lived and worked in Philadelphia, Richard Sorlien kept much of his love of life centered at his Alaska Mine property in Pike City. There he planted thousands of trees including 3,000 Sierra Redwoods after the fire of 1959 swept through. Now there is a thriving grove with trees five feet in diameter and over one hundred [...]

Of course there were corollary questions that slide into argument: does the law apply to lawyers, too? The legal requirement that deputy prosecutors register with the County Clerk had been ignored.   Two trial court judges thought the question had merit and refused to grant the corporate lawyers automatic immunity. After months of wrangling, legal dodges and generating seemingly endless paperwork, the corporation's lawyer found a way to get the [...]

Michael Miller's telephone has been ringing these days more than it has in several years. As the price of gold recently surged past $800 an ounce, the financial prospects of Miller's Original Sixteen to One gold mine suddenly have shifted from precarious to tantalizing. The tenacious Miller, president and director of the Allegheny-based gold mine corporation, has survived through a long spell of meager finds in his mining operations, a [...]

02/20/2003 - Mountain Messenger Letter to Editor - by Michael Miller STAY TUNED Editor: The Mountain Messenger Crackpot wrote on July 13, 1995, "We look forward to the annual Grand Jury report in the same spirit we hope our readers have anticipating our April first editions." He continues, "Grand Juries are pretty good at presenting one side of an issue. This watch dog organization, this monument to open government is [...]

The Internet is a blessing and a curse for most of us senior folks. Our website, which I continue to encourage you to visit frequently, has preempted the newsletters. Except for legal or special news and information, I can give you the everyday facts about the Company’s affairs online. Over two hundred of you have registered on our website to receive e-mail updates. (Go to “Register” at www.origsix.com) When we [...]

Though just 19 years old, Warren Johnson had an attitude and a work ethic that impressed the hard-rock miners at the Original Sixteen to One Mine in Alleghany. So they hired the young Penn Valley man in April, one of three "baby miners," as mine owner Mike Miller affectionately calls the teenagers he took on in the spring. The family feeling among the hard-rock miners makes Johnson's death deeply painful [...]

For one, he lives and works in this mountain town of 300 people two hours or more from Sacramento, depending on when and where you get stuck behind a logging truck trudging along the twists and turns and rolling hills of Highway 49. He runs the Mountain Messenger, the state's oldest weekly newspaper with a circulation of about 2,400. On occasions like April Fool's Day, he will rename it the [...]

On a picturesque mountainside in Alleghany, the entrance to the Original Sixteen to One Mine nestles at the base of a steep slope of pines, a modest portal into the 25 miles of tunnels below. Since 1896, miners have descended into its depths, lured by the promise of gold. During a recent tour of the mine organized by Stucki Jewelers in Grass Valley, guide and former Sixteen to One miner [...]

Jewelry and industrial applications absorb 85 percent of new supply. Production has fallen a bit as industrial demand increases but this alone cannot explain surging prices. Bringing new deposits on line would cost less than $700 an ounce. The big new players are exchange-traded funds. These store bullion for investors who have lost confidence in the dollar, and these may be a precursor of a new gold standard. In 1944, [...]

The latest gold rush is leaving the Golden State in the dust. For the first time in 25 years, the price of gold has soared to more than $700 an ounce, sparking renewed interest in mining the precious metal. Yet the home of the Gold Rush of 1849 is mostly watching from the sidelines. Production of gold in the state was a mere $29 million last year, according to the [...]

On Petition for Review of an Order of the Federal Mine Safety & Health Administration Argued and Submitted March 15, 2006 San Francisco, California Before: REINHARDT, NOONAN, and HAWKINS, Circuit Judges. Original Sixteen to One Mine, Inc. ("the Operator") petitions for review of a decision of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission ("the Commission") under the Federal Mine and Safety Act ("Mine Act"), 30 D.S.C. §S 801, et [...]

MIKE MILLER: Hi Hollie, I’m glad to be here. HOLLIE: Thanks for coming. Obviously mining right now, has been in the news quite a bit and before we get started talking about the oldest running gold mine in the United States which is the Original Sixteen to One Mine, I want to talk a little bit about some of the differences between coal mining and gold mining. So can we [...]

Each miner that works in the mine possesses two round brass tags for tagging “in” and “out” on the 800 level and in the winze. In addition to this each miner has a brass nametag permanently attached to their belt. This is required by law, very similar to “dog tags” worn by military personnel. When a miner leaves the Sixteen to One, the remaining miners “spike his brass” by attaching [...]

It is a receptacle for stories, photos and artifacts that otherwise would scatter. A museum is the thread that ties these things together in a meaningful way for future generations. An example: In the summer of 2003 I got a phone call from a fellow named Les Foster. He told me that his family had a connection to Alleghany that he hadn’t explored. His Grandfather Walter Iverson Smart had been [...]

Gold production from the Alleghany Mining District in the early years was from placer mining. The source of the placer gold was traced to the rich gravels of the ancestral Yuba River which crosses the ridges of the district. Numerous drift mines were begun along the ridges exploring the gravels for gold. Forest City was the hub of the District with its large placer deposits from the 1870’s to mid [...]

The creek where they discovered gold was named Kanaka Creek. Kanaka means “person” in Hawaiian. In the gold rush days native Hawaiians were referred to as “Kanakas”. Kanaka Creek flows below the town of Alleghany. Other prospectors followed the Hawaiian Sailors to Kanaka Creek and they found gold as well. Soon towns sprang up all over the place. Often the miners named the towns after places they had left behind [...]

The town evolved from the mining camps of Smith’s Flat (located at the Southern end of town where the County yard now is), Cumberland at the North end of town and Wet Ravine (West of town). In 1853 a group of miners from Allegheny Pennsylvania (now part of Pittsburgh) named the town, spelling Alleghany with an “a” rather than an “e”. In it's early days the town was referred to [...]

The sudden rise in gold prices has sparked an interest in gold that has been lacking for over a decade. The mine’s biggest barrier to profit is inadequate working capital. Maybe those with an interest either as an investment or a speculation will participate in the next gold rush by researching the opportunities we have prepared for the Sixteen to One. They just have to find us. Ours is a [...]

Yes, he was the advocate of rural justice, loved the law enough to work relentlessly and unselfishly to clean the tarnished reputation of lawyers and he knew what it was like to be sent unjustly to prison. A while ago Original Sixteen to One Mine was Sierra County’s largest non-government employer, which is newsworthy when its attorney dies in a tragic accident. But even in death, George may influence one [...]