Tom took a long time getting to the desert.
Home was Massachusetts. He spent 2 years
each in the Navy and the Army (in two wars).
Both of his children were born in Toledo, Ohio.
His first teaching job was in Michigan from
whence a letter pleading for a job anyplace
warmer was answered by a call from Las
Vegas. He, wife Dottie, son and daughter,
traveled most of the way to Boulder City on the
Mother Road, US 66, in the family car and a
former IT truck with a canoe tied to the top.
But it was too light to have the gold content those two claimed. Still, he found¬-on the west slope of
Manly Peak, above Emmett Harder’s cabin, a ledge with a little gold, silver, and pure tungsten which
provided several years of “getaway from the city” even though not commercially feasible.
He first met Clint and Stella Andersen when, after reading the sign on the Old Stone Cabin door that if you
tried to break in you would be shot at, he turned around to see a man with a rifle on the hill behind him.
He walked up to say hello and soon was drinking coffee in Russ’s house which Clint and Stella were
minding while Russ was away. Tom and Dottie also made friends with Russ’s burros, Blackie and Julie, after
they were turned loose. Julie would leave her jack and his harem to bring Nugget, her first baby over to
show her off (while “her man” stood back, braying like a jackass). Blackie got kicked in the face and
became a loner, but would come for treats when called.
At 82, Tom doesn’t do much desert driving now—too many places where you have to know where all 4
wheels are and, with no depth perception, he doesn’t.
Manly Peak, above Emmett Harder’s cabin, a ledge with a little gold, silver, and pure tungsten which
provided several years of “getaway from the city” even though not commercially feasible.
He first met Clint and Stella Andersen when, after reading the sign on the Old Stone Cabin door that if you
tried to break in you would be shot at, he turned around to see a man with a rifle on the hill behind him.
He walked up to say hello and soon was drinking coffee in Russ’s house which Clint and Stella were
minding while Russ was away. Tom and Dottie also made friends with Russ’s burros, Blackie and Julie, after
they were turned loose. Julie would leave her jack and his harem to bring Nugget, her first baby over to
show her off (while “her man” stood back, braying like a jackass). Blackie got kicked in the face and
became a loner, but would come for treats when called.
At 82, Tom doesn’t do much desert driving now—too many places where you have to know where all 4
wheels are and, with no depth perception, he doesn’t.
George Appleton, aka One Eye Tom, aka Smilin’ George.
Two articles in Desert Magazine about either
Panamint Russ’s or Siberian Red’s Lost Ledge
got him to Butte Valley where he did find an
outcrop of “cement like rock” in about the right
place.
Panamint Russ’s or Siberian Red’s Lost Ledge
got him to Butte Valley where he did find an
outcrop of “cement like rock” in about the right
place.
