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By “McCarthy Annie” |
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Saturday, April 19, 2003 |
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If you ever come to visit me in this rugged back corner of Creation, I’d love to offer you a ride in my old McCarthy Rig. She ain’t so perty anymore, but she still runs, and she takes to these brokendown back trails like an old mountain nanny goat. Oh, the old gal’s seen better days, but then, so have the historic roads she is accustomed to traversing. |
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Take the McCarthyGreen Butte Road, for instance. Built for the miners 100 years ago, this road follows McCarthy Creek all the way up to the Motherlode Mines on the other side of Bonanza Ridge. In the years since the miners’ heyday, this road has been used and maintained by a variety of folks. Why, my old McCarthy Rig purred along that very roadway thirty years ago or so, when bridges were standing firmly in place and she could still pick her way along with dignity and ease. |
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Over time, age and neglect have taken their toll. Floods have washed the original bridges out, and those pesky willows have attempted a complete takeover. The hardy folks who range this valley have tried to keep the route passable, but with so few to help, and little in the way of resources, the relentless forces of nature have reduced this oncerespectable road to a mere trail. |
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And lately, for the most part, my old McCarthy Rig sits quietly at home, just waiting. |
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It has been a long time since the valley of the Motherlode has had a family to call its own, to care for it and protect it, to restore and once again inhabit the historic buildings, to rebuild bridges and wage war with the encroaching willows. The National Park Service has come and made claim to much of the land in the |
