Big Bear Today May 2019

Page 6—May 2019
Museum makes its own history with opening
Big Bear Today
The place that preserves Big Bear’s
history is making a little history of
its own this month.
Big Bear Museum opens May 18, a
week before its traditional Memorial Day
start and the earliest ever. It’s an extra
weekend to see the working five stamp
mill, blacksmiths, panning for kids and
more at Big Bear’s blast from its past, and
locals get in free opening day from 10 a.m.-
4 p.m. It’s also the first of two Kids Days,
with fun activities for youngsters like scavenger
hunt, rock painting and past/present
table where they view artifacts and determine
what replaces them today.
The museum has still more events on
tap through the summer like next month’s
Billy Holcomb Day with Ron Core that celebrates
the man who found gold in the valley,
triggering the second largest strike in
California. Mel Blanc Day on August 24
honors the man of a thousand voices, a Big
Bear resident who brought Bugs Bunny,
Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, Barney Rubble and
so many more famous cartoon characters
to life. An exhibit opened last year featuring
Mel’s personal effects.
With over a million artifacts on display,
seven exhibits like the blacksmith
shop, schoolhouse, Juniper store and so
much more, the museum is always entertaining
with lots of hands-on fun. Kids love
to pan for “gold” in the sluice box, swirling
water and mud around in their pans
with their own two hands for free just like
prospectors did in Big Bear a century-and-
a-half ago. At the museum all that ever remains
in the bottom of the pan is worthless
pyrite better known as “fool’s gold,”
but the sparkling rock sure puts the gleam
in a child’s eyes and they can take their
findings home.
The blacksmith shop meanwhile is a
more ears-on than hands-on experience.
Children and their parents are regaled with
stories about Big Bear’s storied past by
blacksmith and storyteller extraordinaire
Jim Lanners. Even as he “stokes the fire”
and “keeps his irons in the fire” while creating
one-of-a-kind peanut butter knives
for any kid that wants one, Lanners tells
tall but true tales.
Even as he’s pounding iron on one of
the museum’s historical anvils he chatters
away. One anvil weighs a whopping 623
lbs. and there’s forges from the original
Rose Mine in Big Bear. When he pounds
hot iron sparks fly like mini-fireworks,
drawing oohs and ahhs from youngsters.
Away from the only working blacksmith
shop around, Lanners fires up the
massive five-stamp mill. When it roars to
life the stamp mill, one of only two such
working machines in California, drops the
hammer—another blacksmith term—on
ore and pulverizes it to reveal gold inside.
There’s a miniature model that shows
how the big one works. In the latter part of
the 19th century there were dozens of these
mills in Big Bear, some with up to 40
stamps, others just one or two. Most famous
was the 40-stamp mill operated by
Museum blacksmiths
fan the flames; kids
love to pan for gold
Elias J. “Lucky”
Baldwin, who left his
name all over Southern
California—
Baldwin Park is
named after him.
Baldwin founded
Santa Anita racetrack
and made a fortune in
real estate and at horse
racing, only to lose
much of it on his 1875
mining operation in
east Big Bear Valley by Gold Mountain.
It’s wasn’t so much that they didn’t
find gold because they did, in large quantities,
but it was mostly low grade stuff that
cost more to extract than it was worth.
Continued on page 10
Real Gear...Real Track...Real Racing!
(909) 585-0075
Open April – October
Saturday 10 am-5 pm
Sunday 10 am-5 pm
Starting June 8
Open Daily
KART RACING in BIG BEAR
• New Full-Featured Sodi Kart Racing
• Grand Prix-Style One-Fifth Mile Course!
• Races Timed, Fastest Times Posted
• Safety First With Helmets, 4-Point Restraints
• Single and Double Karts! Fun for Ages 4 and Up
Located at Big Bear Snow Play
42825 Big Bear Blvd. • Big Bear Lake
www.BigBearSpeedway.com