Infiltration

ContraCosta location: Bay Area, CA Gender: Male \|	Machete Ranch - Antioch < on 12/29/2010 5:59 AM >

	I remember this ranch from when I was about 12-14 yrs old, way before East Bay Regional Park District procured Black Diamond Mines park. This property is just at the area of where Somersville Rd. ends in Antioch on the right side of the road near the Black Diamond Mines entry gate. We used to ride our bicycles up to the coal mines (back when all of the caves and mines were still open in Somersville, Nortonville and Stewartville). The guy who lived on this ranch was called "Machete" by all of the kids. We used to stop by and get water and sometimes lemonade or iced tea. He was a nice old timer who had lot's of stories to tell about the mining days. All of this and I never knew what he had right there on his ranch! Not sure if this is authentic or if it was an attempt to recreate a ghost town but what a trip to see this last year. I was probably one of the first to see any of this before the property was sold to the School Board and no trespassing signs were posted. I have heard that what you are about to see in my photos has now been pretty stripped and vandalized. There were 2 barns that were open with a fortune of antiques in them. A rancher who worked across the street watering cattle stopped on this day on his ATV and told me the East Bay Regional Park guys were taking all kinds of valuables out. At least I was able to see all of this while it was still there and in pristine condition. Here are some pics . .

tax_mouse location: SACRAMENTO, CA Gender: Female \|	Re: Machete Ranch - Antioch <Reply # 1 on 12/29/2010 6:08 AM >

	Wow, so sad that there's little to no respect for the preservation of our past. Thanks for sharing.

leafloving4x4gal location: Durham Region Gender: Female Someday is NOT a day of the week ! \|	Re: Machete Ranch - Antioch <Reply # 2 on 12/29/2010 6:22 AM >

	Nice pics...too bad to hear about its state now I LOVE the oldsmobile emblem and that car... "if you are not selfish enough to make yourself happy, you have nothing of value to offer the world."

robk700 location: Los Angeles / D.C. Gender: Male \|	Re: Machete Ranch - Antioch <Reply # 3 on 12/29/2010 9:13 AM >

	I love it! Hope you got a chance to go in the mines as a kid.

Cowboy

location:
Nashville, TN
Gender: Male

Re: Machete Ranch - Antioch
<Reply # 4 on 12/30/2010 4:51 AM >

Posted by robk700
I love it! Hope you got a chance to go in the mines as a kid.

Of corse you would say that!!!

Harvestman location: Somewhere in SORTA/TANK Territory! Gender: Male Everything about me has a poker face. \| \|	Re: Machete Ranch - Antioch <Reply # 5 on 12/31/2010 1:25 AM >

	Nice toad and Oldsmobile! (If I found a toad like that, I would name him Christopher) Oh good, my slow clap processor made it into this thing.

ContraCosta

location:
Bay Area, CA
Gender: Male

Re: Machete Ranch - Antioch
<Reply # 6 on 12/31/2010 1:46 AM >

Posted by robk700
I love it! Hope you got a chance to go in the mines as a kid.

Yes! Luckily I got too spend a few years in Nortonville going through the caves/mines, some of them were huge and went back at least a half mile. Lot's of people died in those caves in the 1970's from suffocation and getting trapped in open vertical mine shafts. Now East Bay Regional Parks has closed off all access to Nortonville and left 2 mined open in Somersville (Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve) and they do tours in them.
[last edit 12/31/2010 1:48 AM by ContraCosta - edited 1 times]

Infiltration Forums > Archived US: Pacific Southwest > Machete Ranch - Antioch (Viewed 740 times)