Tours of Yuba Goldfields
in midst of legal dispute
Excloo to the Saramento Bee
MARYSVILLE 6/4/02 (YSN) -- Northern California residents will have a rare chance this weekend to tour the mysterious Yuba Goldfields, a natural curiosity created by hydraulic mining in the gold rush era, a river access spokesman said.
A "Public Access Picnic" fund-raiser for the Yuba Goldfields Access Coalition will be held noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, guided tours of the man-made moonscape, salmon spawning grounds and bass fishing spots, access advocate Chuck Smith said.
The tri-tip barbecue will be held on Bill Calvert's 100-acre ranch near historic Hammontonville, a stage stop ghost town in the heart of the vast goldfields that stretch along the scenic Yuba River just east of Marysville.
For many years, mining interests claiming control of the goldfields through federal leases barred the public from the area.
However, over the last six years Calvert, the access coalition and Operating Engineers Local #3 have waged a legal battle to force Western Aggregates Inc. to dismantle the gates, chains and locks keeping the public out of the area, which has become a haven for fish, birds and other wildlife.
Western Aggregates' competitors have also alleged that the present lock-out amounts to giving Western a monopoly of billions of dollars in high quality sand and gravel assets. Western has denied the allegation.
Calvert was arrested and charged with vandalism after he and others cut the locks from the Hammontonville-Smartville gate in a highly-publicized demonstration at the goldfields main gate last year. That case is still pending.
In a parallel civil matter, a Yuba County judge last year found that Hammontonville Road was a public road and he ordered the company to remove the locks and reopen the road.
Western Aggregate appealed the ruling to the 3rd District Court in Sacramento, where oral arguments on the issue are expected to be heard at 9:30 a.m. June 21.
How the justices rule in that case could decide whether hikers, photographers, birdwatchers, anglers and other nature enthusiasts will ever see the goldfields' unusual land formation of gravel grass and rolling hillocks, Smith explained.
Escorts and monitors will provide an orderly convoy to the ranch picnic from both the Parks Bar Bridge gate off Highway 20 and the Hammontonville-Smartsville Road gate, Smith reported.
in midst of legal dispute
Excloo to the Saramento Bee
MARYSVILLE 6/4/02 (YSN) -- Northern California residents will have a rare chance this weekend to tour the mysterious Yuba Goldfields, a natural curiosity created by hydraulic mining in the gold rush era, a river access spokesman said.
A "Public Access Picnic" fund-raiser for the Yuba Goldfields Access Coalition will be held noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, guided tours of the man-made moonscape, salmon spawning grounds and bass fishing spots, access advocate Chuck Smith said.
The tri-tip barbecue will be held on Bill Calvert's 100-acre ranch near historic Hammontonville, a stage stop ghost town in the heart of the vast goldfields that stretch along the scenic Yuba River just east of Marysville.
For many years, mining interests claiming control of the goldfields through federal leases barred the public from the area.
However, over the last six years Calvert, the access coalition and Operating Engineers Local #3 have waged a legal battle to force Western Aggregates Inc. to dismantle the gates, chains and locks keeping the public out of the area, which has become a haven for fish, birds and other wildlife.
Western Aggregates' competitors have also alleged that the present lock-out amounts to giving Western a monopoly of billions of dollars in high quality sand and gravel assets. Western has denied the allegation.
Calvert was arrested and charged with vandalism after he and others cut the locks from the Hammontonville-Smartville gate in a highly-publicized demonstration at the goldfields main gate last year. That case is still pending.
In a parallel civil matter, a Yuba County judge last year found that Hammontonville Road was a public road and he ordered the company to remove the locks and reopen the road.
Western Aggregate appealed the ruling to the 3rd District Court in Sacramento, where oral arguments on the issue are expected to be heard at 9:30 a.m. June 21.
How the justices rule in that case could decide whether hikers, photographers, birdwatchers, anglers and other nature enthusiasts will ever see the goldfields' unusual land formation of gravel grass and rolling hillocks, Smith explained.
Escorts and monitors will provide an orderly convoy to the ranch picnic from both the Parks Bar Bridge gate off Highway 20 and the Hammontonville-Smartsville Road gate, Smith reported.
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