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 Post subject: Our Preservation & Paranormal Project At Folsom Lake Ca.
PostPosted: Wed Feb 26, 2014 5:33 pm 
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Our Preservation & Paranormal Project At Folsom Lake Ca. On Feb. 22nd 2014

I remember seeing Folsom Lake back in 2008 of course back then the lake levels were much higher but what I never knew is that along the lake were old mining towns that were submerged for many years. It was only till I seen the news that I realized due to the very warm winters and drought the last two years which caused Mormon Islands ghost town to rise out of the water.
 
I love coming out this way because we know more people around Sacramento/Placerville region then I do where we are based in NV. We would meet Faye and Elber if you do not know Faye she belongs to our yahoo group also moderates the PGS Facebook page as well as our very active google+ PGS community. Honestly this is what it is about is getting others together to help preserve these locations for years to come. So many groups think that what we do is about going out to find the paranormal but it is not rather its about giving back.
 
So the main goal is to document the ghost town for its historical value anything else is extra. Although there are many mining camp and ghost town remnants found within the dry lake beds of Folsom this first trip would focus on Mormon Island and the Relocated Mormon Island Cemetery. Future trips may involve other historic locations found around the lake since everything ties into one another.
 
We would leave very early its one hell of a trip to get over the high sierras and eventually come on down into the California foothills. But its a scenic one that I could enjoy some Sunrise coffee with a doughnut sit back enjoy the snow capped peaks. Although it was overcast out it was quite warm for this time of year.
 
We would meet up near a hiking and bike path on a hill that overlooks Mormon Island below that is when I met with Faye and Elber. Soon we would grab our gear, packs, equipment and supplies. Our adventure would began here.
 
Folsom Lake
Mormon Island
 
Coming is next to second this is one of the earliest gold rush town sites found in the American West. When we hiked through the woods which had meadows and a mix of large creepy trees I remember hearing about tales of Bigfoot back in here many years ago. That was until the region built up allot of bustling city life which surrounds most of the lake.So today their are to many people cycling and hiking around for any chance encounter with the creature. But there are ghost that haunt the ruins of Mormon Island and ill explain why in a bit.
 
We went down the path over the hill started hiking on out to the dry lake bed it was a bit odd knowing that at one time the water here was probably 50 to 100 feet in depth. You could see stumps cut from early miners which then they could use that wood to build structures and use the wood in their mills. Our first site was just a massive hole with crumbling rocks probably the site of an old miners cabin.
 
We found our first couple of sites which were stone walls old rusted artifacts laying on top of them some piece of glass. Also what appears to be an old dock of some kind. I seen old stone roads and even canals all of it built by miners so that they could divert the gold of the American River right to the town site. Mainly composed of Mormons this is how the island had gotten its name.
 
From what I have learned despite the many exposed foundations surrounding the islands their is still huge portions of the town still underwater. Folsom Lake is very large and even though its been reduced by half of its size there is so much more that remains to be seen here depending on if this drought continues or not.
 
Faye and I worked together for awhile meanwhile Elber went off exploring most of the time while my family went off their own directions. So everybody was scattered which was actually a good thing because then we could cover more areas and discuss what it is we found.
 
I will say that nature here is abundant I seen a crane and some geese as I walked up a wooded hill where the island generally is supposed to be. As some of you know were more then a paranormal group allot of work we do is with nature, conservation, historical mentoring and preservation. Some might call me a Philanthropist maybe a humanitarian considering that I really am devoted towards making sure these places stay well and alive.
 
Faye and I found some animal bones we also found on one of the smaller islands an area where people wrote messages to others using smaller rocks. Their was a peace sign made of stones even a message to someone's lover with a giant heart.
 
This area was great for exploring not allot of foundations a few partial ones even a painted red rock with some piping laid up on top. But what really grabbed our attention is that we had gotten some fairly high EMF readings near the main town site. Keep in mind there are no power lines near by or anything when your way deep out on the lake dry beds. However what I did learn by doing some research is that not all the bodies were relocated when they formed the lake and built the dam.
 
They did the best they could but multiple mining camps/townsites had their own cemeteries. So the Army Corps Of Engineers could only remove the marked burials which surrounded the rolling hills around the American River. In this case the area Faye and I were in I believe was the actual original cemetery. So the readings we had gotten here were off the hook and I took allot of EVP's in this area because in order for me to say its haunted I have to have further proof.
 
Eventually I had left Faye to catch up with Elber I wanted to explore with him awhile see what he found. He was out on this peninsula that had a few stone walls, couple dozen stumps with artifacts stacked on top and out in the water you could see more foundations. We also found a few stone blocks and slabs of stone all cracked from the elements of time.
 
Faye and Elber had to go they had an appointment so here on out I would spend about another hour near Mormon island looking to see if I could find some of the towns more larger remnants which I did. I went further east to the port which is no longer a port because you cant launch any boats from here their is no water period. So looking up at all the boats and docks was a bit dismal of a site to see. The water is just gone and that is what is sad about this.
 
We followed this little inlet along the water which took us to this massive stone wall along with some sleuth maybe to catch gold. We also found what appeared to be a bunch of stone blocks or pillars and another stone road. Allot of what remains of the town is found all over the tree stumps at the bottom of the lake beds. However not everyone that comes here is respectful enough to leave it all alone. I seen a guy a little older then me metal detecting and when he came face to face with me he ran off real fast. I could see him trying to avoid people honestly there are signs stating no treasure hunting or metal detecting. Obviously some people are in it for themselves.
 
Anyhow after doing allot of exploring we had a break up on Mormon Island overlooking the lake below. We seen a beautiful hawk that kept flying over us in the woods and talked about all our finds. I am hoping to return in March to examine two other locations on the lake which also have ghost town remnants.
 
This is a huge project because it involves showing you the remnants of the town, artifacts, scenery, nature, history, videos for the documentary, EVP's, grave sites etc etc so this is a very extensive project I am working on and putting onto our website. By further educating others they will learn that this is a very important site in American History and its just not being treated right people are using the lower water to treasure hunt, steal while others are just vandalizing the stone walls which once stood here. So the project really is about giving back and educating others particularly this regions schools who study gold rush history.
 
Anyhow all in all it was quite an experience I did not find everything I wanted to see its a huge area to cover on foot but ill be back before the snow melt began's to do some more work with this location. My family and I headed back to the car. It felt good to be out we had not done anything major in a couple months ever since my truck broke down after Christmas of last year so we rented a vehicle to come up to this place and I have to say it was worthwhile to see.
 
Our next location would be much more dismal of a place in fact its hardly visited more importantly its forgotten. While you have others treasure hunting the dry lake beds along the hillsides of Folsom not to far away from the lakes shore is the Mormon Island relocation cemetery.
 
Mormon Island Relocation Cemetery
 
When we arrived here we had some snacks and lunch. I went into the cemetery did a documentary much like I did with Mormon Island. I wanted to give everyone a grand tour which covers about 400 plus gravesites which were relocated here when a dam was built to form the Folsom Lake you see today. Between where the two forks of the American River meet.
 
Although its labeled Mormon Island Cemetery their are actually 10 different cemeteries conjoined together into one. Each area of the cemetery has a wood plaque commemorating the name of that mining camps cemetery.  For example they had the Negro Hill, Salmon Falls and Prairie City burial grounds found within just to name a few. Although their are more but will put it up in various sections on our site all nice and properly categorized for this project.
 
While I was investigating and doing our history project here a group of people arrived to have a drum circle ceremony at the Negro Hill section of the cemetery. I thought that was a really honorable thing allot of respect I gave towards the people who were doing it.
 
The two most obvious things that really bothered me with the cemetery is the fact that 80 percent of the stones found here say the word unknown on them. Meanwhile the ones with names and legible dates have been heavily vandalized. Their are graves broke in half, pieces on the ground  and in some cases some pieces are just entirely missing. There were a few nice marble monuments including a historical plaque in the back of the cemetery which talks about Prairie City but it also admits that a majority of the graves were not relocated here.
 
They also had a Jewish section with fencing around it but only two graves and allot of room. Some of the family plots had beautiful wrought iron work there were benches built by the town of Folsom so you could sit on a bench and relax which I did do. I spent a long long time in this cemetery reading every single epitaph visiting every single burial ground.
 
It appears the largest section of interments is the miners from the gold rush town of Mormon Island which take up about three parallel roads found within. The other sections of burial grounds are much smaller in size even though they were bigger mining towns which makes me wonder at how many grave sites were not found during the relocation project.
 
Eventually my son and Tammy came on in for a visit when I finished up our work. Tammy could not believe some of the gravesites how badly damaged they were. While graves were relocated some names were lost and epitaphs during the process. I showed her some of the oldest grave sites as some of the stones are fine pieces of handcrafted work. Stones with poems, engravings and all sorts of wonderful architectural work for the early pioneers of this region. We also studied this massive wall which had multiple tombstones embedded within it.
 
After we sat on a bench I did a few more EVP readings it was time to start heading for home. The skies were really dark but it still was fairly warm out. When we were driving along the cliffs of the high sierras we were slammed with a snow storm heading back to Nevada. You could just see meadows of blustery snow and some of the largest peaks you could not even see due to it.
 
We did make it but the traffic really came to a halt on our way to Tahoe lucky for us we know other passes we can take to get home quicker so it was not to bad. But most of the winter time it is supposed to nearly snow daily up in the higher sierras and this is something we need. That snow in turn melts thus filling streams, reservoirs, lakes and rivers so that life can flourish in the warmer months. I actually filmed some of the snow storm in the pass just thought some would like to see what winter is like in the sierras when its snowing. Its rather pretty but it also makes certain places inaccessible in regards to looking for bigfoot. So this is why its better to hike in the sierra foothills in California because of the lack of snow and the weather is generally gorgeous!
 
I would love to return to Folsom Lake to visit some of the areas other gold rush town sites and I definitely want to add more content in with this project. The cemetery is unique because it connects every single mining camp and gold rush town all within one given site so if you go exploring the ruins of these town sites its very important to also pay your respects to the miners who built it.
 
The only disappointing thing that bothered me about this trip is the fact that so very few showed up to help with this project. The project is not about ghost it is about preservation the paranormal aspect of it is just a bonus but we did not go there in mind to seek it out. When the cemetery and gold rush town get put onto our site its going to be done in a very professional educational addition so that people can learn about this worldwide as its a very very important piece of western American history so it needs to be shared publicly.
 
Our next expedition coming on out is up in Volcano California an area that has allot of early western mining history such as cemeteries, caves, historically haunted sites and picturesque scenery. Followed by that we will return to Folsom in a couple weeks to finish the second part of the project off if you want to get involved contact me for more details. I am excited about what we might find next! Faye and Elber are always more then welcome to attend our investigations when were out that way. They did very well brought their own ghosthunting gear and they are just like us very laid back which is how I like to run the show here at PGS.
Peace,
Lord Rick
PGS Founder
 

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