Lost in time lies a silent sentinel. It whispers tales of boom and bust. This is the Double Up Mine. It echoes with dreams of fortune found and lost.
The Double Up Mine story starts with gold. The Carter brothers staked four claims in 1873. Their claims were on the mountainside. It now bears their name. The word “gold” ignited a rush. It drew hopeful miners.
One key figure emerged. Samuel Baird was a seasoned miner. He had contacts in San Francisco. Baird secured funding to develop the mine. Bairdstown was named after him. The town grew quickly.
Elias “Lucky” Baldwin also played a role. He was a Nevada silver mine multimillionaire. Baldwin agreed to cover 90% of the costs for a share of the profits. Baird then bought the two richest claims from the Carters. He paid $30000 in December 1873.
Lucky Baldwin’s impact stretched beyond mining. He built a home in Arcadia. It is now the Los Angeles County Arboretum. Fantasy Island was later filmed there. Baldwin also started Baldwin Park. The Baldwin Hills community bears his name too. Baldwin spent his money on women and horses. He kept them at his private racetrack. It is now Santa Anita.
Baldwin’s company built a road. It ran from Cactus Flats to Big Bear. They hauled machinery for a 40-stamp mill. Bairdstown boomed. It rose at the base of Gold Mountain. By September 1874 it had shops. There was a blacksmith, butcher, and boarding houses. Saloons also opened.
Six months later it grew even more. It included general stores and livery stables. Restaurants and hotels appeared. There were more saloons and a bakery. A meat market and Chinese wash house opened. Plus a tailor, shoemaker, barber, and cemetery.
The wild west was alive here. Bairdstown had fist fights and shootings. Claim jumpers added to the chaos. This likely led to the founding of the cemetery.
Lucky Baldwin visited Big Bear on March 6, 1875. He fired up the new $250000 steam-powered stamp mill. The mill processed 100 tons of ore a day. The sound reverberated through Big Bear valley.
But the gold boom was brief. Poor ore quality ended Big Bear’s second gold rush after eight months. Operations ceased in 1875. Bairdstown became Gold Mountain City. Its population dwindled.
In 1893 Budd Doble tried his luck. He was Baldwin’s son-in-law. Doble invested $25000. The mine reopened. Doble rarely visited the town named for him.
Budd Doble was a horse trainer and silent film actor. He married Clara Baldwin in 1873. Clara was friends with Wyatt Earp and his wife Josephine.
A post office opened in Bairdstown. They wanted to rename it Baldwin. The request failed. Doble was accepted. Bairdstown became Doble forever. Budd and Clara later divorced.
Doble’s name became famous. Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote about him. Budd Doble had little to do with Doble.
Captain J. R. La Mar secured rights to the Baldwin Mine in 1899. He believed in the Cyanide Process. A new 40-stamp mill replaced the one that burned in 1878.
Doble’s population grew again. A school opened in 1900. The mine shut down in 1903. Doble became a ghost town again.
Today the site is covered with trash. Abandoned vehicles litter the landscape. Some maps call the road Doble Dump Road.
The 1875 Stamp Mill ruins remain. Most trees are second-generation growth. The stamp mill’s steam engine used 11000 lbs of wood per day.
Only the cemetery remains of Doble. It once sat across the road. The 2017 Holcomb wildfire burned nearby. Firefighters saved the Lucky Baldwin Mine.
The Big Bear Transfer Station now operates nearby. It is no longer a landfill. Trash goes to other desert facilities.
Companies tried to reopen the mines until the 1930s. Few residents remained. The town’s fate was linked to the mine. Some still stake claims today. They hope to strike it rich.
Doble exists only as a memory now. It is also known as Bairdstown and Gold Mountain City. A few crosses mark its legacy. They rest on the side of a mountain.