Famous Golden Bear returning home to Placer County

One of nature's more intriguing oddities is coming home to Placer County for the first time in 65 years.Standing a whisker over 2 inches tall and weighing in at a grain or two more than an ounce, the California Golden Bear Nugget could have been just another pretty piece of precious metal found in the mountains above Foresthill.But, as the story goes, it came into the hands of a 14-year-old girl, who saw something special in the odd shape and familiar form of the crystallized gold sample. She found the bear-cub shaped specimen in 1871 in the mining settlement of Yankee Jim's, 2½ miles northwest of Foresthill and hung onto her treasure until her death in the late 1930s.The Golden Bear left Placer County in 1939 after it was pledged against a loan to finance a gold mine. The mine failed. The gold was never redeemed and it went on the market as an oddity. The California Federation of Mineralogical Societies scrounged enough money up to buy it. The Depression-era, bargain-basement price was $300. Big bucks for the time. And it's been in the rockhound group's possession ever since.Initially, it was kept on display at the Ferry Building in San Francisco along with 22,000 other rock and mineral specimens. When state officials pulled the plug in the early 1980s on paying rent there, most of the collection ended up at the California State Mining and Mineral Museum in Mariposa. But the golden bear moved farther south, where it has been on exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum, mounted on a piece of serpentine rock.A little-remembered footnote: The city of Auburn made a bid in 1983 to locate the state mineral museum in Auburn. By the time of the bid, though, Mariposa was already pencilled in to take the collection from San Francisco. Mariposa has a facsimile of the bear displayed at its museum.The Roseville Rock Roller group will be putting the Golden Bear on display starting next Friday at its Gold, Mineral, Fossil, Jewelry Show. The event takes place from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and June 11, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 12. Location is the Placer County Fairgrounds in Roseville.ON ROUGHLY THE SAME SUBJECTWhile the story of the Golden Bear's beginnings is sketchy at best, the same can't be said for the origins of Yankee Jim's. The colorful place name comes from an Australian desperado who used the location to keep stolen horses. That was before gold was discovered there. By 1852, it had its own post office but kept its distinctive moniker ... The Mineralogical Society considers the bear a priceless piece of Californiana but security won't be nearly as tight as it was when the Washington, D.C.'s Smithsonian Institution loaned Coloma an even more auspicious piece of gold seven years ago. Three armed guards flanked a squished gold nugget scarcely the size of a pea when it was brought from the Capitol to be shown at Gold Rush sesquicentennial festivities. The nugget was the one James Marshall first discovered on Jan. 24, 1848, and was sent to Washington, D.C. - along with a tea caddy filled with 230 ounces of gold to add veracity to claims of California riches ... Closer to Auburn, the Placer County Museum Gift Shop in the Old Town Courthouse has a collection of 52 pieces totaling 194 ounces of gold. The Placer County-owned collection was displayed at the opening of the Mariposa museum in 1989, sparking then-curator Joel Bartsch to exposit that it could "hold its own" with similar displays at the Smithsonian, Yale and Harvard Universities, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History. Using current gold values, the gold behind the bulletproof glass at the courthouse has a price tag of $825,000, based on weight alone.COMING ATTRACTIONSThe California State Fair has pretty well settled on a lineup for its concert series, with the second best rock trio from the state of Texas leading off. Los Lonely Boys will be performing on the fair's opening day Aug. 12. "Wipeout" originators The Surfaris will join the Nelsons and the Jan and Dean Show for a California Beach Party Aug. 13. 1990s chart-toppers Boyz II Men will be performing at the fair Aug. 16, followed by Hoobastank Aug. 17. Comedian Carrot Top is on Aug. 18. Alan Parsons of Alan Parsons Project fame will be bringing some 1970s sounds to the fair Aug. 24. Comedian Paul Rodriguez (Aug. 25); singer Macy Gray (Aug. 30); moody rockers The Wallflowers (Aug. 31); comedian Bill Engvall (Sept. 1); Bay Area rock and soul veteran Huey Lewis (Sept. 3); and 21-year-old Texas singer-songwriter Ryan Cabrera (Sept. 5) round out the entertainment that has signed on so far. Norb Bartosik, State Fair general manager and Newcastle resident, said as many as three other major acts could yet be secured to round out the concert series. Admission is free with the price of State Fair admission ... Also in the concert realm, Kirkwood ski resort will be trying something new with a couple of concerts in the mountains. Tuck & Patti, a husband and wife team that mixes soul and the spirit of Jimi Hendrix into some contemplative grooves, will perform July 23 as headliners at the Wildflower Festival. Coming Sept. 24 will be Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks ... And the best rock trio from Texas? It's gotta be ZZ Top.The Journal's Gus Thomson can be reached at gust@goldcountrymedia.com.