Nemo Canyon and the Christmas Gift Mine

The tenth of April in 1908 saw Judge Frank G. Thisse of Skidoo wandering through Nemo Canyon on his way to Harrisburg from Wildrose. In the bottom of this wide valley he encountered silver 1500 feet north of the famed twenty-three mile Skidoo water pipeline. Soon enough, a rustic camp was set up to secure the claim. Silver ore assaying up to $200 per ton (in 1908 dollars) set off a small rush to the area, with neighboring hillsides being marked with claims and developed. Thisse's first claim became titled as the Nemo Mine, and it's eleven claims contained ore assaying up to $3,300 per ton, one of the best silver mines on the country at the time. 


In time, the site became under the scope of investors and buyers. A price of $70,000 was not overpriced for this property considering there were more ore bodies yet to be discovered far underground and that workings already existed to develop existing discoveries. There was a significant drop in activity 1909 to 1922, but one man had been pulling $10,000 ore out of the ground for some time in one of the claims near Nemo. In the mid twenties, the claim was sold and resold several times. It was relocated and briefly reworked as the Christmas Gift Mine. At this time the claim faded away from the headlines of mining news into the obscurity of so many uneconomic mines. The hopeful ore body they searched for never existed, and the Nemo Canyon rush fizzled into the dust of the desert. 

Now the cabin that was built is fallen into ruins, and the claims that adorn the hillsides are silent relics of what once was. The Christmas Gift Mine now is a series of open stopes and unstable shafts, despite its glorious and brief past. 

This is the remaining cabin at the Christmas Gift site, not much else remains at the site. The outhouse still stands nearby, awaiting use. Nearby also lies a safe and refrigerator.

This is a foundation for the famed water pipeline of Skidoo. The line ran twenty-three miles from Telescope Peak to deliver water for Skidoo and its mill.

From Park to Park: Looking at the High Sierras from the Grey Eagle Claim.

The High Sierras are located in Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park.

These are the mine rails running out of the Grey Eagle Claim. It's always fun to find rail still intact.

The tunnel ran a short ways until intersecting this shaft in a large room. It continued a short ways past this room until reaching a dead end. The shaft below is of unknown depth.