Monte Cristo Gold Mine

The Monte Cristo Gold Mine is on the chaparral-coated slopes of Roundtop Mountain, around Mill Creek and Ootsark Canyon.

The placers of San Gabriel canyon were worked by priests and native Californians until 1848 when gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill by James W. Marshall.

Reports of work on gold quartz veins in the Mount Gleason area indicate that the Monte Cristo mine was probably discovered very early.

A water wheel 60 feet (18 m) in diameter is being erected for the purpose of drawing a twenty-stamp mill.According to some of the old timers, the paper was describing the beginnings of the Monte Cristo Gold Mine.

A company was organized and some $85,000 spent in building a rough wagon road from Acton up Aliso Canyon, over Mill Creek Summit, and down to the Monte Cristo Gold Mine.

Two of the above-mentioned mines were free milling and two produced sulfide ore. Five men were engaged on the property at the time, mainly on development work.

On a trip to Los Angeles and Pasadena, they plotted to kill or drive the Hudson's from Monte Cristo Gold Mine.

After a drinking spree, they arrived at the mouth of the Arroyo Seco where, finding themselves in need of more liquor to bolster their courage, they stopped.

[citation needed] A short while later, the Hudson's withdrew from the partnership, leaving Fuller sole possessor of the Monte Cristo Gold Mine.

Upon his empty-handed return two years later, he induced a man by the name of Hauser to supply $1,500 in order to start work once again at the Monte Cristo Gold Mine.

When the money was expended, Fuller turned on his partner and went to Los Angeles to swear that the improvement work required by mining law had not been completed.

Mining proved unprofitable, so he bought a string of mules and did hauling work for his mountain neighbors, Captain Loomis on Alder Creek and Delos Colby in Coldwater Canyon.

Fred W. Carlisle then "jumped" the claim, and remained in control of the Monte Cristo Gold Mine until he died in 1946.

Carlisle had been assayer in the Randsburg Mining District, where he had reportedly suffered financial losses, and came to Mill Creek seeking to revive his expiring fortunes.

During the mid-1930s, he leased the east and west veins to different operators, the only time the Monte Cristo Gold Mine was not worked as a single unit.

In the 1940s the Monte Cristo Gold Mine was sold to the family of the present owners, Bob and Susana Kerstein.

All of the mining claims have been registered and kept current with the Bureau of Land Management and the County Recorder's office for almost 100 years.

Deer, bear, mountain lion, bobcat, fox, frog and rattlesnake make their home in the surrounding area.

Although the Monte Cristo was once a gold producing mine, recent testing has shown it to be lacking in any retrievable riches.

The gate on the road is a clear boundary line and the public is asked to respect the privacy of the owners and caretakers.