Interesting Articfact

[Beardilocks]

For those not on social media:

An interesting find in "North Pass" (I'm unsure where exactly they mean).  Also sparks some discussion on what you should leave behind or properly document and collect.  It's a bit odd (possibly hypocritical) of NPS to post these as they have while simultaneously saying that you should never collect ANYTHING.  Obviously we must understand the importance of CONTEXT in archeological finds.  But often the alternative is that the item will be lost forever in the next flood or left to rot (or be found and taken to be sold by the unscrupulous). 

       

[DAW89446]

I would assume that North Pass is the one on the Saline Valley road coming in from Big Pine; the common name for the indistinct point one crosses over that divides the drainages of Eureka Valley and Saline Valley. It is barely inside the park boundary.

Cool binoculars! I wonder if it might have been left behind by one of the first of several government survey parties that left the Owens Valley for points eastward, only to get lost in that vicinity and return? Those occurred starting in the 1850s.

It has been a long time practice of mine when finding something when exploring is to liberally photograph the item then record the coordinates (or important landmarks in my pre-GPS days) and report them to the Eastern California Museum, whom I had a working relationship with in the 1980s through mid 2000s. Or one can do the same with the BLM, Park Service and Forest Service.

[Beardilocks]

Ah of course! Lol. I was thinking it was in the main valley. NPS social media generally tends to pretend Saline Valley doesn't exist.

It's great that you have/had a working relationship with someone. I have had no luck with reporting anything to DVNPS in general.

I thought it an odd item to find that far out (anywhere in the North of the park is pretty wild). I think a survey team is definitely a good bet. I bet they were sorely missed! Couldn't have been cheap back then.