Saturday, April 01, 2023

A Failed Ride to the American Girl Mine and another visit to the Center of the World

The objective when I started the ride on my TW200, Yagi, was to ride to the American Girl Mine to see what was there.  The mine was a source of gold back in the day.

According to Google maps it was 1.8 mi from my campsite so what the hell, why not?

What I found was that the road would turn very sketchy about halfway there, with large loose rocks in ruts, steep slopes up and down and just generally uncomfortable conditions.

I chickened out at .6 miles from the mine when the road went down a steep steep steep incline filled with rocks and loose gravel!  

I was so unnerved by this section that I just quickly turned around and started making my way back, even without taking a picture of the steep sloping trail!

Here's some views on the way back:



I also stopped to take pictures of a couple of open pit mines, I think operated currently by AJ Mix.  At least, that's what the logo said on the equipment within the fenced area.





Large size pano of the open pit mine/quarry

Later that morning, I took Scarlett, my Ural Patrol, to revisit the Museum of History in Granite.  It's also the "official" Center of the World.  In short, as I understand it, they were the first to claim it and have the claim recognized.

I'd been there before back in March of 2020: LINK

A review here: LINK

This time, I was going for more artsy/symmetry views of the complex.  


Screen shot from Google Maps


The marker for the Center of the World resides inside



A small church on the hill can be seen for miles

Inside the church

Looking back towards the
pyramid from inside the church



Another view of the marker


As during the previous visit, some of the panels that caught my eye:






I returned to camp by 1:00 PM and would relax the rest of the afternoon away.

6 comments:

CCjon said...

Was there a fee to visit the center of the world? Have passed that place numerous times, always assumed it must be a religious order of some type. Odd that France would recognize it...

redlegsrides said...

CCjon,$10 to get in. The creator/Mayor of Felicity/U.S. Marine LTC is of French descent. More info here: https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2036

Oz said...

Never heard of the Official Center of the World. That is very interesting.

redlegsrides said...

I'm thinking Mr Istel was a very persuasive man, Oz. There's a short video as part of the venue, and it shows appearances by the French ambassador, senior officers are both the US Marine corps and the French Foreign Legion at various dedication ceremonies. For example there's a whole role dedicated to the Korean war and the vets that died have their names there. There's another row just for the French foreign legion. But anyways, I think he was smart enough to claim the title of center of the world, since no one else had claimed it and got an official entity to agree.

SonjaM said...

I' confused, I always thought the center of the world was the Earth's core in geological terms or as per calculation of Andrew J. Woods, a scientist from San Diego located in Turkey, near the district of Çorum (in geological terms). What aspects would this the official center of the world? I have questions...

redlegsrides said...

SonjaM, here's how it came about: https://www.historyingranite.org/things-to-see/center-of-the-world/