We liked to think of it as the fabled "Blue Rock Mine." "Fabled" because finding it was one of the long-term goals my brother Will and I had on our walks through the Larkspur hills, and "Blue Rock" because at that time we thought the stuff came from an actual mine. Now, of course, we know that the characteristic blue stone seen all over Larkspur in fences, retaining walls and, of course, the Blue Rock Hotel, actually came from various quarries in the area.

In reality, this is apparently the old unsuccessful gold mine in the saddle of Little King Mountain described in the Larkspur Heritage Committee's book "Larkspur Past and Present." That's where we finally found it, anyway, on a spring day in 1956. In 2003, my sister Rosemary and I tried to locate it again, but the area was clogged with trees, brush and poison oak.

Just below here, that same day, Will and I took those pictures seen earlier in this section of each other sitting on a rock overlooking Larkspur and the slough.

Ektachrome slide by Will Penna