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1936 Chevy Coupe and the Willow Bush William "Senior" Mahoney "When Idarado first came over here they acquired the Pennsylvania Mine. My brother and I were both contract miners; we wanted to make a few extra dollars, so we got a lease on the Penn Dumps from Idarado. We took a bunch of equipment used for placer mining up there; had a water wheel, trammel screen, Wilfrey table, Denver jig; we needed something to run the duplex jig. My brother knew a guy that lived on top of Oak Street who owned a '36 Chevy Coupe; bought it from him for $15- no motor, no brakes. We went to pick it up on the corner of Galena and Oak. We had to get it to the transfer. Took our Jeep up there, tied a chain to it and I was driving the car, my brother was in Jeep behind the Chevy for resistance. Well, the chain fell loose and I still had to cross Columbia, Main Street, Pacific Street, San Jan and the railroad tracks. I'm not religious, but I was praying. This car picked up speed something fierce and there was nothing I could do. I call it the 1936 Chevy Coupe and Willow Bush story because there was this willow bush next to the San Miguel River, and if it hadn't been for the willow bush, I would have landed up square in the creek. If you ever go up to the Marshall Creek Trail above the Idarado Mill, you'll see this body of a 1936 Chevy Coupe; that's where we left it when our lease was up."
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