After 147 years, grave of unlucky miner near Mt. Baldy Village holds many questions
There’s a grave of a man in San Antonio Canyon above Upland shrouded with as much mystery today as when he died about 147 years ago. The gravestone — not erected until he had been dead about 75 years — says he was Jacob Shinner, born in 1827 and died in 1877. But there’s no certainty that it’s his real name or birthdate.
The earliest newspaper articles about his death — from 1927 — say his name could have been spelled as Shiner or Schneider or Skinner, his first name might have been Joseph, and he may have been from upstate New York. Or maybe something different.
The story of the grave, just off Mt. Baldy Road south of Mt. Baldy Village, has for years attracted all sorts of rumors and exaggerations. The marker and tombstone there today date from 1952 when his remains were moved from its original burial spot due to road construction.
Shinner (let’s call him that, for the sake of consistency) was a gold miner in the canyon about 1877 when he failed to return to his camp one day, reported the Pomona Bulletin, Jan. 30, 1927.
It wasn’t until the next day he was discovered barely alive in the streambed, pinned down by a boulder from a rockslide and very weak from straining for hours to keep his head above water. A former miner in that area, E.E. Marshall of Pomona, told the Bulletin that it took several men to free him but he died while being taken out of the canyon on muleback. Marshall told the newspapers that he thought his death might have actually been in 1879.
Another miner W.S. Michael was one of the men who assembled a makeshift coffin from pieces of wood in their camp and helped bury him. He only recalled that the dead man was about 35 or 40 and might have been from Utica, New York, reported the Bulletin on Feb. 6, 1927.
The grave was left unmarked until 1896 when J.E. Adamson, working at the power station in the canyon, met Pete Gordon, a friend of Shinner’s. Adamson, a future Pomona councilman, told the Bulletin that he felt the grave needed a marker so he made a wooden cross. On it, he painted details about Shinner as told to him by Gordon.
The grave was undisturbed for 56 years before his remains were moved to the current location by a work crew of county prisoners building the current road above the canyon floor.
Fred Byers, county engineer in charge of the roadwork, told the Los Angeles Times on May
26, 1952, that his crews had discovered the “pile of rocks, the grave of Jacob Shinner.” The grave was moved about 50 feet above the highway after Mt. Baldy Village residents expressed concern about how the new route would affect it.
The prisoners — making 50 cents a day — also built a footpath up to the new gravesite and installed the cement tombstone on which biographical details were added, perhaps from the weatherworn cross put up by Adamson years earlier.
Across the new highway, Byers had his crew construct a cement picnic table and benches “for the tourists who want to look at the grave,” according to a Times article, March 5, 1954. That table is still there though vandalized and is mostly unusable.
Shinner’s current resting place has been the target of vandals, with the site sometimes littered with trash and beer cans. “RIP” was painted on the headstone several years ago but that has since been covered.
The internet has been a source of often misleading stories about Shinner. One story claims he had both of his hands blown off by blasting caps and wore a hook on one of them before he died, while another says he has been seen haunting Mt. Baldy Road.
(When my kids were at Upland High, they heard from a student who heard from another student who was told by someone who saw the ghost of Shinner at the grave one night. There was no word as to if or how much alcohol had been consumed that night. But if you can’t believe a third-hand ghost encounter from a high school student, what can you believe?)
Today there’s no sign directing visitors to the Shinner grave, and the Forest Service has posted a noparking sign at the closest turnout along the road, probably hoping to keep prospective vandals away from the short trail up to the grave. Forest Service personnel occasionally look in on the site to deal with any needed maintenance of the grave.
Mansion tour
The monthly tour of the Phillips Mansion and Currier House in Pomona will be held Sunday, March 24, by the Historical Society of the Pomona Valley.
The afternoon tours of the 1875 mansion are from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. at 2640 Pomona Blvd. Tickets must be purchased in advance at www.pomonahistorical.org.
Work Party
The Historical Society of Pomona Valley is also planning a cleanup of the historic Spadra Cemetery, 2850 Pomona Blvd., Pomona, from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, March 30.
The rains of the last year have led to many weeds growing that need to be removed. Volunteers are asked to bring wireless weedwhackers, leaf blowers, rakes or hedge trimmers. Call the society at 909-623-4108, if you’re able to help.