Miles Babb & His Search for Gold

Where this was printed (Burlington, Iowa), where it was found (Illinois), the other photograph found with it marked “W. I. Babb,”  Mt. Pleasant, Iowa … all of these things combined, led me to the story of  Miles Babb.

There is only one problem … the back mark and the rounded corners on the cdv appear to date it to the 1870’s and in 1870 this particular Miles Babb had been dead for 18 years.

A bit of an issue, I’ll admit, and at present the only way I can see to explain it, is if this were a copy of an earlier image.

Regardless of the photos, the story is fascinating.  The search for Miles Babb took me from the farm lands of Iowa, to the California gold rush, to the first woman licensed to practice law in the United States. Unfortunately for Miles Babb his search for gold did not end in the riches he was anticipating.  

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John Babb, father of Miles, was of German descent and was raised and educated in Pennsylvania.  He married Susanna Miller, Dec. 14, 1804 and was among one of the earliest families to settle in Iowa.

In 1837 he moved his wife and 8 children to Des Moines County and “there he entered land from the government and purchased additional property until his holdings embraced 1200 acres at Sperry Station.  In his business affairs he prospered, becoming one of the most successful and extensive farmers in his locality.”  - (Biographical Review of Henry County, Iowa / Chicago: Hobart Publishing Company, 1906)

Miles Babb, who was born in Wilkes-Barre, PA in 1818, acquired his education in the public schools of Pennsylvania.  His father was owner of a coal mine and there he became connected with mining interests.

In 1837 he accompanied his family on their move to Iowa and on Dec. 3, 1843 he married Mary Moyer.  Miles and Mary had 2 children; a son, Washington Irving Babb, born Oct. 2, 1844 and a daughter Belle Aurelia Babb, born May 23, 1846.

Miles continued farming until 1850 but on April 10, 1850 he left his wife and two young children behind on the family farm and joined the Flint River Company wagon train, bound for the California gold rush. The wagon train arrived at its destination August 7, 1850 and from there Miles and several of his companions made their way to the Mameluke Mine near Georgetown, El Dorado County where Miles took a position with the Bay State Mining Company as superintendent (or foreman) of the Mameluke Hill Mine.

Millions of dollars in gold were removed from this small hill just north of Georgetown, beginning with surface claims; moving on to tunnels into the gold bearing gravel streams beneath a lava cap.  Two partners Ben Keiser and J. Klipstein were the first to work the hill.  In 1851 the two men found gold.  News of their find traveled fast, bringing others and by 1852 a thriving settlement had formed.

That same year a miner’s meeting was called to establish claim boundaries. At the meeting it was suggested that a formal naming of the community would be appropriate. Charles Kelsey, a great reader suggested that it be named “Mameluke Hill” for the fourteenth century mercenary soldiers brought into Egypt to act as palace guards.

No dance halls or saloons were to be allowed in this new community as they were thought to be the type of places that would distract men from their work, but it was not all work and no play; private dances were held in the boarding houses and hotels.

For its size, Mameluke Hill was possibly the richest hill in California. One of the largest finds was by Klipsein and Keiser who removed 20 pounds of gold in less than three hours. William Pratt purchased a claim for $150, and during one afternoon’s work, removed 96 ounces of gold dust, plus another $2000.00 in nuggets from the gravel he pulled from his new tunnel.  The Mameluke Mine was described as the “most famous gold mine in the world” and an estimated $6.5 million in gold was taken from it.

Miles Babb’s dreams of gold ended in the Mameluke Mine on Dec. 23, 1852 in a cave-in.  According to family lore they were using concrete to shore up the tunnel without adequate timbering.

Babb’s death was reported in the Alta California newspaper, and though he is identified as C. S. Babb, the remainder of the article is considered correct.

--Alta California, Jan. 1, 1853
“At Mameluke Hill in El Dorado County of the 23d inst., two miners, named Wm. Robinson and C. S. Babb, were at work in the Bay State Tunnel, when a quantity of dirt above gave way, killing the latter instantly.  The former was injured severely but not dangerously.  Mr. Babb was from Des Moines county, Iowa, where he leaves a wife and two children.  He was about 35 years of age.”

Miles Babb is buried in the Georgetown Pioneer Cemetery in El Dorado County, CA.

Some fellow travelers that he’d traveled to California with returned to Iowa to give Mary Babb the news of her husband’s death.  She made arrangements for a grave marker surrounded by an iron railing to be installed in the Georgetown cemetery.  Many years later her son Washington & daughter Belle, would make the trip to Georgetown to visit the place where their father was buried.  They brought back branches from a Manzanita tree that shaded his grave and gave them to their mother.  It is said she kept the branches with her wedding dress.

Miles set out instructions in his 1849 will that gave Mary the power to apply the proceeds of his property to their two children and to their proper education and schooling and she did exactly that.

Mary and her children remained on the farm until 1860 when she sold it and moved to Mount Pleasant, Iowa to take advantage of the better schools available there.

Her children would remain close their entire lives; both entered Iowa Wesleyan College. The Civil War interrupted Washington’s education but he returned to school after the war ended and graduated in the same class as his sister.  Belle as valedictorian, Washington as salutatorian.

The following year Belle began studying for the bar with her brother at the Ambler Law Office and in 1869 she became the first woman admitted to the Iowa bar and the first woman licensed to practice law in the United States.