|
Las Arrastras de Arriola was never a town, but more of a ranch. Located 4 miles north of (today's) Coco's Corner it was established by Juan Grosso in the mid-1950s. Juan and his brother (Arturo of Laguna Chapala) mined the region for gold and served food, fuel, and water to travelers. An Arrastra is a hand or animal powered grinding stone mill used to extract gold from ore. The site has a well of good water in the gully just below where the ranch home was. It has been abandoned for the past dozen or more years. The new highway construction crews now have a camp set up on the site and the well has been supplying the road building effort. It is very likely the site will vanish with the coming of pavement. Too bad. Look for an article on Las Arrastras in the September 2016 issue of Baja Bound Newsletter. |
