Mountain Charlie Bear Fight
Near here in Mountain Charlie Gulch on May 8, 1854, Charles Henry “Mountain Charlie” McKiernan and a friend named Taylor were attacked by a Grizzly Bear. The bear sprang from a thicket, both men fired; but the bear grabbed Mountain Charlie, biting him on the arms and face. A piece of skull about 4 inches square was bitten from over Mountain Charlie’s left eye and nose by the bear.
Dr. T.J. Ingersoll of San Jose prepared a plate of silver and applied it to the area of the missing skull at McKiernan's request. In the ensuing week, the plate was not healing and it was removed against Mountain Charlie’s protests. About a year later an operation to remove an abscess under the brain relieved his intolerable pain. Mountain Charlie was much disfigured from his wounds, but he survived another 38 years. Thus began the legend and folklore about the man with the “silver skull."
Marker is on Pierce Road.
Courtesy hmdb.org
