The first project by Andy Birkhimer, completed in May of 1997, was to clean the trash from the old livery stable which for years had been used as a dump site. It was one of the first things you would see as you drove into Cerro Gordo and was, as Jody Stewart put it, "the first thing you see in town is an eyesore." The Eagle project was to clean out over 30 years of trash and dispose of it properly. After the trash was removed, some of the original rock walls were restored as much as possible.
The second project by Bryan McElvogue (my son),completed in November of 1997, was to remove the rock,dirt and debris from the south side of the "Chinaman's
Cookshack", the second oldest remaining building in Cerro Gordo built around
1865. Over the years,rock and dirt had slid down the slope and was threatening to consume the building. Some interesting artifacts found during this restoration included
a bullion mold in the shape of a bread loaf and 2 crucibles in perfect
condition. The molten ore was poured from the thick grafite crucibles into
bullion molds. Jody was very pleased with these finds since nothing like
them had been uncovered so far. All artifacts uncovered during these projects,
as well as any future Eagle projects, are placed in the museum at Cerro
Gordo.
The third project by Daemon Hruda was completed in May of 1998.
His project started where Bryan's left off going around to the backyard and enabling a rock wall to be built to protect the house from the mountain.
