Old West Pioneer and Folk Figure. Charles Henry “Mountain Charlie” McKiernan was the first white settler in Santa Cruz Mountain section, he settled here in 1850. A pioneer, hunter, rancher, teamster, and a road builder. His motto was “Right Wrongs Nobody.” A native of Ireland, he made his fortune as a teamster near the Weaverville Mines. Business was prosperous until the local natives ran his mules off, forcing him to move to Santa Clara County, where he continued his teamster operations among his many other ventures and became the ‘Celestial’ Clampatriach of the Ancient and Honorable Order of E Clampus Vitus. In Mountain Charlie Gulch on May 8, 1854 Mountain Charlie and a friend named Taylor were attacked by a grissly 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-inch 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 his request. In the ensuing week, the plate was not healing and it was removed against his 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 survived another 38 years. Thus began the legend and folklore about the man with the “silver skull.” His gravesite was rededicated in 1982 making the site a "California Registered Point Of Historical Interest SCL-053."
Old West Pioneer and Folk Figure. Charles Henry “Mountain Charlie” McKiernan was the first white settler in Santa Cruz Mountain section, he settled here in 1850. A pioneer, hunter, rancher, teamster, and a road builder. His motto was “Right Wrongs Nobody.” A native of Ireland, he made his fortune as a teamster near the Weaverville Mines. Business was prosperous until the local natives ran his mules off, forcing him to move to Santa Clara County, where he continued his teamster operations among his many other ventures and became the ‘Celestial’ Clampatriach of the Ancient and Honorable Order of E Clampus Vitus. In Mountain Charlie Gulch on May 8, 1854 Mountain Charlie and a friend named Taylor were attacked by a grissly 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-inch 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 his request. In the ensuing week, the plate was not healing and it was removed against his 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 survived another 38 years. Thus began the legend and folklore about the man with the “silver skull.” His gravesite was rededicated in 1982 making the site a "California Registered Point Of Historical Interest SCL-053."
Bio by: Debbie
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