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In late December 2005, a friend of mine, Herman Henry, came to me with a discovery that he made in the American River. While prospecting for gold, he discovered several hundred porcelain Buddhas! The small, one-sided porcelain figures ranged in size from a nickel to bigger than a silver dollar. And not only did his pan pick up the Buddhas, but also other strange and mysterious artifacts as well. Some shapes looked like seashells, others looked like the pointy straw hats that the Chinese wore during the gold rush days. Other objects included just the top of Buddhas’ head, and small blobs of porcelain with green or blue splotches, and finally an odd piece that I call "the peach pit." All in all, Henry found about 500 of these “trinkets” and he wanted to know if they were worth anything? My immediate solution was to try to find one like them on the Internet. I've been “Googling” things since before there was a Google. If these objects were out there somewhere, I would certainly find them. But, to my surprise, the further I dug into this mystery, the farther away the answer receded. I was intrigued. Since Henry and I were both seasoned treasure hunters, we decided on an exchange. He agreed to trade me a bunch of quartz and gold I had lying around, plus $300 in cash for twenty-three of the porcelain artifacts. From these, I constructed a complete set of all eight unique pieces as well as a second set that displayed the beauty that was just the Buddha figures. Now I was obsessed and determined to discover the truth about these mysterious Buddhas of Placer County. Where did they come from? What culture made them? And how did they end up in the American River? I never sold or traded any. I never put ‘em up for sale on EBay. I just wanted to learn their secrets and I wasn't quiet in my quest for knowledge. I sent pictures to university professors and archaeologists. I showed them to everyone I met. The way I figured it, the more people who knew about them the better our chances were of finding out what they were. The experts, however, were divided in their opinions. Nor could an accurate carbon dating test be conducted because of the manner in which the figurines had been made. During my research, I made Internet contact with a historian of the Dutch Flat area who claimed that artifacts “exactly like these” had been discovered in the rubble piles of the Dutch Flat Chinese ruins. Then he flatly stated that the taking of this recent find from the river amounted to what was basically looting and theft, and that the Federal Bureau of Land Management would be contacted immediately. On cue, Federal Agents walked into my store the very next day. The twenty-three artifacts that I had collected were summarily seized. The following day, I was contacted by officers of the State of California’s Parks and Recreation service who said they were going to, in turn, take them away from the feds and conduct their own investigation. The state agent pretty much informed me that if indeed they turned out to be “historic,” I’d probably never see them again. But if they were worthless… they’d be sure to get them back to me. Next, without any hesitation, State and Federal Agents went after the remainder of the Buddha head collection, but this time a forewarned and defiant Henry had other plans. Henry buried his Buddhas in the woods, went into hiding, was caught, and eventually landed himself in jail. Before one could say: “Buddha Head Mystery,” this small town story was fast becoming big city news, and tales and rumors were spreading like wildfire. Now, one could do a Google search for “Colfax Buddha” and get no less than twenty or thirty hits related to the story. There were newspaper accounts, television video clips, and even alien abduction websites commenting on the story. Eventually, a front-page “Auburn Journal” newspaper story reached the faculty members at Sierra College in Roseville, California. There, in the school quad, a ceramics and art professor named Casey O’Connor overheard some of these conversations about the mystery -- and made a frantic telephone call to the Placer County Sheriffs’ office. In that phone call, Casey confessed that he had the answer. HE was responsible for both the careful creation of the Buddha heads and their subsequent arrival in the waters of the American River. After a deputy in the sheriff’s office tipped me off about the call, I contacted the college and eventually got through to Casey O’Connor. He described all of the artifacts in great detail. He described the eddy pools where the artifacts were discovered and he went on to tell me about several other locations all over the state of California where he has distributed the same Buddha heads. “I even leave one on the table with the tip when I go out to dinner!” he said. And, finally, he admitted that all of the molds he used were still in his garage. As suddenly as it started, the mystery was solved. While I thought I would have been very upset if I found out that someone perpetrated this hoax, O’Connor went on to explain that his only intention was to create a gift of art to the world. “I wanted to imagine that in a year or ten years or a hundred years, some little girl walking along the banks of the river would look down to discover a beautiful little treasure that she could keep forever…” With that, I was suddenly OK with all that I’d gone through. Casey left us his art as a beautiful, selfless and unsigned contribution to anyone… for everyone. It wasn’t Casey O’Connor who turned the Buddha heads into a priceless commodity to be coveted, hoarded, hidden and fought over. It was us… we did this. I have been truly enlightened. Now that’s it’s all over, a few people have asked me: “Would I do anything differently if I had it to do all over again?” Well, I can honestly say “no.” I’d be right back where I am now. -Jim Bowers This is one man’s story, but it’s not the only story to be told.
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