While out hunting uranium minerals in the desert two weeks ago I came across something very odd, two solid marble Chinese lion sculptures in the middle of nowhere, or Amboy, California on Rt. 66 to be exact.
I did a bit of digging and found out that these two lions represent yin and yang, one female lion, yin, and one male lion, yang. The lion I stopped at is the male lion. He holds a ball under his left paw meant to represent protection. The female further East holds a cub which means nurturance. Perhaps an ethnic Chinese can clarify this?
The sculptures are carved from solid blocks of marble about 5 feet tall. The sit on a base of cinder blocks just over 1 foot tall. The carving is quite nice and obviously done by a professional. But who?
At the lions' paws people have left coins of all kinds and just under his right claw someone left a rolled up piece of paper with a dollar bill. I was tempted to read the note, but my better judgement told me no.
No one knows who put these this far out in the desert. I can speculate though that they came from the owner of a marble quarry just up the road. But then why not put them in front of the quarry instead?
The lions had me thinking of Ric Moranis's character in Ghostbusters, Vinz Clortho who becomes possessed by ancient hell hound, the Keymaster!
Anyway, here are the Google Maps GPS coordinates. 34°33'33.1"N 115°40'21.2"W
34.559180, -115.672556
If you zoom out a bit to the North it seems there is a Shinto shrine called Bando. I think I saw it off in the distance. It looked like an abandoned delivery truck. Now I am going to have to make a trip back out there to investigate it! Luckily the New Method Uranium Mine gives me a reason to go back out again.
Thanks for reading!