Bernie McGrath, the unofficial “mayor” of the East Fork of the San Gabriel River who spent about 30 years dredging for gold and teaching others the ways of prospecting, has died. He was 84.

Described as goodhearted, welcoming man who loved nature and was like a father to some, McGrath lived in his camper at Camp Williams above Azusa. He was a beloved character of the gold-digging community and a volunteer for the mobile home park and campground’s informal fire department.

“It’s like his name is synonymous with gold up here,” one of McGrath’s friends, Ed Wallace, told the Tribune in 2017. “Azusa gold and Bernie — those two things go together.”

McGrath died Jan. 14 after what his son believed was a heart attack. He spent the last few years of his life living on an auto shop property on Arrow Highway.

“His personality was just super friendly and affable. He was really happy to meet everybody,” said Glenn Johnson, pastor at the Community of Christ church in Covina. “He called himself the mayor and others called him the mayor as well.”

McGrath came to Southern California from Massachusetts in the late 1950s after serving in the Korean War, according to his eldest son Gary McGrath. He always loved the outdoors and spent much of his life fishing, trapping and hunting.

“When I was a little boy, he took me to not every lake in Southern California but quite a few,” said Gary McGrath, 61, of Hawthorne.

Gary McGrath said after his parents divorced, when he was 16 or 17, his dad spent some time with family in Florida and Massachusetts. Bernie McGrath struggled with alcoholism for years. Around the same time he moved into his mountain trailer in the forest, he got sober.

“In (Alcoholics Anonymous) they always call people a miracle,” Gary McGrath said. “He was lucky or God was watching him, but he lived a hard life.”

He recalled that oftentimes when he hiked up to the East Fork to visit his father, he’d find him in the river dredging for gold.

Follows Camp, Angeles Forest, October 2, 2002. L-R: Camp volunteer firefighters Stephen Winslow, 52, and Bernie McGrath talk about the recent Williams fire. (SGVN staff photo by Mike Mullen)

Bernie McGrath pictured in 2007 with dredge equipment in the East Fork River. McGrath was one of the few remaining gold miners in the San Gabriel Mountains. He used to volunteer as “the eyes of the mountain”, for the East Fork volunteer fire department. (SGVN/Photo by Walt Mancini/SVCity)

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Bernie McGrath pictured in 2007 with dredge equipment in the East Fork River. McGrath was one of the few remaining gold miners in the San Gabriel Mountains. He used to volunteer as “the eyes of the mountain”, for the East Fork volunteer fire department. (SGVN/Photo by Walt Mancini/SVCity)

Bernie McGrath was pictured in 2007 with a gold ring made from gold he mined. McGrath was one of the few remaining gold miners in the San Gabriel Mountains. McGrath used to volunteer as’ “the eyes of the mountain”, for the East Fork volunteer fire department. (SGVN/Photo by Walt Mancini/SVCity)



Though Gary McGrath said he personally never caught the “gold fever,” others learned how to prospect from his dad.

Regina Harper said when she moved up to the mountain community 20 years ago, Bernie McGrath taught her how to pan and got her a brand new sluice to trap gold. Harper, 50, who moved to Arizona last year, described “the mayor” as a generous and kind soul.

“When I first started prospecting, he showed me how to do it with a pan, and he went inside his camper and pulled out a heart-shaped nugget and put it in my pan,” she said. “I still have it to this day.”

He is survived by four adult children, several grandchildren and a niece.