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There are monuments to virtually everything: hotdogs, corn, top hats, frogs legs. So, I suppose no one should be the least bit surprised to know that there is a monument especially for a liar. Further, finding an official monument to a liar turns out to be a good enough reason to drive across southern California’s mountains and deserts for “outsiders”, so it might well be worth us locals doing a look/see.

This monument celebrates a Gold Rush era con artist named Thomas Long Smith, AKA “Peg Leg Smith.” Peg Leg Smith, so the story goes, was a prospector, wanderer, and teller of tall tales, who lived from 1801 to 1866. Born in Kentucky, Smith made his way West and apparently never returned. Caught up in the fervor of the California Gold Rush and desparate to make good on his dream, it seems that Smith fabricated and continualy embellished a great tale about finding pure gold nuggets right here in Borrego. In fact, Peg Leg would tell anyone he could corner about the “fabulous wealth” he had discovered and then hiddened in the desert hills. The problem was that Peg Leg had hidden his find so effectively that he could not remember where his mine was…creating just a bit of a problem for Peg Leg and any of his believers.

Peg Leg died, so the story goes, without ever relocating his Lost Mine. Of course, there is considerable dispute as to whether or not the mine actually ever existed, just as there is ambiguity as to whether Peg Leg really existed and whether or not he actually had a peg leg. But, when there is a monument, it is usually located somewhere relevant to the entity for which the monument has been erected. so, if the mine ever existed, it would make sense that it was located somewhere near the pile of rocks erected in Peg Leg’s honor. The rock pile was created in the late 1940s by “Desert Steve,” who developed an appreciation for the Great Deceiver and decided to “mark his spot.” Of course, the accuracy of that marking is as much in question as the other details of this story!

But, in reality, who cares! Who cares if Peg Leg Smith was real or imagined. Who cares if there was or was not a mine. What matters is the fun of telling the story. And that has led to the real fun of this adventure. Going to the monument is only part of the journey. The rest of the journey is falling in love with the story—whether it is the truth or a lie—and then perpetuating it! And one of the best ways to do that is to join the annual Liars Contest held at the monument every April Fool’s Day. On that day, contestants compete with 5-minute long fabrications to out lie one another in honor of their patron saint, Peg Leg. Who knows, maybe while you are out there lieing your hearts out you will see something glitter!

(Oh, yeah. I guess we can tell you where the monument can be found without leading you directly to the gold: Henderson Canyon Rd, 1,000 ft N of Pegleg Rd, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park).