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Descendant of early miners to walk in fund-raiser By MELISSA MARTIN JACKSONVILLE -- Simmone Petard Munneke will walk the hillside where her parents and grandparents mined and grew grapes during the Jacksonville Woodlands Association's annual fund raiser on Earth Day. The Hike-A-Thon begins at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at the upper Britt Parking Lot on West Fir Street. There is free parking in the C and D street lots. The event features a quarter-mile hike to the Rich Gulch Diggings to dedicate the new Historic Petard Ditch Trail, named after the Auguste Petard family, who made their living there for about 70 years, said Larry Smith, president of Jacksonville Woodlands Association. "I can't wait to see what the trail looks like," said Petard Munneke, who lives in Clear Lake Oaks, Calif. Her grandparents came from France in search of gold when they discovered Jacksonville and became U.S. citizens in 1899. They bought land, planted vineyards and mined the property. "I went to Jacksonville School speaking French," Petard Munneke said. "My father knew English but my mother couldn't speak it. She taught herself to read in English, though." The Petards sold their grapes to Levy & Spiegl Co. in Portland and to local markets such as the Groceteria in downtown Medford. "I can remember my father tending the vineyards, picking the grapes and my mother going through them to look for spots and pick out the bad grapes," Petard Munneke said. Petard Munneke and her brother, Auguste Petard III, who lives in Phoenix, will both attend the fund raiser Saturday. Following the hike and dedication, a lunch will be served at Doc Griffin Park. The cost is a $20 registration fee or $30 in pledges. The money will go toward a final $24,000 payment for the Rich Gulch property, Smith said. So far, contributions from individuals, the city of Jacksonville, the state, the Carpenter Foundation and Sea World have raised $72,000 to purchase 10 of the 24 acres that the National Park Service last month named to the National Register of Historic Places. Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA