The Mokelumne River winds its way 95 miles through Northern California, from the central area of Sierra Nevada and all the way to the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. The river watershed drains roughly 2,143 square miles across multiple counties, namely Alpine, Amado, Calaveras, San Joaquin and Sacramento in California. Divided into the Upper and Lower […]
The California Gold Rush that began in 1848 was largely centered in the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range which was by far the top producer of gold in the state. While the Sierra Nevada held the promise of California’s gold rush period, and attracted thousands of prospectors into the area, the coastal mountains, though rugged and […]
Catalina Island, a rocky land mass off the coast of Southern California, was home to a short-lived gold rush in the 1860s, long after the famous California Gold Rush. However, its mining history precedes this rush by thousands of years. Early history Inhabited by the Pimugnans (a native California tribe) as early as […]
It wasn’t long after the start of the California Gold Rush that Shasta County (where Swasey Recreation Area is located) made it to the California Gold map. Pierson B. Reading, an early settler who owned the 26,632-acre Rancho Buena Ventura along the Sacramento River, made that first discovery on Clear Creek, west of present-day Redding, […]
Few people realize that there is gold throughout the Angeles National Forest. In fact, many of the creeks and rivers are gold-bearing, and some fairly significant mining has taken place here in the past century. Of course, most of this mining has been mostly forgotten, and easily overshadowed by the famous Gold Rush in the […]
1775-1780 Gold is discovered in the Potholes mining district, Imperial County, CA. Additional gold deposits are discovered in the Cargo Muchacho and Picacho mining districts. 1828-1842 Additional gold sources are found in Southern California in San Diego and Los Angeles County. 1848 First gold nugget is found at Sutter’s […]
63 miles from Sacramento lies a former mining town of Angels Camp. The early California Gold Rush put Angels Camp on the map as one of the central gold mining districts in the state of California. The area has seen several different rushes, from early placer mining to underground lode mining, followed by a renewed […]
In southwestern Butte County was one of California’s many extensive bucket-line dredging operations. The first dredges were constructed in 1898. In 1908, 35 dredges were operating along the Feather River just southwest of Oroville. Dredging continued off-and-on up until 1952. The first mining in this region occurred as early as 1849, almost immediately following the […]
The California gold rush triggered one of the largest human migrations in the western hemisphere. People from the nook and corner of the country and the world moved towards the western states in the US in search of gold. The search for gold that began in the mid-19th century continued until the 1950s. Many fortune-seekers […]
The Alleghany mining district has come to be known as one of the richest mining regions in California. The rich gold/quartz deposits were as extensive as anywhere in the world. There are active mines in the region even today. The gold was found here within the first few years after the gold rush. Alleghany is […]