“In the days of old, in the days of gold, in the days of ‘49”
California State Highway 49, the “Mother Lode Highway,” can truly take you back to the days of ’49. The road connects gold rush mining camps, ghost towns and historic sites from Oakhurst in the south, to Sierra City in the north. It’s three hundred miles of beautiful country along the foothills of the Sierra Mountains. Twisting mountain roads, sheer granite walls, precipitous drops to swiftly moving rivers. Old buildings, gold mines, forgotten cemeteries. Let’s go see what we can find.
This one looks like it might be a scene from Malakoff Diggins, or somewhere around Dutch Flat. I'm wondering if all those monitors were turned on at the same time for the photographer who took this picture. My guess would be yes.
Read MoreGold nuggets the shape and size of melon seeds reportedly account for the naming of Melones, a rich placer mining camp established by Mexican miners in early 1848. The camp was originally founded and located in Indian Gulch, roughly one-half mile below the town of Carson Hill, above Carson Creek.
Read MoreMarshall and his men set out for the millsite that September. Their first task was to build a double cabin to house the millworkers and the Wimmers; Peter, Jennie (the camp cook), and their children. Another cabin was then built for Marshall. Some forty local Indians were hired to excavate the millrace and to build the diversion dam. The more skilled men set to felling trees and whipsawing them into timbers for the mill.
Read MoreJackass Hill received its name from the numerous jackasses whose pack trains stopped here overnight on their way to and from various points in the mines. As many as two hundred of the beasts are said to have been picketed here at the same time, making their presence known by their incessant braying, which could be heard for miles in all directions.
Read MoreThe Marshall Monument stands on a hill overlooking the Gold Rush town of Coloma, the site where James Marshall discovered gold back in 1848. This Cabinet Card photograph was produced by George D. Stewart, Photographer, of Sacramento.
Read MoreIt wasn’t long until Lotta began traveling to the nearby mining camps, performing ballads and dancing for the miners. They would throw pouches of gold dust and gold nuggets onto the stage in their appreciation, which Lotta’s mother quickly gathered up. She was quite the favorite in the northern mines.
Read MoreTired and discouraged, the Hildreth party decided to call it quits after a dismal month of prospecting in Calaveras County. The trail back to Woods Crossing led to Pine Log, where they crossed the Stanislaus River over a fallen tree, the only “bridge” for miles in either direction. Passing near a large Indian rancheria, the trail then snaked down a gulch to the foot of a small hill where they camped for the night, spreading their blankets beneath a large oak tree. It rained during the night, obliging the men to remain the next morning in order to dry out their clothes and blankets.
Read MoreNamed for the fine springs which gush forth from between two limestone boulders as the source of Mormon Creek, Springfield was reportedly the only mining camp in the Mother Lode where a church was built before the gambling houses. Yet even with this auspicious beginning, the town was destined to disappear, leaving only the wild grass and the plentiful, oddly misshapen limestone boulders as its mining legacy.
Read MoreA man by the name of Mandeville Shaw planted an orchard here on the eastern slope of Table Mountain in November of 1849. Gold was discovered in the area at about the same time and by early 1850 a sizable camp had been established, which was christened Shaws Flat in honor of the popular merchant and fruit grower.
Read MoreFirst settled in the summer of 1848 by a party of miners from Sonora, Mexico, the place was logically named Sonorian Camp, later shortened to Sonora. The area was one of rich placers; contemporary reports tell of three Frenchmen who took out three and a half pounds of gold in less than three hours work. At a spot known as Holdens Gardens, a party of eight men unearthed the famous Holden Chispa, a gold nugget weighing over twenty-eight pounds. The owners turned down an offer of $4,500 at the time of the discovery. When all the mining was panned and done, the placers had produced over $11 million in gold.
Read MoreThe first discovery of gold in Tuolumne County occurred in August of 1848 at Woods Crossing, one mile southwest of Jamestown. A prospector named Wood (identified by De Ferrari as Benjamin Wood) is given credit for discovering the rich fields that for a time, with only a knife and pick as tools, reportedly yielded between $200 and $300 a day in gold to Wood and his companions. (Some accounts credit a Reverend James Woods as the discoverer of Woods Crossing, but records show that he did not arrive in California until 1850.) Many of Wood’s companions left the area early on to seek their fortunes elsewhere. Wood was no different, he continued on his way, ever prospecting, and in April of 1849 was murdered by marauding Indians on the Middle Fork of the American River.
Read MoreOn November 9 of 1849, William Knight was killed in the streets of the town he founded, gunned down by a man whose name is now lost to history. James G. Fair was in town the day it happened. He called it, “one of the most cold-blooded murders” he had ever witnessed. Knight was buried where he fell, in front of the Masonic Hall, on a low hill overlooking the plaza.
Read MoreThe first mining camp in this area was known as Camp Salvado, named for a group of Salvadorians working the placers. It was located on a flat at the top of Shawmut Grade, less than one mile east of present Chinese Camp. In 1849, some thirty-five Cantonese miners arrived at Camp Salvado and began prospecting. Where they came from is somewhat of a mystery; some say that a ship’s captain left his vessel in San Francisco Bay, bringing his entire crew with him to the mines; another version claims they were employed to search for gold by a group of English speculators. No matter where they came from, what they found when they arrived was gold. The claims were rich.
Read MoreNamed for the Montezuma Tent, a trading post belonging to Solomon Miller and Peter K. Aurand, the camp’s early history begins with violence. A group of Mexican miners, enraged by the recently enacted Foreign Miners Tax and thirsting for blood, attacked the Tent in June of 1850. The proprietors fought the good fight but were outnumbered by the ambushers. Aurand was killed during the encounter, Miller escaped, and the Mexicans were never caught.
Read MoreJames W. Kerrick arrived here in 1853, coming over the Emigrant Trail with nine covered wagons. He built and operated the Crimea House, a combination restaurant, saloon, boarding house, and stable. It was an important stop for freighters and travelers from the San Joaquin and Bay regions who were heading into the Southern Mines. The buildings were destroyed by fire on October 8 of 1949.
Read MoreAlthough originally known as Poverty Hill, the name must have come from a miner with a sense of humor, as the area was extremely rich, eventually producing over $15 million in gold. Founded as a placer camp in the early 1850’s, Stent later turned into a prosperous hardrock mining center, competing with its twin camp to the north which was known variously as Quartz, Quartzburg, or Quartz Mountain.
Read MoreDescribed by one historian as “a vicious and abandoned character, low, brutal, and cruel, intrinsically and at heart a thief and a cut-throat,” Joaquin Murieta may have been all those things. But who was Joaquin Murieta, the man? And who was Joaquin Murieta, the legend?
Read MoreWhile prospecting the gulches between Deer and Moccasin creeks in 1849, James D. Savage and his party camped one night on a wide flat beneath a large oak tree. The next morning’s panning uncovered rich placers and the prospectors decided to stay. Savage employed a large number of friendly Indians (he reportedly had several Indian wives) to work the streams and surrounding gullies, paying them in merchandise from his trading post.
Read MoreWas the man hanged from a tree or merely choked to death by a strong miner? Stories conflict. Was he executed for stealing $200 in gold dust, or someone’s horse; for jumping a claim, or killing a fellow miner? Stories conflict. Originally known as “First” Garrote (to avoid confusion with nearby Second Garrote), the name appeared in contemporary newspapers as: Garote, Garotte, Gerote, and Garrotte. Spellings conflict. About the only thing that didn't conflict was the meaning of Garrote; which is Spanish for execution by strangulation.
Read MoreGeorge and Margaret Coulter came west from Pennsylvania in a covered wagon to make their future. Traveling along the Overland Trail, with a stop in Santa Fe for the birth of their son, the Coulters arrived in Stockton in 1849. After a short stay with Charles M. Weber, the founder of that town, the small family left for a place of rich placers known as Solomons Gulch, located on the Merced River. There they pitched a canvas tent and opened a trading post, providing the miners with supplies and provisions.
Read MoreJoshua Tree National Park, the California Gold Country, forgotten places in the Mojave Desert. These are a few of my favorite things.
