PLACER COUNTY, CALIFORNIA

LOCATION

COUNTY:Placer County

STATE:California

Although best known for its great placer mines, Placer County also produced substantial amounts of lode gold, with a total of production of over 2 million ounces from 1880-1959. The gold produced from 1849-1880 was not recorded, but probably was very considerable. One and half mile west of Colfax you will find the, the Rising Sun Mine, which was a leading gold mine in the county and had a total production of 200,000 ounces between 1866 and 1932, rich pockets in quartz stringers produced lode gold. East of Colfax by 5 miles you will find the Iowa Hill district, it consisted thick Tertiary gravel deposits worked hydraulically and by drifting. The many area placer operations produced 800,000 ounces of placer gold. The Morning Star Mine produced about 150,000 ounces of lode gold as well. The Dutch Flat - Gold Run district, along north boundary of Placer county due east of Grass Valley (Nevada County), all Tertiary stream channel gravels extending south from Nevada County, produced about 492,000 ounces through 1959 of placer gold from the Tertiary beds. At Forest Hill district, in southcentral part of county, extensive operations produced total of 344,000 gold ounces from area Tertiary channel gravels, worked by drift mining placer gold. East of Forest Hill by 5 miles in south part of the county, you will find the Michigan Bluff district which has a total production, 300,000 gold ounces. The Big Gun Mine, largest hydraulic operation in district produce rich placer gold. The Hidden Treasure Mine, richest drift mine in California was also a rich placer gold producer. There are several area lode gold mines, the Pioneer, Rawhide, etc. that were also rich. At Loomis the area gravel deposits along the American River were dredged during the 1930s for placer gold./P>

At Penryn go east 1 mile, and you will find the Alabama Mine, it was a rich lode gold mine, with lead and silver.

AMERICAN RIVER

Near the town of Auburn along the American River, many rich placers existed. The Ophir district was most productive, with 1,500,000 ounces of lode gold produced. At the Green Emigrant Mine, the Crater, Bellevue, Oro Fino, and Three Stars mines, were very rich producers of lode gold.

Report By: Phillip Herzog

One of my favorite places to go is the Auburn State Recreation Area. It is located about 30 minutes east of Sacramento in the Mother Lode. It is easy to find on a map. It is a public area, therefore, claims cannot be filed so it is open for mining. The primary gold is placer and I suppose if you get real lucky you may find a vein, however, this area has been well prospected for 150 years. There is a lot of black sand in this system and usually plenty of fine gold as well. Up to one pennyweight nuggets are not uncommon to be found occasionally but, the norm is fine gold, flakes of all sizes and small nuggets. There are many areas where a person can get one pennyweight in one day with nothing more than a pan! A friend recently found more than a 7 pennyweight in nuggets in one afternoon! Just remember that before you set up the equipment, do your testing as there are also areas that contain little or no gold.