The Marshall Gold Discovery 1848 - Coloma, California

Hello from Highway 49 in the Mother Lode of California,

Earlier this week I had the pleasure of visiting the Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park in Eldorado County, California.  The gold discovery park is located on Highway 49 between Auburn and Placerville (originally named "Hangtown").  The park is located 26 miles southeast of Auburn and 11 miles northwest of Placerville.  It is a scenic drive through the foothills of the Sierras.



Aerial view of the Marshall Gold Discovery Park (looking northerly).

The discovery of placer gold was made on January 24, 1848 by James W. Marshall at the lumber mill built by John A. Sutter.  The lumber mill was built on the south side of the South Fork of the American River.

The first newspaper account of the discovery was on March 15, 1848 appearing in the The Californian of San Francisco.  A copy of the brief article is shown in the following (New Helvetia was the original name for Sacramento):


 

An excellent prediction of the importance of the discovery.

 

Sutter and Marshall partnered to build a lumber mill on the South Fork of the American River near the Native American community of Cullumah.  The name was later changed to Coloma.  On January 24th, Marshall found gold attempted to keep the discovery secret, however it was not possible.  The secret was revealed in San Francisco by Sam Brannan.  He went about the streets showing off his quinine bottle filled with gold from the American River.  Gold samples from the discovery were taken by an army officer to President James K. Polk .  The nation's newspapers reported the discovery and the rush was on in 1849. The discovery was also carried worldwide.

 

Much of the above information is from the park brochure "Marshall Gold Discovery State Historical Park," 2015, California State Parks. 

 

Their website is www.parks.ca.gov/marshallgold

 

The placer deposits of foothills of the Sierras has yielded 42 million ounces of gold.  The placer deposits were formed by the erosion of orogenic (aka mesothermal) lode gold deposits (quartz veins and disseminated gold).   The age of the lode gold mineralization is Cretaceous at 125 Ma +/- 10 Ma (Goldfarb, et.al., 2008, Orogenic gold and evolution of the Cordilleran orogeny, in Arizona Geological Society Digest 22, p. 311-323.).  The placer deposits are two types:  paleoplacers ("fossil" placers) and modern placers.  The paleoplacers are in Tertiary sedimentary rocks ranging in age from Eocene to the early Oligocene.  Mining of the placer deposits was by panning, sluicing, hydraulic mining, large gold dredges and by underground mining in the Tertiary channels.

 

These photos are from the recent trip to the park at the original Gold Rush discovery in California.

 

 

 

Park building with museum displays and gift shop.

 

 

Monument erected in 1948 at the original site of the gold discovery.

 

 

Plaque on the discovery monument.

 

 

View north of the South Fork American River at the site of the discovery.  Recreational gold panning is permitted.

 

Replica of the Sutter lumber mill.

 



An excellent craft brew establishment in Auburn.

www.auburnalehouse.com













Empire Mine State Park, Grass Valley, CA

Greetings from Reno,

I am sure that many of you that live in Reno, Sacramento, or the Bay area have visited the Empire Mine State Park located in Grass Valley and adjacent to Highway 49.  But, for those of you that have not, it is well worth taking in this wonderful outing!

The park's website is http://www.empiremine.org/

The Empire is an underground mine which produced gold from 1850 until 1956, with a few years suspension of production during World War II.  The total gold production from the Empire and other gold mines in the Grass Valley and Nevada Districts is approximately 12 million troy ounces.

Gold was discovered in June 1850 by George McKnight at the Gold Hill Ledge.  The discovery was of a quartz vein filled with abundant visible gold.  The Empire and nearby North Star mine operated profitably until the late 1920's when it was less profitable owing to increased costs.  In 1929, Newmont purchased the Empire mine from W.B. Bourn for $250,000.  Newmont also acquired the North Star mine.  In 1929, the gold price was $20.67 per ounce, but in 1934 to gold price was set at $35 per ounce.  Overnight, this turned a marginal mine into a highly profitable mine.  The mine closed in 1956 when the costs exceeded the sales.  In December 1974, the State of California purchased the property from Newmont for $1,250,000. The park is a treasure for geologists, mining enthusiasts, historians, and those that love beautiful landscaping and buildings. Source:  McQuiston Jr., F.W., 1986, Gold:  The Saga of the Empire Mine 1850-1956, 95 p.

Highlights of the park include beautiful grounds with flower gardens, the mine owner's mansion, fountains, a small museum, mine buildings, an inclined shaft (12,000 feet deep on the incline), a large model of the mine workings and geology, and ore carts.

I hope that some of you get a chance to visit the Empire mine and park.




The Empire mine mansion.



Ore carts at the mine.

The inclined shaft at the Empire mine.

Mine model.

Ore sample of gold-bearing quartz, probably similar to the discovery outcrop at Gold Hill!

A New Blog on Gold Exploration and Geology

Hello Bloggers and Geo's,

I am a recently retired exploration and mine geologist; mostly for gold and living in Reno.  My retirement comes after 40 years of banging on rocks!  Like all industries it has had its ups and downs.  Hopefully the current downturn will end in a couple of years.

A few times a week, I plan to share some of my experiences, photos and maybe some maps from my work.  And, some of the lessons that I have learned and mistakes that I have made.

This is my first venture into the BLOGOSPHERE!

Signing off for now,

Geo Gold Emmons

Adventures in Borneo 1993 (Blogger in center)



Abandoned Gold Dredge about 100 km south of the Klondike District