General Mining History

The Middle Fork of the American FootPrint lies within Placer County in the area north of the River and within El Dorado County on the area south of the River. This area was among the places first settled by gold-seekers in 1849 and still draws them today. The FootPrint's northern boundary runs along the Forest Hill divide. The southern boundary runs along the Georgetown divide to Tunnel Hill where it crosses the Rubicon. From there the boundary follows the ridge up to French Meadows Reservoir and the area around Duncan Peak.

Mining began along the Middle Fork of the American River soon after gold was discovered at Sutters Mill in 1848. Mining was begun by working the extensive shallow placers that ran from the lower plains almost to the summit of the Sierra and were among the richest in the State of California.

As the shallow placers and river bars were exhausted, miners turned their attention to drift and hydraulic mining in the deep auriferous gravels of the ancient river channels on the hills. Whenever the beds of the ancient rivers were accessible for working by shafts and tunnels they were worked by the drifting process and yielded large profits.

Hydraulic mining began in 1854, and was carried on successfully at Michigan Bluff, Forest Hill, Last Chance, Canada Hill and other places throughout the area. When hydraulic mining was temporarily halted by the Debris Commission in 1886, miners turned to the development and working of Quartz (lode) mines and the opening of the deep, lava-capped auriferous gravel channels for mining by the drifting process.

According to JH Hobson, in 1890 in Placer County alone, "there are about 200 miles of unworked auriferous gravel channels and an immense area of auriferous metamorphic rock in which are great numbers of veins of auriferous quartz."

Based on the results of production from channel workings at Forest Hill, Iowa Hill, Canada Hill and others, the value of the gravel varied from $7,000 to $70,000 per linear foot or about $3.5 Million to $350 Million per mile.*

Current Estimates

Investigations done by the US Bureau of Mines indicate that there are still substantial gold resources in the Tertiary Gravels of the American River. Their reserve estimates indicate that considerably greater yardages of gravel remain than were mined. Their estimate is that approximately 60% of the gold remains in place.

It is estimated conservatively that $507 Million (historic prices) in gold was pulled from the Tertiary gravels in California. Today this gold would be worth about $35 Billion dollars in 2013 prices. That's another $59 Billion just waiting to be dug up!

Famous Nuggets
The famous Fricot Nugget was discovered at the Grit mine in 1865 at the Spanish Dry Diggings. The nugget was a mass of beautifully crystalized gold that weighed over 201 troy ounces. It is currently on display at the California Mining Museum and is the largest surviving specimen of the Gold Rush era.

Mining Districts

Forest Hill Mining District
Gold was discovered in the Forest Hill District in 1850. By 1852 the area was highly productive. In that year the Jenny Lind mine was discovered and hydraulic mining was introduced. Large-scale hydraulic mining continued until the early 1880's and drift mining until the early 1900's. There was appreciable activity here in the 1930's and early 1940's and a few mines have been worked since.

The total output of the Forest Hill Mining District is estimated to be at least $25 Million ($1.7 Billion today) and could be considerably more.

Canada Hill Mining District
This mining district encompasses Sailor Flat, Robertson Flat, Sailor Canyon and New York Canyon areas. The gold at Canada Hill is believed to be in a branch of the Tertiary American River that flowed northeast and east across Sailor Canyon and then southeast to join the main channel near French Meadows.The channel is steep and narrow.

Duncan Peak Mining District
This is an extensive area of placer deposits in the general vicinity of Duncan Peak and the Greek Store guard station. The area extends from just south of Duncan Peak, through Duncan Canyon to Ralston Ridge. The area was first mined in the early 1850's and intermittent prospecting and development work has continued to the current time.

The placer deposits occur in a complex system of Tertiary channels that extends southwest to join the main west-trending Long Canyon channel in the Ralston District. There are a number of tributaries and channel remnants, one of the main ones known as the Chalk Bluff channel. The deposits are up to several hundred feet wide and were extremely rich in places. Usually the gold is coarse. Quartz is sparse. The bedrock is quartzitic schist and slate and the gravels are capped by andesite. There are some narrow gold-quartz veins in the district.

Georgetown Mining District
The Georgetown district is in the northwestern El Dorado County at the north end of the northeast segment of the Mother Lode belt. It extends from just north of Garden Valley north through Georgetown and the Georgia Slide area to the Middle Fork of the American River.

Mining began here in 1849 by a party of placer miners from Oregan.The placers were highly productive during the 1850's. The seam deposits at the Georgia Slide were mined on a large scale by hydraulicking from 1853 to about 1895. There was some activity during the early 1900's the 1930's an minor prospecting and skin diving in the district since.

The district is in the northern end of the Mother Lode gold belt and several patches of Tertiary gravel overlain by andesite are exposed on some hills in the northern part.

Last Chance Mining District
This extensive placer mining district is in eastern Placer county in the vicinity of the old mining camp of Last Chance. It includes the diggings at Last Chance, Star Town, Deadwood and American Hill. The mines in the district were operated almost steadily from the early 1850's until about 1920.

Most of the gold has come from three southwest-trending Tertiary channels. The lowest but youngest is the El Dorado channel, which is steep and about 100 feet wide and contains coarse gold. The Sharp Channel contains clay and coarse boulders, and the Big Channel is quartzitic, well-cemented and is up to 800 feet wide. The gravels are capped by andesite.

Michigan Bluff Mining District
This district is in south-central Placer County. It is best known as a placer mining district including the Turkey Hill, Byrds Valley and Baker Ranch areas. The town was first settled in 1850 as Michigan City. When it began to slide into the river, they moved it up the hill and called it Michigan Bluff.

Hydraulic mining began here in 1853 and the district was highly productive. During the middle and late 1850's the gold output averaged $100,000 per month. ($7.5 million in today's dollars). The district is at the junction of two major Tertiary channels. One comes in north from Damascus, the other comes in from the Southeast from Ralston Divide. Just to the north at Baker Ranch there is an intervolcanic channel. The gravels mined were extremely rich, the gold yield having been $5 million ( $375 million today).

Westville Mining District
This placer mining district is in eastern Placer County about 17 miles Northeast of Forest hill. It adjoins the Damascus district on the west and Canada Hill on the east. The district includes the Macedon Ridge, Whiskey Hill and Secret Canyon areas.Much of the development in the area has been drift mining.

The placer deposits lie along a Tertiary intervolcanic channel of the American River, known as the Red Point channel. At Westville this channel is joined by the Whiskey Hill or Black Canyon channel which is a narrow, steep tributary that contains coarse gold.

Volcanoville Mining District
The Volcanoville district is in south-central Placer County and crosses the Middle Fork of the American River south into El Dorado County. It includes the Kentucky Flat area and is both a lode and placer mining district.

A number of patches of andesite-capped Tertiary gravel were deposited by a channel that extended north through Kentucky Flat and then west through Volcanoville. There are two channels, an older well-cemented white channel and a younger channel. The gold is coarse. There are several gold-quartz veins in the west portion of the district that have yielded high grade pockets and well-developed quartz crystals.

Ralston Divide Mining District
This is a placer gold district in southeastern Placer County. It is an extensive region that includes the Ralston Ridge, Long Canyon and Nevada Point Ridge areas. It is just south of the Duncan Peak district. Mining was done by Hydralicking and Drifting.

The deposits are along a west, southwest trending Tertiary channel known as the Long Canyon channel. This is the eastern continuation of the rich Michigan Bluff - Forest Hill channel. The main Long Canyon channel is fairly broad and flat and covers large areas. The gold is usually fine. The gravels are capped by andesite and rhyolite.

Sources:
Hobson, 1890 Placer County
CA Bulletin 193, 1970
Bureau of Mines TP-3, 1968