Telluride is the county seat and most populous town of San Miguel County in the southwestern portion of the U.S. state of Colorado. The town is a former silver mining camp on the San Miguel River in the western San Juan Mountains. The first gold mining claim was made in the mountains above Telluride in 1875 and early settlement of what is now Telluride followed. The town itself was founded in 1878 as "Columbia", but due to confusion with a California town of the same name, was renamed Telluride in 1887, for the gold telluride minerals found in other parts of Colorado. These telluride minerals were never found near Telluride, but the area's mines for some years provided zinc, lead, copper, silver, and other gold ores.
The Sierra Nevada is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily in Nevada. The Sierra Nevada is part of the American Cordillera, a chain of mountain ranges that consists of an almost continuous sequence of such ranges that form the western "backbone" of North America, Central America, South America and Antarctica.
Dayton is a census-designated place (CDP) in Lyon County, Nevada, United States. The population was 8,964 at the 2010 census. The micronation of Molossia is located in Dayton.
The Gold Country is a historic region in the northern portion of the U.S. State of California, that is primarily on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada. It is famed for the mineral deposits and gold mines that attracted waves of immigrants, known as the 49ers, during the 1849 California Gold Rush.
The Comstock Lode is a lode of silver ore located under the eastern slope of Mount Davidson, a peak in the Virginia Range in Nevada. It was the first major discovery of silver ore in the United States, and named after American miner Henry Comstock.
The Fraser Canyon Gold Rush, began in 1857 after gold was discovered on the Thompson River in British Columbia at its confluence with the Nicoamen River a few miles upstream from the Thompson's confluence with the Fraser River at present-day Lytton. The rush overtook the region around the discovery, and was centered on the Fraser Canyon from around Hope and Yale to Pavilion and Fountain, just north of Lillooet.
Carson Hill is a ghost town in Calaveras County, California. It sits at an elevation of 1447 feet above sea level and is located at 38°01′42″N120°30′24″W, about 4 miles (6.4 km) south-southeast of Angels Camp. It was one of the most productive mining camps in the state, with nearly $26 million in gold and quartz found in the area. Carson Hill is registered as California Historical Landmark #274. The town was served by the Sierra Railway's branchline to Angels Camp until 1935.
Empire Mine State Historic Park is a state-protected mine and park in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Grass Valley, California, US. The Empire Mine is on the National Register of Historic Places, a federal Historic District, and a California Historical Landmark. Since 1975 California State Parks has administered and maintained the mine as a historic site. The Empire Mine is "one of the oldest, largest, deepest, longest and richest gold mines in California". Between 1850 and its closure in 1956, the Empire Mine produced 5.8 million ounces of gold, extracted from 367 miles (591 km) of underground passages.
Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park is a state park, located in Humboldt County, California, near the town of Orick and 50 miles (80 km) north of Eureka. The 14,000 acre (57 km²) park is a coastal sanctuary for old-growth Coast Redwood trees.
You Bet is a small unincorporated community in Nevada County, California. You Bet is located in the Sierra Nevada foothills, 7 miles (11.3 km) east of Grass Valley and 5.5 miles (8.9 km) northeast of Chicago Park.
Oro City, now a ghost town, was an early Colorado gold placer mining town located near Leadville in the California Gulch. Oro is the Spanish word for gold. Oro City was the site of one the single richest placer gold strikes in Colorado, with estimated gold production of 120,000 to 150,000 troy ounces, worth $2.5 to $3 million at the then-price of $20.67 per troy ounce.
Havilah is an unincorporated community in Kern County, California. It is located in the mountains between Walker Basin and the Kern River Valley, 5 miles (8.0 km) south-southwest of Bodfish at an elevation of 3,136 feet (956 m).
Sierra City is a census-designated place in Sierra County, California, United States. The elevation of Sierra City is 4,147 feet (1,264 m), and the town is situated in the canyon of the North Yuba River on California State Route 49, twelve miles northeast of the county seat of Sierra County, Downieville. The population was 221 at the 2010 census.
Plumas-Eureka State Park is a California state park located in the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Range in Plumas County, California.
Foote's Crossing Road originates in North Columbia, California and winds through the Tahoe National Forest to connect with the community of Alleghany, California. It is a Registered Historic Place.
Granite Creek is a creek and townsite in British Columbia located in the Similkameen region. Granite Creek flows north into the Tulameen River and joins that river approximately one and a half miles to the east of Coalmont, British Columbia. It is assumed Granite Creek yielded more than $500,000 in placer gold since its discovery. Gold nuggets worth $50 in value were not unusual in the early years. The creek was mined by Europeans and Chinese. Granite Creek was hydraulicked near its mouth in the 1890s.
El Dorado Canyon is a canyon in southern Clark County, Nevada famed for its rich silver and gold mines. The canyon was named in 1857 by steamboat entrepreneur Captain George Alonzo Johnson when gold and silver was discovered here. It drains into the Colorado River at the former site of Nelson's Landing.
Steamboats on the Colorado River operated from the river mouth at the Colorado River Delta on the Gulf of California in Mexico, up to the Virgin River on the Lower Colorado River Valley in the Southwestern United States from 1852 until 1909, when the construction of the Laguna Dam was completed. The shallow draft paddle steamers were found to be the most economical way to ship goods between the Pacific Ocean ports and settlements and mines along the lower river, putting in at landings in Sonora state, Baja California Territory, California state, Arizona Territory, New Mexico Territory, and Nevada state. They remained the primary means of transportation of freight until the advent of the more economical railroads began cutting away at their business from 1878 when the first line entered Arizona Territory.
