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.
Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park is a state park unit preserving Malakoff Diggins, the largest hydraulic mining site in California, United States. The mine was one of several hydraulic mining sites at the center of the 1882 landmark case Woodruff v. North Bloomfield Mining and Gravel Company. The mine pit and several Gold Rush-era buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Malakoff Diggins-North Bloomfield Historic District. The "canyon" is 7,000 feet (2,100 m) long, as much as 3,000 feet (910 m) wide, and nearly 600 feet (180 m) deep in places. Visitors can see huge cliffs carved by mighty streams of water, results of the mining technique of washing away entire mountains of gravel to wash out the gold. The park is 26 miles (42 km) north-east of Nevada City, California, in the Gold Rush country. The 3,143-acre (1,272 ha) park was established in 1965.
The Trinity River is a major river in northwestern California in the United States and is the principal tributary of the Klamath River. The Trinity flows for 165 miles (266 km) through the Klamath Mountains and Coast Ranges, with a watershed area of nearly 3,000 square miles (7,800 km2) in Trinity and Humboldt Counties. Designated a National Wild and Scenic River, along most of its course the Trinity flows swiftly through tight canyons and mountain meadows.
The Yuba River is a tributary of the Feather River in the Sierra Nevada and eastern Sacramento Valley, in the U.S. state of California. The main stem of the river is about 40 miles (64 km) long, and its headwaters are split into three major forks. The Yuba River proper is formed at the North Yuba and Middle Yuba rivers' confluence, with the South Yuba joining a short distance downstream. Measured to the head of the North Yuba River, the Yuba River is just over 100 miles (160 km) long.
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.
French Corral is an unincorporated community approximately five miles west of California State Highway 49 in Nevada County, California, United States.
Whiskeytown was an unincorporated community in Shasta County, California, United States. Although once a bustling mining town, it was flooded to make way for Whiskeytown Lake in 1962, now part of Whiskeytown–Shasta–Trinity National Recreation Area. All that remains is the relocated store, a few residences, mostly occupied by National Recreation Area personnel, and old mines that are above the water level of the lake. Whiskeytown is registered as a California Historical Landmark.
Gold Hill in Grass Valley, California, was the site of one of the first discoveries of quartz gold in California. While quartz gold was also found in other areas of Nevada County, California during the same time, it is this find near Wolf Creek that led to quartz-mining frenzy and subsequent creation of the Gold Country quartz-mining industry. The location is honored as a California Historical Landmark.
The North Bloomfield Mining and Gravel Company of North Bloomfield, California, was established in 1866 and operated a hydraulic gold-mining operation at the Malakoff Mine subsequent to the California Gold Rush. In its day, no other company's operations matched North Bloomfield Mining and Gravel Company in size or expense. The company operated until 1910. In the years prior, its profits and procedures had been reduced due to the landmark ruling of Woodruff v. North Bloomfield Gravel Mining Company.
The Osceola Ditch, also known as the East Ditch, was built in 1889–1890 to convey water from Lehman Creek, Nevada to a hydraulic mine operation at Osceola. Extending for 18 mi (29 km), the ditch includes a 600 ft (180 m) tunnel as well as wooden flumes. The project also includes a rock dam and headgate on Stella Lake. The ditch's terminus at Osceola, Nevada became disused during the early 1900s and was destroyed entirely by a fire in the 1940s. Much of the East Ditch is included within Great Basin National Park.
Blue Tent is a historic 19th century gold mining community located about six miles northeast of Nevada City, California.
Red Dog was a California gold rush mining town located in the Gold Country in south-central Nevada County, California, United States, 6 mi (9.7 km) northeast of Chicago Park. Red Dog Hill, a mine and campsite, was founded by three men all under the age of 22, and was named by their youngest, a 15-year-old prospector. As mining operations grew, the campsite became a settlement, and then a town with a population of 2,000 residents, before it was eventually abandoned. Still considered important today, Red Dog Townsite is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The South Yuba Canal Office was the headquarters for the largest network of water flumes and ditches in California. It is located at 134 Main Street, Nevada City, California, USA.
Relief Hill is an unincorporated community in Nevada County, California. Relief Hill is located roughly midway between North Bloomfield and the town of Washington. It lies at an elevation of 3,947 feet. The post office established in 1894 was named Relief, and that name appears on some maps, especially those from around the turn of the nineteenth century. However, the town's inhabitants and most historians called it Relief Hill. The post office was discontinued in 1921.
Cottonwood Creek is a major stream and tributary of the Sacramento River in Northern California. About 68 miles (109 km) long measured to its uppermost tributaries, the creek drains a large rural area bounded by the crest of the Coast Ranges, traversing the northwestern Sacramento Valley before emptying into the Sacramento River near the town of Cottonwood. It defines the boundary of Shasta and Tehama counties for its entire length. Because Cottonwood Creek is the largest undammed tributary of the Sacramento River, it is known for its Chinook salmon and steelhead runs.
Gas Point is a former unincorporated community and former ghost town in Shasta County, California, on Cottonwood Creek. It was also known as Pinckney and Janesville and started as a 1849 California Gold Rush Mining town after gold was found at Reading's Bar.
Reading's Bar is a historical site in Redding, California in Shasta County. Reading's Bar is a California Historical Landmark No. 32 listed on August 1, 1932. Reading's Bar was named after Major Pierson Barton Reading, who discovered gold on the Clear Creek bar in May 1848, starting a California Gold Rush in the surrounding area. Later he found gold on a sandbar on the Trinity River that started the Trinity Alps Gold Rush. Reading's gold discovery was a major part of the California Gold Rush and news of the find created a rush of gold prospecting in Northern California, well north of the better-known gold fields of the Sierra Nevada foothills.
Horsetown was a major historical mining town on the Clear Creek in Reading, California in Shasta County. The town was founded as a tent mining town in 1851 after Major Pierson Barton Reading found gold just east of where the town was founded. Reading's gold find site is called Reading's Bar after the sandbar on Clear Creek. The small mining town was first called Clear Creek Diggings in 1851, it was founded on Clear Creek Road and Clear Creek. As the town grew it was given the name One Horse Town and then it was changed to Horsetown. The gold found here starting a California Gold Rush in the surrounding area.
Tower House, California was a mining town in Shasta County. The mining District of Tower House was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 2, 1973, as #73000257 as the Tower House Historic District. The Tower House Historic District is located just west of the Whiskeytown National Recreation Area. The town started as a California Gold Rush camp. The town is named after Levi Tower, who built the Tower House Hotel and helped establish the town.
Dog Creek, California was mining town founded in 1855 at the site of the Dog Creek stream near where it flowed into the Sacramento River. Dog Creek was 25 miles north of Redding, California in the Sacramento River Canyon. The US Post Office at Dog Creek closed in 1880 and moved to Slate Creek. Near to Dog Creek was the railroad town of Delta, California, for about two years it was the terminus of the California & Oregon Railroad. The railroad line sold land lots at Delta and they sold quickly from $45 to $185 each. Almost overnight the town had McDowell Store, McDowell saloon, Kimball cafe, Kimball saloon, Stone saloon-hotel, a train engine house, a Train station, railway turntable, Wells Fargo Express Office, Central Hotel, cattle yard, water tower and a corral. A Dog Creek water system was built for city water. The train ride to Reading was 2 hours and 20 minutes, over 39 miles. While the railroad called the new town, Delta, many still called the town Dog Creek, as Dog Creek was just a few miles to the west and the land of Delta was in the area called Dog Creek. The largest home in Dog Creek was the Vollmers Home on the Vollmers Ranch built by J. W. Vollmers and inherted by Shelby and Paul Vollmers. Vollmers Ranch also operated the Vollmers Hotel one mile west of Delta. Vollmers opened gas station till 1945, when I-5 was built on it. Vollmers operations were called Bayles, California as the post office moved there in 1885. Dr. Autenreith operated the Autenreith Ranch and Store quarter of a mile north of Delta. In 1887 the rail line continued up the river and Delta slowly became a ghost town the post office closed in 1954, as the town was gone. March 8, 1899 Delta School opened, replaced with a new one in 1939. In 1926 the toll road in the town heading up Dog Creek, ended as toll road and became Dog Creek Road. The Delta grew to become the Delta Mining District in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. Placer mining was done on Dog Creek in the 1850s and 1860. The largest operator was the Delta Consolidated Mining Company that ran lode gold mine from the 1890s till the early 1920s. The Delta gold mine operated in the Dog Creek mining district, seven miles west of Delta, on Upper Dog Creek. The Delta Consolidated Mining Company had 6.5 -mile-long narrow-gauge railroad, that ran to the Southern Pacific Railroad. In Delta was the one-room school for all the children in the nearby districts, it is one of the few buildings still standing, but has been enlarged over the years. In 1858 the Simeon and Sarah Southern moved to Dog Creek and opened an inn with J.S. Cameron. Dog Creek joined with Hazel Creek, 14 miles north to form the Sugar Loaf Township. With the combined tax income they were able to hire Simeon (Sims) Southern has Justice of the peace for the Sugar Loaf Township. Sims move north to Hazel Creek and opened the historic Southern Hotel & Stage Station in 1859.
