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4444 State Hwy 78, Julian CA 92036
RECREATIONAL
GOLD PROSPECTING AND GOLD PANNING IN THE
CALIFORNIA GOLD REGIONS
Note: The immediately
following eight paragraphs are common to each of
the six (6) California gold regions. If you
should read about gold in the other California
gold regions, just scroll down to the point in
the text where the particular region is
discussed and continue on from there.
Since the days of the California gold rush in 1849, prospectors, treasure hunters and vacationers have flocked to California to hunt for gold. They use gold pans, sluice boxes, metal detectors, dredges and dry washers in their prospecting efforts. Rockhounding is done in the gold producing areas.
Recreational gold panning is a popular hobby in California. A simple gold pan is effective in detecting and recovering gold from a streambed.
Metal detectors are used to detect nuggets in the dry washes, dry streambeds and desert areas. Inexpensive light weight sluice boxes are often used in flowing streams to increase the amount of material being washed for gold. Dry washers are used to recover gold in arid areas. Experienced prospectors may be seen dredging for California gold. However, if you want to find some gold and have fun doing it, pans will suffice and provide many happy hours of outdoor activity for you and your family.
The great California Gold Rush was of such importance, and has received so much publicity, that many people are not aware that the California Gold Rush was preceded by gold rushes in the Southeastern States. The first documented discovery of gold in the United States was in North Carolina in 1799 and gold mining started there in 1803. A major gold rush took place in Georgia in 1828 and a lesser rush occurred in Alabama in the 1830's. Most of the gold mining districts in the West were located by pioneers, many of whom were experienced gold miners from Alabama and Georgia.
Gold mining and prospecting sites in California range from the Mexican border to the Oregon state line and eastward to the Arizona and Nevada state lines. Both Northern and Southern California provide ample locations where you may pan for gold.
Knowledge of those places where gold has been found earlier is useful in searching for more gold.
Prior work by geologists of the U.S. Bureau of Mines, the U.S. Geological Survey and the California Division of Mines and Geology is acknowledged. Of special mention is the prior work of William B. Clark and Ralph Loyd of the California Division of Mines and Geology and that of Waldemar P. Lindgren of the U.S. Geological Survey. The excellent California Division of Mines and Geology Bulletin 193, by William B. Clark, was drawn upon for details of specific gold districts throughout the state and for text regarding the Klamath Mountains region of Northern California. Lindgren's work published in the year 1911 as regards the ancient Tertiary Rivers is considered a classic.
Note: The above paragraphs to this point are common to each of the six (6) California gold regions. If you should read about gold in the other California gold regions, just scroll down to the point in the text where the particular region is discussed and continue on from there.
CALIFORNIA GOLD REGION 2
California Gold Region 2 includes the southernmost part of Southern California from the Mexican Border northward to Santa Ana and Riverside and eastward to El Centro, the Salton Sea and Joshua Tree National Monument. It embraces San Diego, Escondido, Anaheim, Hemet, Julian, Palm Springs and Indio. Some of the mountain ranges in the region are Laguna, San Ysidro, Santa Ana, Elsinore, Little San Bernardino and San Jacinto.
The national forests in California Gold Region 2 are Cleveland and San Bernardino. There are gold sites throughout the region and near San Diego, Escondido, Riverside, Palm Springs and Joshua Tree National Monument.
Big Ten's California Gold Map 2 covers California Gold Region 2. It shows 340 gold mines and prospecting sites from official geological records of the State of California and the federal government. Specific gold deposit sites are shown in parts of these counties:
Imperial
Orange Riverside
San Diego
GOLD
MINES AND GOLD PROSPECTING IN CALIFORNIA GOLD
REGION 2
Many people are surprised to learn of the vast extent of gold mining and prospecting sites in Southern California. This is due in part to the massive amount of publicity directed toward history of the discovery of gold in the Mother Lode area of the state and the resulting California Gold Rush. However, the early prospectors found gold in Southern California, including in California Gold Region 2.
The San Ysidro Mountains a few miles east of Chula Vista and 20 miles southeast of San Diego is the location of the Dulzura Gold District. Placer gold was discovered here in 1828 and lode mining began in 1890. The deposits consist of broken and crushed quartz containing gold.
The Escondido District is 25 miles north of San Diego. Mexicans mined the rich surface ores here many years ago and there was considerable activity in this district in the 1890's and early 1900's.
The Laguna District lies about 45 miles east-northeast of San Diego in the Laguna Mountains. The Cuyamaca District is a few miles northwest of the Laguna District. The Pine Valley District in San Diego County includes Descanso and is just off of Interstate 8 about 35 miles east of San Diego.
Directly east of Escondido is the famous Julian-Banner District, which, together with the Cuyamaca and Pinacote Districts, were prime sources of gold in Region 2. The Pinacote District is in the hills of western Riverside County between Perris and Lake Elsinore. The area of the Pinacote District was placer mined in the 1850's and there was considerable activity after discovery of a major vein in 1874, and until 1903.
Some other Region 2 gold districts were: Boulder Creek, about 5 miles west of Cuyamaca; Deer Park, about six miles south of Cuyamaca Rancho State Park; Menifee, about 8 miles south of Perris; Mesa Grande, about 50 miles north of San Diego and just northwest of the town of Mesa Grande; Montezuma, or Rice District, about 12 miles north of Julian; and, Trabuco, in the canyons of the Santa Ana Mountains in eastern Orange County, mainly the Trabuco and Silverado Canyons.
The rich Dale or Virginia Dale District is in southern San Bernardino County and northern Riverside County. It extends into California Gold Region 2 about 50 miles east-northeast of Palm Springs. There are many gold deposit sites between Palm Springs and the Dale District.
COMMENTS ON GOLD PROSPECTING IN CALIFORNIA GOLD REGION 2
California Gold Region 2 is a good part of the state for outdoor recreation, including recreational gold prospecting and gold panning. It has the Cleveland National Forest and the San Bernardino National Forest.
Gold sites are within easy driving distance of the areas of major population and the clear, mild weather is ideal for outdoor activities. Camping and RV facilities are excellent.
While in the area, you may wish to take a break from prospecting and visit San Diego's world famous zoo.
Gold sites continue on adjoining Map 3.
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Gold was both plentiful and - by happy geologic accident- easy to extract, making the gold-bearing gravels of California's rivers into what has been described as "the finest opportunity that, has ever been offered on any mining frontier." A contemporary newspaper put it slightly differently: "The whole country, from San Francisco to Los Angeles, and from the sea shore to the base of the Sierra Nevadas, resounds with the cry of 'gold, GOLD, GOLD!' while the field is left half planted, the house half built, and everything neglected but the manufacture of shovels and pickaxes."
Today, a few mines and the remains of several boom
towns have been preserved in a variety of state parks. Most of them, including
the Marshall Gold Discovery site, the fabulous Empire Mine, the
historic town of Columbia, the rich gold deposits at Plumas Eureka, and
the controversial hydraulic mining pits at Malakoff Diggins, are located
in or near the Mother Lode region of the central Sierra Nevada foothills.
The riverfront embarcadero and commercial district of the Gold Rush preserved at
Old Sacramento teemed with activity as would-be miners
disembarked from riverboats and regrouped before setting out for the Mother
Lode. Outfitters and other merchants there thrived on the gold trade,
portrayed in the re-created Huntington & Hopkins Hardware Store.
The mining boom that Captain John Sutter himself set in motion nearly destroyed
his Nuevo Helvetia agricultural empire headquartered at Sutter’s Fort.
A portion of his Mexican land grant became the bustling Gold Rush boomtown of
Sacramento.
While gold-seekers were pouring through Sacramento and into the Sierra, deposits
of the precious metal were also discovered in the Klamath Mountains of northwest
California. Today, ruins of the historic town of Shasta
and the Chinese temple at Weaverville Joss House State Historic Park
recall the days of the Klamath gold rush. In combination, the Mother Lode and
the Klamath gold fields produced the modern-day equivalent of more than $25
billion in gold before the turn of the century, with operations continuing at
Empire Mine until as late as 1956.
Between the 1860s and the turn of the century, prospectors found gold in a
number of locations in California. One of the Wests largest authentic ghost
towns is Bodie in the eastern Sierra Nevada, now a state historic park
that preserves the abandoned buildings of the rough-and-tumble mining town that
sprang up in response to a gold strike in 1877.
In Southern California, three historic gold mining areas lie within the state
parks. Park headquarters at Red Rock Canyon State Park is on the site of
what was once an important community in a region that produced several million
dollars in gold, primarily in the 1890s -including one 14-ounce nugget.
At Cuyamaca Rancho State Park, visitors can tour the remains of the
Stonewall Mine, which produced $2 million worth of gold between 1870 and 1892.
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