HISTORICAL FACTS ABOUT
CALIFORNIA GOLD MINES OF THE EARLY 20th CENTURY
While most of the gold mined in California came from what we now call Gold Country -- in the northern Sierra Foothills -- gold has been found in nearly all parts of the state of California, and gold discoveries were made in the Los Angeles area decades before the Gold Rush.
Not every major mine in Gold Country was on the Mother Lode -- a well-known geological formation that has very specific boundaries and runs from the town of Mariposa in the south to just beyond Georgetown in the north. Many gold mines were located north and east of the Mother Lode.
California's biggest gold producer, the Empire-Star mining group in Nevada County, was a conglomerate of several individual mines. The group produced $130 million in gold during its reign. Situated a few miles north of the Mother Lode's terminus, these mines tapped a closely-grouped series of rich gold veins that ran through the town of Grass Valley.
While the mines of Nevada County were in operation the longest and produced the greatest amount of gold ($440 million total), the two richest individual mines were located on the Mother Lode in Amador County, in the town of Jackson. The Kennedy and Argonaut mines produced $34 and $25 million, respectively, from the 1890s through 1942.
California gold mining reached its peak in 1940, when nearly $51 million in gold was extracted and milled from the state's mines. Just two years later, due to the demands and restrictions of the war effort, all the mines of California were shut down by Executive Order L208. Only a small percentage of California's gold mines would reopen when the order was lifted in 1945.
Geologists estimate that 97% of the gold that existed in California at the start of the Gold Rush has yet to be mined. The high cost of mining and milling, plus stringent rules regarding milling methods and waste disposal, have made gold mining unappealing and ultimately unprofitable.
Today's major gold mines are primarily in South Africa, although there are still a few productive gold mines in the United States. Ironically, most modern California gold mines make more money from tourism than from gold.
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