TUOLUMNE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA

ABOUT TUOLUMNE COUNTY

Tuolumne County produced over 3 million ounces of lode gold and over 8 million ounces of placer gold, the placers are thought to be the richest in the state. At Columbia many area gravel deposits are worked for placer gold. At Sawmill Flat, the Barney Pocket Mine was a big lode gold producer. In the south part of the county in township 1S and range 14E, 15E, and 16E the Quaternary stream gravels yielded about several 100's of thousands of ounces. Near Groveland you will find the Longfellow Mine which was the most productive in the district with 24,200 gold ounces produced before 1899 of lode gold. Southwest of there at Big Oak Flat, the Washington Mine was also a rich lode gold producer.

At Jamestown and Sonora, is the Columbia Basin district, which is about 2 miles in diameter, in parts of township 1N and 2N and range 14E and 15E in the northwest part of the county and it had a total production about 5,874,000 ounces of placer gold. In all area stream, bench, and terrace gravels you can find placer gold. About 3 miles south of Jamestown you will find the Mann Copper Mine that had a by product of gold. In Sonora the area gravel deposits in the streambeds, benches, were very rich and extensively worked for there placer gold. The O'Hara mines produced some beautiful crystallized lode gold. At Tuolumne, Standard and Soulsbybille, in the East Belt district, they had total production, 965,000 gold ounces. The area had very many area lode and placer mines. The area mines around the settlement of Pooleys Ranch also produced rich lode gold.

West of Tuttletown, beginning of the Mother Lode belt of about 40 lode mines extending northwest to southeast across Tuolumne County had some very rich areas as well.

Moccasin Creek

At the headwaters of Moccasin Creek near Mariposa County, they had a total production over 2 million ounces. The Harvard Mine and the Dutch mines were the most productive properties in district with 450,000 ounces produced to 1928.

Stanislaus River

Between Jamestown and Sonora and the Stanislaus River, the Pocket Belt district which is 5-6 miles wide had a total production 1,267,000 ounces of placer gold. There were many small area mines that produced lode gold. The Bonanza Mine was so rich that it produced 15,000 troy ounces in a week one time.

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