Gold Fever In The California Mother Lode: Bridgeport, Near Malikoff Diggins, and The American River

The California Mother Lode

For seven years during the mid1800s, the California Mother Lode was overrun with settlers, crooks, criminals and fools from a variety of nations. These hardy souls had hopes of finding enough gold to become rich beyond their wildest dreams.

Most ended up either settling into their ranches and businesses or spending their last days on Earth as the discoverer James Marshall did: in poverty.

It all began when James Marshall partnered with John Sutter and proceeded to build a mill on the American River at Coloma, California. In January of 1848, Marshall looked into the river and saw some gold flakes in the water. Marshall and Sutter tried to keep the discovery under wraps, but the secret got out and the gold rush commenced.

For the next seven years, hundreds of thousands of people flooded into the Mother Lode to scour the rivers and rocks for gold. The gold rush slowed down when the placer (surface) and strike (underground) claims played out and hydraulic mining commenced.

The hydraulic mining occurred at Malikoff Diggins on the South Fork of the Yuba River. This process was so destructive that silt washed down the South Fork of the YubaRiver, through the Delta, and into San Francisco Bay.

Malikoff Diggins was shut down by the state as all of the action was ending in the higher Sierra Mountains. But the damage was done. Miners had used mercury and arsenic to extract the gold from ore, polluting the rivers. Millions of tons of earth had been disturbed. Over 300,000 lives were changed.

Indians, foreigners and others had been forced from their native or adopted lands, often with deadly results or the theft of ancestral lands.

After hydraulic mining ended, the focus changed to dredging in the valley, where gold had slowly washed down over millions of years. But valley river dredging proved to be labor intensive, destructive of the riverways, and costly. The dredging ended, leaving massive changes to the landscape. To this day, the historic Yuba Gold Fields fields are mined, but for construction aggregate and sand. When photographed from the air, the formerly fertile and lush Yuba Goldfields resemble a moonscape.

The California settlers eventually established enough profit from ranches and other businesses that looking for gold became one of the least profitable endeavors.

In the end, merchants, farmers and cattle ranchers fared better than the vast majority of gold prospectors.

With the establishment of the Federal and State parks systems, much of the history of the California Gold Rush era has been carefully preserved or restored. The region is filled with public river accesses that allow recreation and surface gold prospecting.

The site of Sutter's original mill is now the Marshall Field Discovery Park at Coloma, California. This park is set on the American River and provides one of the most popular places to pan for gold in the Mother Lode.

Malikoff Diggins is now the anchor in a string of California State Parks that go along the south fork of the Yuba River in a "string of pearls" formation. This formation of parks is necessary because many private land owners have not been convinced to trade or sell their river front properties so that a continuous public river access, managed by the state parks system, can be finalized.

This unique park system carries on for twenty miles and ends at the South Yuba River State Park at Bridgeport, where the longest covered bridge in the United States is lovingly cared for and kept in well preserved condition.

Yes, the gold rush ended, but estimates are that 99 percent of the gold is still in the mother lode. This is the treasure that attracts many who look for gold on a year around basis.

The latest major surface mining rules change was made by the State of California in 2009 in order to protect the delicate river environment. The state legislature passed a law prohibiting vacuum dredging in the rivers, and this restriction put some small placer mining operatiors and gold mining equipment suppliers out of business.

Today's gold prospectors are retirees, doctors, teachers, lawyers, itinerants, hobbyists and anyone else with the time and energy. These recreational and small scale prospectors go up into the Mother Lode and collect the gold that tumbles down through the rivers during the riotous and voluminous Spring snow melt.

Economic Turmoil Causes Investors To Run For The Gold

In times of economic turmoil, investors and individuals turn to gold as a hedge against inflation or a breakdown in social order. The price of gold rises to astronomical levels, but can also drop like a rock in a day.

Given the bleak prospects of a global economic recovery in the next ten years, Gold is likely to remain a lucrative option, especially if it can be gotten for free.

With the price of gold approaching $2000 U.S. per ounce, many in California and elsewhere are considering going into the California Mother Lode and grabbing a few ounces of the precious substance.

There are several cautions against doing so without some planning, a realistic attitude, and caution.

The hazards include all of the dangers of going into the Mother Lode in the first place. The rivers are treacherous in the Spring and early Summer. Virtually all of the land is privately owned or is in the state or federal park systems. Trespassing on private property or violating the governmental restrictions on placer mining will bring serious legal consequences.

The road to success in finding placer, or native gold, is a rough one. A novice placer gold prospector needs to do plenty of research, get some education, and do plenty of planning. Most important is the need to learn how to tell the difference between actual placer gold and all of the other shiny yellow stuff that flows and floats in the water or rests on the sands. Pyrite and other sulfides can be identical to golds in appearance, hence the term "Fools Gold". Real gold is the heaviest substance in the land and it neither floats nor stays on the surface of the dirt for very long.

Placer gold is never pure gold, so a few ounces of flakes or a nugget will not get the full price. There is much treachery and difficulty in finding jewelers, refiners or even e-Bay buyers who will pay the best price for placer gold.

The Big Warning:

Spring has sprung, and the high Sierra snow pack was a good one in 2012.

This means that the waters will be high, cold, turbulent and dangerous.

Do not get into these waters as they are tricky, treacherous and deadly.

Do not go it alone.

Do not trespass on private lands or get into areas you are not prepared to handle.

Research, Plan, Learn and Join!

Learn about placer gold mining by visiting California state parks that allow “hand and pan” gold mining. This means that the dirt and rocks can be dug out by hand or with the classic gold mining pan, but not with shovels, vacuums, or other tools.

For other public lands where gold might be found, visit the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Gold Panning web page or visit a local BLM office. Or, visit the Best Gold Planning Locations website to find out where the best California Mother Lode public accesses are.

The state parks with the best chances of finding gold will offer some safety, prepared hiking trails and river accesses, special events, and a gold panning supplies store.

Throughout the year, most of the parks offer access. In the Spring, Summer and Fall, there are programs and special events that teach about the history of the park, the facts about the river, and the basic techniques of gold panning.

Another option is to plan for a vacation at a gold panning camp or resort. These resorts offer campgrounds, education, group expeditions, and much more for a vastly safer and possibly more successful experience than going it alone.

Mineral Bar and Roaring Camp Mining Company are two of the most popular Mother Lode resorts for vacationing while learning about gold panning. These camps offer guides, expeditions and training. But they are best approached as vacations first, and the roads to riches second, since they cannot guarantee a successful gold discovery.

Finally, there are groups and organizations that offer companionship, organized trips, fellowship with other recreational prospectors and other benefits. The Gold Miners Headquarters is a great place to start. This site has links to local and national gold prospector's organizations and is a guide to other resources.

SAFETY FIRST IN WILD AREAS

The California Mother Lode is a wild place where there is very little room for mistakes. The rivers may appear to be placid on the surface, but will hide their treacherous currents as well as a deep chill in the Spring and Fall. Hiking trails are carefully marked as easy or advanced for a reason. River accesses may look safe, but animals, poison oak, animals, rattlesnakes and humans can offer plenty of potential trouble. Cell phones will be out of service in certain areas. So, enjoy the experience and good luck with the prospecting, but get to know the land and think about safety first!