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Friday, September 30, 2022

Mariposa County California Gold Production

Mariposa County, the southernmost of the Mother Lode counties, has had a long and productive mining history. Most of the gold has come from lode mines on the Mother Lode and West Belt and lode and placer mines in the Hornitos district. Quaternary gravels have been productive along the Merced River and near Mormon Bar.

Before 1900, unrecorded amounts of gold were mined from Tertiary placers in the Blanchard district in the Jawbone Ridge area and on the ridge between Moore and Jordan Creeks.

Gold production of Mariposa County for 1880-1959 was about 2,144,500 ounces: about 583,500 ounces came from placers and about 1,561,000 ounces came from lodes. Production before 1880 has not been determined.
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6 comments:

  1. Bigus MacusSeptember 30, 2022 at 2:56 AM

    Folks in California still pan for gold in the various rivers
    https://traveltips.usatoday.com/im-looking-places-gold-panning-california-103589.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. wirecutterSeptember 30, 2022 at 5:39 AM

      I scraped out a pretty decent living for a while in the area described at the link as well as the district just to the north in the Coulterville area.

      Delete
  2. AnonymousSeptember 30, 2022 at 6:31 AM

    Dad and I used to hit the Briceburg area - had pretty good luck too !!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. wirecutterSeptember 30, 2022 at 6:59 AM

      I did so-so there, but at that time I was putting in a lot of hours at work and didn't have the time to really get serious about it.

      Delete
    2. TimSeptember 30, 2022 at 8:01 AM

      Hey Wirecutter! I'm from Colorado and I'm familiar with the term placer and ore body, but not lode. So are the terms ore body and lode essentially the same thing or is a lode pure seams of gold or something different altogether?

      Delete
    3. wirecutterSeptember 30, 2022 at 8:43 AM

      It's just a rich area. Some folks use it to describe a particularly rich vein, ledge or seam.

      Delete

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