The Golden State still hosts more than 5,000 active placer mining claims and hosts the first and second-most active mining counties in the nation.
Up until 1965, California was the nation’s leader in gold production, with more than 100 million ounces of gold being pulled from across the state.
The state’s richest and most well-known mining district was the Grass Valley Mining District which hosted the bountiful Empire-Star Mine and the recently controversial Idaho-Maryland Mine.
