Gold Hill in

Grass Valley, California Grass Valley is a city in Nevada County, California, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 14,016. Situated at roughly in elevation in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, this norther ...

, was the site of one of the first discoveries of quartz gold in California. While quartz gold was also found in other areas of

Nevada County, California Nevada County ( ) is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California, in the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 102,241. The county seat is Nevada City, Califor ...

during the same time, it is this find near Wolf Creek that led to quartz-mining frenzy and subsequent creation of the

Gold Country The Gold Country (also known as Mother Lode Country) is a historic region in the northern portion of the U.S. state of California, that is primarily on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada. It is famed for the mineral deposits and gold mines t ...

quartz-

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

industry. The location is honored as a

California Historical Landmark A California Historical Landmark (CHL) is a building, structure, site, or place in the U.S. state of California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance. Criteria Historical significance is determined by meetin ...

History

George Knight (sometimes known as McKnight) was a

California Gold Rush The California gold rush (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the U ...

miner. In October 1850, he was on a Grass Valley hillside when he came across an outcropping of white

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The Atom, atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen Tetrahedral molecular geometry, tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tet ...

rock laced with yellow. He pounded the rock with a

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content of more than 2% and silicon content around 1–3%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloying elements determine the form in which its car ...

skillet and hammer, then washed out the gold. Searching for more gold in the same spot, he dug down into the outcropping and found a gold vein. His find was announced by another miner, George Crandall (1825–1908), who ran down to Boston Ravine, a small settlement nearby, with the news. Knight named the location Gold Hill and his claim became the Gold Hill Mine. He and friends constructed a crude

stamp mill A stamp mill (or stamp battery or stamping mill) is a type of Mill (grinding), mill machine that crushes material by pounding rather than Mill (grinding), grinding, either for further processing or for extraction of metallic ores. Breaking materia ...

made out of the local forest's pine tree logs and equipped it with metal boots. The contraption was propelled by Wolf Creek's rushing water. Gold-130327

By March 1851, there were 150 buildings in the area, including hotels, saloons, stores, and even the first school. Before the end of the year, thousands of people had moved to Grass Valley and neighboring

Nevada City, California Nevada City is the county seat of Nevada County, California, United States, northeast of Sacramento, California, Sacramento, southwest of Reno, Nevada, Reno and northeast of San Francisco. The population was 3,152 as of the 2020 United States ...

. A fire struck Grass Valley on September 13, 1855, destroying the entire town of over 300 wooden buildings, but it was soon rebuilt with safer materials. While Gold Hill Mine produced $4,000,000 between 1850–1857, it "pinched out" by 1864 and closed. A 1940 geological survey of the Gold Hill Quartz Mine reported the host rock to be

Diabase Diabase (), also called dolerite () or microgabbro, is a mafic, holocrystalline, subvolcanic rock equivalent to volcanic basalt or plutonic gabbro. Diabase dikes and sills are typically shallow intrusive bodies and often exhibit fine-gra ...

and

Granodiorite Granodiorite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock similar to granite, but containing more plagioclase feldspar than orthoclase feldspar. The term banatite is sometimes used informally for various rocks ranging from gra ...

and the mineral list showed gold,

pyrite The mineral pyrite ( ), or iron pyrite, also known as fool's gold, is an iron sulfide with the chemical formula Fe S2 (iron (II) disulfide). Pyrite is the most abundant sulfide mineral. Pyrite's metallic luster and pale brass-yellow hue ...

, and quartz.

Historical landmark

The site is honored as

number 297. The plaque, located on the southwest corner of Jenkins Street and Hocking Avenue in Grass Valley reads:

References

External links

Photo of landmark

Pencil drawing of the mine's entrance, ca. 1852
{{California history California Gold Rush Geography of Nevada County, California History of gold mining Grass Valley, California History of Nevada County, California 1850 in California

History

Historical landmark

See also

References

External links