Empire Mine State Historic Park
One of the oldest, largest, deepest, and richest hard-rock gold mines in California. Operating for over 106 years from 1850 to 1956, it produced 5.8 million ounces of gold from 367 miles of underground passages, reaching an incline depth of 11,007 feet.
Field Research Notes
Visit the state park to view the massive stamp mill, the historic Bourn Cottage, and the open mine portal. Under state law, all rocks, minerals, and historical relics inside the park boundaries are protected. Mineral prospecting or metal detecting is strictly forbidden within the historic park.
Recommended Gear
Walking shoes, Camera, Light jacket
Related lost mines
-
The Lost Cabin Mine
In the autumn of 1850, three prospectors named Cox, Wood, and Buck followed the Trinity River up into the rugged headwaters. Near a waterfall, they found a rich gravel bed loaded with heavy gold nuggets. They.
-
The Lost Cement Mine
In 1857, two miners wandering lost in the Eastern Sierra discovered a vein of rich, red volcanic cement-like rock that was packed with pure gold. They chipped off a few pounds of the rock, showing it to others when.
-
Goose Egg Mine
Rooted in the early excitement of the 1848 California Gold Rush, the legend of the Goose Egg Mine began when a lone prospector reportedly discovered a highly concentrated placer deposit in Mosquito Valley that yielded.
-
Waterfall Mine
In the early 1850s, a small party of prospectors from the East Coast traveled into Shasta County, crossing near Cow Creek and Fort Reading, and followed a rugged stream thirty miles into the high mountains. There, they.
-
Great Blue Lead at Forest City and Bald Mountain
Forest City and the Bald Mountain drift mine sat on the famed Great Blue Lead, a buried auriferous channel that drove some of Sierra County's most persistent lost-channel speculation. Historical accounts describe the.
-
Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park
California's largest hydraulic gold mining operation. Blasted away entire hillsides, excavating over 41 million cubic yards of earth and carving out a massive canyon. The resulting environmental devastation led to the.