STANISLAUS RIVER

This is another beautiful river with much Gold Rush History. If you’re on the South Fork of the Stanislaus River, it’s not too far from one of my favorite old Gold Rush Towns - Columbia, CA (This town itself had some of the most richest gold pockets found in California! Much of the gold was in limestone pockets) Go to my page on ‘COLUMBIA, CA’ to see more information and photos for this wonderful old preserved mining town!

I went briefly to the Stanislaus river to sample pan and found some color! The LDMA/GPAA has a mining camp on patented land along the river called the Italian Bar - The name was retained from gold rush times because of the large number of Italians working this location in the 1800’s. It’s reasonable to join their club if you want to get some gold the way the old timers did! Other clubs in California own some claims a long here as well if you want to join. The rest are owned by private claims owners.

 

Italian Bar is eight miles northeast of Sonora, California, just six miles from the restored 1851 gold rush town of Columbia. The area continues to boom today as an LDMA mining camp. I-Bar was purchased in 1977 and includes 160 acres of patented, deeded gold property on the South Fork of the Stanislaus River in the heart of the historic Mother Lode. Current facilities include a clubhouse, toilets, hot showers, dump station and water for 150 or more RVs. A full-time caretaker is at the camp. The original Nervie’s store has been restored (this is not a store but a historical building.) Members camping at Italian Bar also have access to nearly 2 additional miles of the South Fork Stanislaus River. They also have available claims on Rose and Knight Creeks, a short distance away. Italian Bar is isolated, yet close to towns providing everything from lodging and meals to hardware and supplies. Come join us, and dig for gold in the fabulous Mother Lode!

Good gold has been pulled out of the North and Middle Fork of the Stanislaus River and Gold Rush History and Information can be found researching the web.

 

All the gold mined in Stanislaus County has come from placers. The Quaternary gravels along the Stanislaus River above Oakdale (the Oakdale-Knights Ferry district) and in the channels of the Tertiary Tuolumne River near Waterford have been the most productive (Charles, 1947, p. 92). In the early 1900's large-scale dredging of Quaternary gravels began along the Tuolumne River between La Grange and Waterford, and most of the gold produced in Stanislaus County from 1932 through 1959 came from this area. In the late 1940's gold mining declined sharply, and during 1952-59 only a few ounces per year was produced as a byproduct of various sand and gravel operations. Gold production of the county from 1880 through 1959 was 364,600 ounces. In Tuolumne County and Calaveras County a combined estimated $340,000,000 (valued much more in our times of course) worth of gold was pulled out by the old timers!

 

Published information on the geology and development of the individual districts could not be found; however, during 1932-59 the Oakdale-Knights Ferry district produced 28,399 ounces, and the La Grange-Waterford district produced 108,512 ounces.

 

MINES

 

Angels Camp had many area mines. The Keystone, Lancha Plana, and Union mines were gold mines with a by product of copper. The Utica and Gold Cliff mines were major producers of lode gold. Melones districts contained over 800 lode mines. Carson Hill was the most productive area and contained many mines with rich lode gold deposits. The Sheep Ranch Mine was a huge producer of lode gold. The Royal Mine was also a large producer of lode gold, with over 10,000 ounces of production.