North California Gold Map

Maps

NORTH CAROLINA Gold Map- 300 gold sites - A 17 pound gold nugget was found by a 12 year old boy, Conrad Reed, in 1799 in a creek. It was used as a doorstop for three years. You will enjoy visiting the Reed Gold Mine, the nation’s first, at Stanfield. It has gold displays, equipment, a film, gold panning and tours of the gold mine (704-786-8337). Also, see the NC Minerals Museum at Spruce Pine and the Colburn Gem and Mineral Museum at Asheville. National forests. Beautiful streams. Other North Carolina gold nuggets: 28 pounds, 25 pounds and 15 pounds.

ALABAMA Gold Map- 140 gold mines and prospects - Montgomery, Birmingham, Anniston, Auburn. A geological report states: “The Hilton Brothers reopened the pit. They succeeded in obtaining 65 ounces of gold from a hole 3 feet by 2 feet by 20 inches; the result of half a day’s work.”

SOUTH CAROLINA Gold Map- 130 gold sites - There are several operating gold mines in South Carolina. The Ridgeway Gold Mine has been predicted to become one of the largest primary gold mines in North America. Gold mines and prospects near Greenville, Spartanburg, Clemson, McCormick, Newberry, Greenwood, Camden, York, Rock Hill, Lancaster and Pageland.

GEORGIA Gold Map- 500 gold sites - 500 gold mines and prospects in 37 counties extend from south of Atlanta to Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina & Alabama. Georgia is a wonderful state for gold prospecting, gold panning, treasure hunting and rockhounding. There was a major gold rush in 1828 at Dahlonega. Vice President John C. Calhoun mined at Auraria. Villa Rica, west of Atlanta, is known as “The Golden City”. Visit Dahlonega’s gold museum with displays, film & lectures (706-864-2257). The Crisson Gold Mine and the Consolidated Gold Mine at Dahlonega are open to visitors and gold panning may be done at these mines.


VIRGINIA Gold Map - Virginia has a long history of placer gold and lode gold production. There are 200 gold mines and prospects in 15 counties shown on the Virginia Gold Map. Panners from other states go to the Virginia gold sites and pan for the yellow metal.

Gold in California

Gold in California became highly concentrated there as the result of global forces operating over hundreds of millions of years. Volcanoes, tectonic plates and erosion all combined to concentrate billions of dollars worth of gold in the mountains of California. During the California Gold Rush, gold-seekers known as "Forty-Niners" retrieved this gold, at first using simple techniques, and then developed more sophisticated techniques which spread around the world.

The California Gold Rush

The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill in Coloma. News of the discovery soon spread, resulting in some 300,000 people coming to California from the rest of the United States and abroad.

These early gold-seekers, called "forty-niners," traveled to California by sailing ship and in covered wagons across the continent, often facing substantial hardships on the trip. While most of the newly-arrived were Americans, the Gold Rush also attracted tens of thousands from Latin America, Europe, Australia and Asia. At first, the prospectors retrieved the gold from streams and riverbeds using simple techniques, such as panning, and later developed more sophisticated methods of gold recovery that were adopted around the world. Gold, worth billions of today's dollars, was recovered leading to great wealth for a few; many, however, returned home with little more than they started with.

The effects of the Gold Rush were substantial. San Francisco grew from a tiny hamlet of tents to a boomtown, and roads, churches, schools and other towns were built. A system of laws and a government were created, leading to the admission of California as a state in 1850. New methods of transportation developed as steamships came into regular service and railroads were built. The business of agriculture, California's next major growth field, was started on a wide scale throughout the state. However, the Gold Rush also had negative effects: Native Americans were attacked and pushed off traditional lands, and gold mining caused environmental harm.