The Rush to Sierra County

James Marshall’s discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill in Coloma California in January of 1848 started a rush of men to what was to become California’s gold fields. Over a quarter of a million people made their way to the foothills and mountains of California to try and secure their fortune mining for gold. Shortly after this discovery prospectors started working their way up California’s streams and canyons searching for other area’s that contained quantities of this precious metal. When an area was discovered that held ample deposits of placer gold for profitable mining, location notices were filed on the ground, and prospectors started panning or sluicing the river gravels to recover the gold they contained.

The richer or larger the gold deposits the more miners located to the area of these discoveries and small mining camps began to emerge. In the beginning of these camps, basic necessities such as flour, bacon, beans and liquor were transported to the camps by the prospectors on the backs of horses and mules. With the influx of more miners to the camps more goods, luxury items and services were required by the men that toiled all day mining for gold. Pack trails and wagon roads were built to the camps and the richer and larger camps began to take on the trappings of permanent settlements. Merchants flocked to these settlements bringing goods to sell to the miners at inflated prices literally “mining the miners”

The larger and more prosperous of the settlements attracted freight haulers, saloon keepers, clothing merchants, lawyers and various other usual suspects to ply their trades and almost overnight a town was born. The longevity of these towns depended on a lot of factors. If the mining area was large enough or rich enough, quite possibly, the town’s future was bright. If the area’s natural resources such as sufficient mining ground, harvestable timber stands, a cross road location, year round stream or some such other natural attribute could be exploited more than likely the town would stand the test of time
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If the diggings were small, easily worked out, very remote or other factors contributed to the decline of the town residents moved on to richer or more promising locations. Some towns were literally mined away, all traces or their existence erased. Other towns were abandoned, the fleeing residents leaving only broken mining equipment and their household rubbish behind.

Sierra County was formed from a part of Yuba County on April 16th 1852; a full three years after prospectors entered the North Yuba country searching for gold. Miners, merchants and anyone seeking fortune or adventure followed the first prospectors to Sierra County to “make their pile” and return home to the states.

The gold rush era in California has been stereotyped as a period of time from 1849 to 1860 and ending at the time of the discovery of silver in Virginia City Nevada. This perception could very well be true for California’s Mother Lode area in general, but in my opinion, not so for Sierra County’s high country rugged Northern Mines. Sierra County’s gold rush lasted until the end of the 1860’s. The remoteness of the gold bearing regions of Sierra County, weather related seasonal mining and time consuming construction of roads and water ditches to these remote diggings all extended the amount of time it took to recover Sierra County’s riches. While prominent gold rush towns in the Mother Lode, during the early 1860’s, were staring to decline Sierra County’s towns of consequence were just beginning to reach the height of their importance.

Freighting supplies, mining equipment and other goods from Marysville to Sierra County’s gold rush camps was not an easy task. During the founding of the North Yuba country supplies were brought to the settlements by individuals or small pack trains of horses or mules.
In the fall of 1849 one enterprising fellow carried supplies from Marysville to the Downieville area on his back charging $1.00 per pound. Beginning in the fall of 1849 and continuing into the late 1850’s ox teams hauled goods to Fosters Bar on the Yuba River where they were transferred to trains of mules or horses for their eventual delivery over primitive trails and roads to the outlying settlements of the North Yuba area. Some of these pack trains consisted of as many as fifty to seventy five animals. Everything from barrels of whiskey, cases of bottled goods, foodstuff and clothing to mining tools and mail was transported on the backs of these animals.

Langton and Brothers Pioneer Express Company was the earliest mule train and passenger service in what was to become Sierra County and beginning in 1850 Samuel Langton established a pony express service between Marysville and Downieville. As early as 1851 ox, mule and horse-drawn wagons were carrying supplies over the Henness Pass to the settlements of western and southern Sierra County. The easy grades on the Henness Pass and developing spur roads to the mining settlements provided the wagon and pack trains a reliable route to these remote communities.

Starting sometime in 1858 and continuing until early 1870 and later miners and prospectors started moving out of the Sierra County area for richer diggings. This was the beginning of the end of the California gold rush.

In 1858 an appreciable number of miners left for the Fraser River country in British Columbia following the discovery of gold there. The “rush” to the Fraser River, thought to be the richest strike yet discovered, was short lived and displaced hundreds of California gold rush miners.

The years 1860 and 1861 saw the biggest movement of miners and business men out of the California gold regions. The discovery of gold and silver at “Washoe” in the then territory of Utah and the reported richness of the strike moved over twenty thousand more men from the California gold fields in less than two years to what was to become Virginia City. Over half of these miners and merchants stayed on at Virginia City and others moved onto other discoveries in Nevada or elsewhere.
In 1863 reports of rich deposits of silver in the Reese River area of Nevada drew even more miners out of the California gold fields. By the end of the 1860’s placer mining in the North Yuba area was all but exhausted. The towns and settlements that didn’t have sufficient ancient placer ground to mine or developing hard rock quartz mines started to decline or were all but deserted.

Towns such as Alleghany, Brandy City, Forest City, Sierra City and Monte Cristo with ample mining ground continued to grow and prosper. Downieville, the seat of Sierra County, was becoming a supply town and center of county business. Other settlements such as Chaparral Hill, Excelsior and Eureka Diggings lacking sufficient placer ground were slowly becoming abandoned or sluiced way.

As the placer gold deposits became exhausted a large amount of prospectors and miners were bought out of their claims by Chinese miners willing to re-work the early diggings. Other independent miners and small company’s of men sold their claims to “mining corporations” during the late 1850’s and early 1860’s and moved on to richer diggings. With the exodus of thousands of men and the mining corporations establishing “company stores” gold rush merchants, facing declining sales and profits, were forced to either move shop or suffer the consequences of the new economy. As mentioned earlier many of the merchants moved on to the newly discovered mining areas of Nevada, or if they had “put down roots” stayed in the Sierra County gold rush country and made the best of the changing times.
Because of the declining economy in Sierra County the middle to late 1860’s also saw a lot of the pioneer miners and merchants leave the gold rush country. The men who had “made their pile” in the hills during the California gold rush returned home or re-located to valley towns to become farmers, merchants or to raise a family. The men who were not successful drifted off
to other camps to pursue the dream of becoming rich. By the beginning of 1870 the California gold rush, and largest migration of people in recorded history, had ended in Sierra County.