Gold Districts in Amador County

Jackson-Plymouth
The district of Jackson-Plymouth is set together by the State Division of Mines and Geology. The reason for this is due to the gold quartz veins that are along a belt of mineralization and that have a stretch of twenty miles. Gold was found for the first time in Jack Creek in 1848. This camp’s original name was Botellas, which means bottles in Spanish, because of the great amount of bottles that were thrown on the sides of the banks of the creek.

The Argonaut Mine was worked on in 1850 the first time, and the Kennedy vein was found in 1856. These two mines alone have produced more than $80 million dollars. Something that is commonly photographed and that are popular are the enormous tailing wheels of the Kennedy Mine. The tailing wheels do not belong to the time of the gold rush though as they were built in 1912. It was at the Argonaut Mine that a fire tragedy occurred and where forty-seven miners lost their lives in 1922. The estimated production of the Jackson region is around $150 million.

Sutter Creek came about in 1846 when John Sutter built a saw mill in the area. (We are not talking about Sutter’s Mill in Coloma though). The Central Eureka Mines in this area were big producers and had shafts that were more than four thousand feet deep. A man named Leland Stamford got his fortune in this place with the Union Mine. The Central Eureka Mine closed down its operations in 1953 and it was known as the last mine that was active in the Mother Lode.

There was a vein in the Keystone Mine at Amador City that was nearly two hundred feet thick and it was discovered in 1853. The first mining that was done in this area was hard rock mining and the people that did this were preachers that had turned into miners in 1850. There were also some rich surface deposits in this area that were worked on during the days of the gold rush.

The district of Jackson-Plymouth was once the most productive district in the Mother Lode.

Lancha Plana
The district of Lancha Plana, which is the Spanish word for flat boat in English, was located seven miles south of Buena Vista. This area was well settled in 1850 because of the hydraulic miming operations in the broad gravel beds that were located all along the Mokelumne River.

Pine Grove
The district of Pine Grove is located on Jackson Creek, which is ten miles east of Jackson. In order to get here you will need to take Highway 88 out of Jackson. The veins in this area are not very deep but there are some gold quartz veins that do have some rich spots and there are some placer deposits as well.

Volcano
Volcano is a placer mining district that had a production of $90 million dollars. Gold was first discovered in Volcano by Colonel Stevenson's men in the area in 1848. The miners in the early days could get as much as $500 worth of gold for each pan. Volcano was at one time one of the richest districts in the Mother Lode.

Hydraulic mining was done in Volcano in 1855 however; by 1965 Volcano was did not play out anymore. The gold in this area was found in crevices, potholes and limestone. If you are interested in getting to this place take the Pine Grove Volcano Road North off of Highway 88 in Pine Grove.

West Point
The district of West Point is located in Amador and Calaveras Counties. Almost all of the lode mines are on the Calaveras County side of the Mokelumne River. This camp was named by Kit Carson.

The placer gold can be found in the river and stream gravels. To get to West Point you will need to take road 104, south or Highway 26 east off Highway 49 at Mokelumne off Highway 88.