Gold Districts in Nevada County

Grass Valley
The district of Grass Valley was considered the most well known, most mineralized and prosperous gold districts in the state. A man named David Stump along with other miners discovered gold in Wolf Creek in 1848. The placers in the streams and creeks used to be very rich on the surface but this ran out very quickly. Gold mining continued to occur in Grass Valley though as gold quartz veins were soon discovered at Gold Hill in 1850 and lode mining kept on going strong for more than a hundred years later.

The first gold quartz vein in this area was discovered by Geo Knight when he was in the middle of looking for his cow. He is said to have stubbed his toe on an outcropping that broke off. He reached down to pick up what had broken off and to his surprised it was laced with gold. The gold vein he discovered reached more than nine thousand feet and it produced a million dollars in gold every year for the next ninety years. This was also the second deepest mine in the world at one time.

The interesting thing about the district of Grass Valley is that there are a lot of rich veins that are grouped together. Grass Valley is located on Highway 49 for those interested in visiting the place.

Lowell Hill
The district of Lowell Hill is a placer gold district. The gravels in this place were once mined by hydraulicing for a number of years. For those interested in going to this district, take the You Bet Road east off of Highway 174 and then turn to the right on Lowell Hill Road and continue going for around six miles past Dutch Flat.

Meadow Lake
The District of Meadow Lake experienced a small rush in 1863 due to the fact that some gold quartz veins were discovered in the area. However, come 1865 the camp had been completely abandoned. To get to Meadow Lake you will need to take Meadow Lake Road east out of Graniteville.

Moore’s Flat
The district of Moore’s Flat is both a placer and lode gold region. A great deal of the production came from hydraulicing of the Tertiary gravels. This district was named after a man who built and owned his own store here in 1851. For those interested in getting to Moore’s Flat take the Moore’s Flat Road off of the Graniteville Road east of North Bloomfield.

Nevada City
The district of Nevada City is very big and is a very productive area. Placer and lode gold can be found here. This was the area that James Marshall prospected a little while after his discovery at Sutter’s Mill, however he was not successful at finding any gold and soon moved on. After the discovery James Marshall made at Sutter’s Mill people continuously followed him all over the place waiting for him to find another big discovery. For some reason he never found much but the men that followed him to this place found rich placers in Deer Creek and the camp was then named Deer Creek Diggings. By 1850 the camp’s name was changed to Nevada and by that time the camp’s population had grown to around five thousand people.

The camp’s name was once again changed to Nevada City in 1864 so that there would be no confusion with the new state of Nevada. This was the area where hydraulic mining began in 1852 at American Hill. Drift mining had already begun two years before that in 1950. The gold quartz operations of the Gold Tunnel mine also started operating that same year.

There were several Tertiary channels that were very rich in this area. Nevada City is located on highway 49.