Gold Treasure Tales in
Placer County

Out of all the tales that have been told one of the most known ones is the tale of the Packrats Lost Gold. It was said that in 1850 there were two prospectors that were working on the American River near Gold Run. They woke up one early morning and saw that there were several things that were missing in their camp, however in the place of all the things that had gone missing there was a gold nugget placed in the same spot. This event continued occurring night after night until finally the men were convinced that it was the packrats that were doing the exchange and that they probably had a rich source of gold nuggets somewhere. The men then decided they would track them to a ledge high up on the cliff however after having done this and getting them up to the ledge of the cliff the winter snow started to fall. They did not have any choice but to go back down. The next spring the men went back and went back up the ledge however the packrats had moved on and the men were not able to find the gold they so desperately wanted to get their hands on.

Everyone also knows about the Donner Party that was carrying $10,000 gold coins with them when they were trapped in the High Sierras. What has happened to all this gold is a mystery. It seems that a lot of the members of the party had buried their belongings and valuables that winter and were not able to go back to reclaim them. There was one collection that was found of 193 silver coins in the 1890’s at the Donner Lake though.