Searching for Gold in the California Areas

Rosamond Mojave Region
This is a district that is located very close to Los Angeles. The Mojave Rosamond district by the State of California Department of Mines and Geology and it sits off of Highway 14. Mojave Rosamond district is in between the towns of Mojave and Lancaster. The hills in this area are covered in old mine shafts and tunnels. This area also has abandoned shacks and head frames. It is similar to a ghost town of mines. There are some claims that remain to be valid and there are people that will chase people who trespass in them off. The first known of mining that took place in this area occurred in the 1870’s when gold was found on Standard Hill in 1894 by a fellow by the name of Bowers and on Tropico Hill which used to be known as Hamilton Hill by a man named Ezra Hamilton that very year as well. The way the discovery was made specifically by Ezra Hamilton has a very interesting story to it. Hamilton used to be the owner of a pottery plant in Los Angeles and he decided to pan for some fire clay from the hill and it was there that he found gold. Obviously this very lucky event turned Hamilton into a very rich man. After this event mining boomed in this same area for the following twenty five years and then died out until around 1931 given that the depression lead people to dig up gold once again. This continued on until the ending of the war in which all the mines closed down ten years later in 1941. Since the ending of the war there has not been a great amount of activity done on some of the mines in this area. However, this area has a great number of places to see and it is well worth checking out. Those interested in going to this area can go from Los Angeles and take the Golden State Freeway to the Antelope Valley Freeway, and then go past Lancaster to the Rosamond turnoff. Take a left on Rosamond Boulevard and simply follow the signs to the Gold Camp and Tropico Mine.