Some Gold Districts in
Toulumne County

Confidence
The district of Confidence is located near Twain Harte just a few miles off to the right of the on Highway 108. The placers in this area were first mined during the gold rush and later on rock mining started to come into the picture a little while afterwards. The mine in Confidence has yielded more than four and a half million dollars in gold.

Harding Flat
Harding Flat used to have a little bit of gold production in the past. However it seems that not much of it is done anymore. Hardin Flat is located two miles east of the town of Hardin Flat off Highway 120, 5 miles west of Yosemite National Park. This 400 acre preserve is a beautiful area though and a lot of activity goes on during the summer. Hardin Flat offers full hook-up, tent sites and cabin and yurt rentals. The South Fork of the Tuolumne River running through the preserve is perfect for swimming, fishing and panning for gold.

Jacksonville
The district of Jacksonville was in the area of Woods Creek just before it enters the Tuolumne River. The placer deposits in Jacksonville used to be very rich and near $10 million dollars were recovered in the days of the gold rush.

Jamestown
The interesting thing about Jamestown is that the people here actually run off the founder, however the name of the district remained. This camp was founded by a man named Col. George James who was originally a lawyer from San Francisco and he was thrown out of the town when the people found out he was into some funky business.

A prospector in this place found a seventy-five pound gold nugget in Woods Creek. The mines in this place can be found on either side of Highway 49 around five miles south of Sonora. Jamestown has produced more than $30 million worth of gold.

An interesting place to try out if you decide to visit Jamestown is around one mile and a half south of Jamestown, which is an area on Highway 49 that crosses Woods Creek. You can go up or down the creek on either side of the bridge. Every once in awhile people have found a few nuggets in this area.

Sonora
In 1848, miners from Sonora, Mexico, discovered gold here and decided to set up a camp. Sonora became known as the "Queen of the Southern Mines" and was the largest town in the Mother Lode. Some things that were common in this area were fights between bulls and bears as well as horse races.

The "Great Fire" of 1852 managed to burn down all the buildings on Washington Street. A few stone exteriors from the later rebuilding and reconstruction can still be seen. One of the most prosperous gold mines in California, the "Big Bonanza Mine," was situated on Washington Street, less than 100 yards from St. James Episcopal Church.

When miners found big nuggets where Sonora High School now sits, a group of gamblers attempted to force them away. A few people were killed in the resulting gunfight, but as soon as hundreds of angry miners from the mines close by came to help their under attack comrades, the gamblers decided to leave them alone. This mine yielded a 28-pound nugget in 1851 and produced 990 pounds of gold in one week in 1879. An unbelievable 12 tons of gold were taken from the Sonora area between early 1849 and the spring of 1850.