RIches From the Empire Mine

By Paisley Kirkpatrick

The Empire Mine, located in Grass Valley, California, is one of the oldest, largest, deepest, longest, and richest gold mines in California. Between 1850 and its closure in 1956, the Empire Mine produced 5.8 million ounces of gold, extracted from 367 miles of underground passages.

My grandparents lived in Nevada City, another town situated in the Mother Lode. I loved exploring and visiting the gold mines and finding remnants lying on the ground not far from their house. Grandma and I found checks dated in 1901 from a gold mining company, crucibles (a ceramic container in which gold was melted at very high temperatures), and several other gold containers. I remember the first time I visited the Empire Mine. We actually stepped about four feet into the mine to the place where the miners loaded and unloaded into the cart that carried them deep down inside the mine.

We learned they kept canaries in cages. If one died, they knew methane gas (a colorless, odorless flammable gas that is the most common dangerous gas found in underground gold mines) was in that section. They would vacate that section of the mine. We also found out they'd take mules down into the mines to carry what the miners dug out of the walls.

In Oct. 1850, George McKnight discovered gold in a quartz outcrop (ledge) called the Ophir Vein. It was bought and purchased several times until the Empire Mining Co. was incorporated in 1854. Miners from the tin and copper mines of Cornwall, England, arrived to share their experience and expertise in hard rock mining. Particularly important was the Cornish contribution of the Cornish engine, operated on steam, which emptied the depths of the mine of its constant water seepage at a rate of 18,000 gallons per day. This increased the productivity and expansion underground. Starting in 1895, Lester Allan Pelton's water wheel provided electric power for the mine and stamp mill. The Cornish provided the bulk of the labor force from the late 1870s until the mine’s closure eighty years later.

A stamp mill machine crushes material by pounding rather than grinding, either for further processing or extraction of metallic ores. See below.

William Bowers Bourn acquired control of the company in 1869. Bourn died in 1874, and his estate ran the mine, abandoning the Ophir vein for the Rich Hill in 1878. Bourn's son, William Bowers Bourn II, formed the Original Empire Co. in 1878, took over the assets of the Empire Mining Co., and continued work on the Ophir vein after it was bottomed out at 1200 feet and allowed to fill with water. With his financial backing, and after 1887, the mining knowledge and management of his younger cousin George W. Starr, the Empire Mine became famous for its mining technology. Bourn purchased the North Star Mine in 1884, turning it into a major producer, and then sold it to James D. Hague in 1887, along with controlling interest in the Empire a year later.

Bourn reacquired control of the Empire Mine in 1896, forming the Empire Mines and Investment Co. In 1897, he commissioned Willis Polk to build the Cottage on land near the mine, using waste rock from the mine. The Cottage included a greenhouse, gardens, fountains and a reflecting pool.

The Colorful Lore of the California Gold Rush

By Paisley Kirkpatrick

Grass Valley’s history is part of the colorful lore of the California Gold Rush. The first notations about the area are from the late 1840’s when a party of men searching for cattle came upon a “grassy valley”.

Grass Valley’s claim to historic fame is embedded in the vast amounts of gold discovered and extracted from its rich underground mines. In more than 100 years of mining, the mines of Grass Valley made it the richest of all California gold mining towns.

In December 1848, President James K. Polk declared in a State of the Union address that large quantities of gold had been discovered in California. As word spread about the gold rush, prospectors flooded the foothills. The small settlement began looking like a village. Then in 1850, a settler by the name of George McKnight discovered gold in the quartz rock along Gold Hill and the real boom began.

By 1851, thousands of people were living in the bustling town now known as Grass Valley and in the nearby town of Nevada, (later renamed Nevada City when Nevada became a state). Grass Valley suffered a disastrous fire in 1855, and Nevada City burned in 1863, but the towns quickly rebuilt and continued to grow.

My grandparents lived in Nevada City up until I was a junior in high school. I remember when I was in my teens my grandfather told us tales of the gold rush and what happened afterwards. One story that sticks in my mind is that when they tore old saloons down to put in a new highway, they found piles of gold dust that had seeped through the cracks in the wooden floors. If they'd only known way back during the days of the gold rush, the search for gold for some would have been more profitable.

The Empire, Northstar, Pennsylvania, Idaho-Maryland and Brunswick mines became known around the world, attracting hardworking miners and would-be millionaires. As the underground mines grew, skilled hard-rock miners from Cornwall and Ireland arrived. They settled into their new hometown of Grass Valley while mine owners and managers lived in nearby Nevada City. Over the next 100 years the mines extracted more than $400 million in gold, making Grass Valley California’s most prosperous mining town. Unfortunately, gold mining declined in the 1950’s and eventually all of the hard-rock mines were closed.

Both Grass Valley and Nevada City are on the national register of historic places and have multiple buildings on the national register.

The National Hotel in Nevada City and the Holbrook in Grass Valley are reminders of the grandeur of California gold rush hotels. The Golden Gate Saloon in the Holbrook is known as the oldest continuously operating saloon west of the Mississippi!

Information provided by Grass Valley’s Chamber of Commerce

Adventures at the Empire Mine

By Paisley Kirkpatrick

The Empire Mine, located in Grass Valley, California, is one of the oldest, largest, deepest, longest, and richest gold mines in California. Between 1850 and its closure in 1956, the Empire Mine produced 5.8 million ounces of gold, extracted from 367 miles (591 km) of underground passages.

My grandparents lived in Nevada City, another town situated in the Mother Lode. Exploring gold mines became a summer ritual once I hit my teens. We'd find remnants lying on the ground in old garbage dumps and along the property not far from their house. Grandma and I found checks dated in 1901 from a gold mining company, crucibles (a ceramic container in which gold was melted at very high temperatures), and several other gold containers.

I remember the first time I visited the Empire Mine. We were able to step four feet into the mine to the place where the miners loaded and unloaded into the cart that carried them deep inside the mine.

We learned they kept canaries in cages. If one died, they knew methane gas (a colorless, odorless flammable gas that is the most common dangerous gas found in underground gold mines) was in the section they worked. The miners new they needed to vacate that area of the mine. They'd take mules down into the mines to carry what the miners dug out of the walls. They'd enter the mine before sunrise and come out after sunset.

The mules never saw daylight.

In Oct. 1850, George McKnight discovered gold in a quartz outcrop (ledge) called the Ophir Vein. It was bought and purchased several times until the Empire Mining Co. was incorporated in 1854. Miners from the tin and copper mines of Cornwall, England, arrived to share their experience and expertise in hard rock mining. Particularly important was the Cornish contribution of the Cornish engine, operated on steam, which emptied the depths of the mine of its constant water seepage at a rate of 18,000 gallons per day. This increased the productivity and expansion underground. Starting in 1895, Lester Allan Pelton's water wheel provided electric power for the mine and stamp mill. The Cornish provided the bulk of the labor force from the late 1870s until the mine’s closure eighty years later.

William Bowers Bourn acquired control of the company in 1869. Bourn died in 1874, and his estate ran the mine, abandoning the Ophir vein for the Rich Hill in 1878. Bourn's son, William Bowers Bourn II, formed the Original Empire Co. in 1878, took over the assets of the Empire Mining Co., and continued work on the Ophir vein after it was bottomed out at 1200 feet and allowed to fill with water. With his financial backing, and after 1887, the mining knowledge and management of his younger cousin George W. Starr, the Empire Mine became famous for its mining technology. Bourn purchased the North Star Mine in 1884, turning it into a major producer, and then sold it to James D. Hague in 1887, along with controlling interest in the Empire a year later.

Bourn reacquired control of the Empire Mine in 1896, forming the Empire Mines and Investment Co. In 1897, he commissioned Willis Polk to build the Cottage on land near the mine, using waste rock from the mine. The Cottage included a greenhouse, gardens, fountains and a reflecting pool.

PHOTOS:

Paisley Kirkpatrick

JERRYE AND ROY KLOTZ MD - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, c

Clark, W.B. - Gold Districts of California, Bulletin 193, California Division of Mines and Geology

Johnston, W.D. - The Gold Quartz Veins of Grass Valley, California, Professional Paper 194, USGS

Broken Promise is set in the California 1849 Gold Rush. The heroine inherits a gold mine and must discover its location to save her inheritance.

http://amzn.com/1612527485

Luzena Stanley Wilson

By Anna Kathryn Lanier

Luzena Stanley Wilson was someone who didn't let opportunity pass her by.  When she and her husband moved from Missouri to California in 1849, she was just following his dreams of striking it rich in the gold fields. After the typical rough journey to reach the promise land of Nevada City, California, a tent city set in two ravines. The streets teemed with men, and a woman was such an unusual sight, they’d come by just to see Luzena and her two boys.

The family couldn't afford a tent, so they set up house in their wagon under some trees. Her first task was to wash the dirt and grime off her boys, “I scrubbed those children until my arms ached before I got them back to their natural hue.” In her own washing, she emptied the washbasin three times and knew she still didn't look as she had before the journey began. She was sunburned, her bonnet shabby, the hem of her dress ragged above her ankles and the sleeves were tattered.

After cleaning herself and her boys, she set about fixing dinner.  As she cooked, a miner approached. “I’ll give five dollars for one of those biscuits, ma’am.”  It wasn't much for her to add a bit more flour to her mix and make five dollars on the spot. She then studied the market and learned that the local hotel charged one dollar per meal. As her husband spent days trying to strike it rich in the gold fields, Luzena went about her own way to earn riches.

She set up simple plank tables and bought supplies from the local store.  She then cooked enough food to feed a small army. When Mason trudged home after a long day of work, he discovered 20 miners eating at his wife’s ‘hotel.’ Each man had paid a dollar for the meal and promised to be return customers.  Luzena knew that she had hit pay dirt.

Within six weeks, she’d made seven hundred dollars.  With the money, she improved her building with a roof and added more tables. Eventually, she built a bare wooden building, and charging twenty-five dollars a week, served between seventy-five and two hundred boarders a week. Eventually, she hired cooks and waiters.

Luzena then decided they could make even more money if they opened a dry goods store.  After six months, the couple’s hotel was worth ten thousand dollars and the stock in their store worth even more. Luzena’s next enterprise was to become a bank—loaning out money at ten-percent.

Banks were scares in Nevada City, so Luzena often used her oven as a vault.  She later remarked that she’d” closed the oven door on two milk pans piled high with bags of gold dust.”  She’d sleep with her mattress lined with riches, at one time having more than $200,000 hidden in her bedroom.

Fire! Fire! rang through streets of Nevada City in the middle of night.  Residents, including Luzena and Mason, only had time to toss on a robe and rush outside.  Within a few hours, most of the city lay in ashes.  The El Dorado Hotel and the dry goods store were nothing but piles of dust. The Masons were destitute.  They sold their city lot, packed up their children and left Nevada City with a mere $500.

There’s not anything else mention in WITH GREAT HOPE: Women of the California Gold Rush by JoAnn Chartier and Chris Enss about the Masons. I don’t know what they did after losing their livelihood. But Luzena is quoted as saying, decades later, “The rags and tatters of my first days in California are well nigh forgotten in the ease and plenty of the present.”  So, the family must have done well for themselves.

For further reading:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/goldrush/peopleevents/p_wilson.html

http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/resources/archives/three/luzena.htm (her book, online)

Anna Kathryn Lanier
Romance Author, A GIFT BEYOND ALL MEASURE

http://aklanier.com/

Never let your memories be greater than your dreams. ~Doug Ivester