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Collection: Directories and Documents > Yearbooks
Nevada City High School - The Quill (371.QUI.1912)(1912) (108 pages)
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Page: of 108
THE QUILL 27
The Mining Industry in Nevada City
Nevada City and many other towns in the state of California sprung
into existence after the world renowned discovery of gold in L848.
The migratory character of a miiing population has left few to
relate the incidents in Nevada’s early history. ‘As far as we can learn
the first white man to set foot on the site of Nevada City was J. W. Marshall, the celebrated discoverer of gold in California. He was conducting a party of immigrants over the mountains and had stopped for the
night on Deer Creek. As was the custom, Marshall panned some of
the dirt on the bank of the stream and found good ‘‘color.’’
The first real settlers in Neyada City were Captain John Pennington, Thomas Cross, and Willian MeCaig, prospectors for gold, who
built a cabin on Gold Run. Others must have worked in the vicinity,
because one month later Dr. Caldwell established a store on Nevada
Street, from which all the. miners got their supplies. The place was
ealled Deer Creek Dry Diggings by the many people, who spent the
winter here. In the spring of 1850 there were nearly fifteen hundred
people in the vicinity, all of them diligently searching the streains for.
the yellow metal, which abounded there.
A letter written by Benjamin P. Avery, who later became a well
known newspaperman, give us a very good picture of the life in the mining regions, an impression of the appearance of Nevada City at a very
early date, and also shows the remarkable increase of immigration
within a short time. It seems that Avery came to Nevada City in
October, 1849, and finding good prospects in Deer-Creek, he returned
{o Mormon IJsland, from whence he had come for his partner. On his
return trip to Nevada City he met with many hardships, but finally
reached his destination about February, only to find-his selected ravine
lined with industrious men, who were taking out the hidden gold.
The principal methods used by the miners were the pan and rocker.
Those who worked on an extensive basis used sluice boxes or the long
toms. During the dry season water was brought for miles through
large ditches. In the later years this method has developed into the
large ditches carrying many hundreds of inches of water for running
the large mines.
The discovery of the gravel range a little north of town, at the
foot of ‘‘Sugar Loaf’? led to the adoption of a new method of drifting
or ‘‘coyoting,’’ which in later years developed into the method of lydvaulie mining.
A great deal of excitement arose on the discovery of quartz in two
or three veins below town on Deer Creek. The hopes of the mine oper@tors were based on a pretended discovery of a certain Dr. Rogers, who.