GOLD MINES AND GOLD PROSPECTING IN CALIFORNIA GOLD REGION 6

There are many gold districts in this region. The information quoted below is from  California Division of Mines and Geology Bulletin 193 by William B. Clark.

"The Klamath Mountains region in northwestern California is the second-most gold-productive province in California. The principal gold districts are in Shasta, Siskiyou, and Trinity Counties. Although there are several important lode-gold districts, the placer deposits have been the largest sources of gold. 

The most productive placer deposits in the Klamath Mountains have been those associated with the Klamath  and Trinity Rivers and their tributaries. Gold is found not only in the gravels in the present stream channels, but also in older terrace and bench deposits adjacent to the channels. The terrace and bench deposits often were mined by hydraulicing.

Rising in southern Oregon, the Klamath River flows west across the Klamath Mountains and empties into the Pacific Ocean. The most important tributary streams of the Klamath River are the Shasta, Scott, and Salmon Rivers, and Cottonwood, Horse, Seiad, Thompson, Indian, Clear, Dillon, and Camp Creeks. Important centers of placer mining in the Klamath River system have been at Hornbrook, Yreka, Scott Bar, Hamburg, Somesbar, Orleans, Sawyers, Forks of Salmon, Callahan, and Cecilville.

The Trinity River, which flows into the Klamath River at Weitchpec, drains the southern portion of the Klamath Mountains. The most productive placer deposits of the Trinity River are those located along its main channel. These include the deposits at Carrville, Trinity Center, Minersville, Lewiston, Weaverville, Junction City, and Salyer. The principal tributaries of the Trinity River are Coffee Creek, Stewart's Fork, East Fork, New River, Indian Creek and Hayfork Creek. The La Grange mine, a few miles west of Weaverville, was one of the largest hydraulic mines in California. Other sources of placer gold in the Klamath Mountains have been the Smith River region in Del Norte County and the upper Sacramento River and its tributaries, which include Backbone, Clear, Cottonwood, and Beegum Creeks.

Lode-gold deposits are found throughout the Klamath Mountains. The most productive district has been the French Gulch-Deadwood district of Shasta and Trinity Counties in the southern portion of the province. Other important sources of lode gold have been the Deadwood district of Siskiyou County (there are several Deadwood districts in California). Dillon Creek, Callahan, Oro Fino, Liberty, Sawyers Bar, Harrison Gulch, Whiskeytown, and Buckeye-Old Diggings districts. Considerable amounts of gold have been produced in the Shasta copper-zinc belt and lesser amounts in other copper deposits, such as the Copper Bluff mine at Hoopa. 

The gold nearly always occurs in native form in quartz veins, usually associated with pyrite and smaller amounts of other sulfides. The veins occur in all metamorphic rocks of Jurassic and older ages. A few lode-gold deposits are found in granitic rocks."

COMMENTS ON GOLD PROSPECTING IN  CALIFORNIA GOLD REGION 6

The rugged and beautiful countryside of this region of Northern California has always attracted tourists, adventurers and gold prospectors. There are literally hundreds of places where a person may find gold with a pan. 

The California gold sites start 50 miles south of Grants Pass, Oregon and 29 miles south of Medford, Oregon. Some of the gold sites southeast of Susanville are only 65 miles from Reno, Nevada.

California Gold Region 6 has a number of National Forests where panning is done, including: Shasta, Plumas, Trinity, Six Rivers, Siskiyou, Modoc and Klamath.

Large numbers of gold sites occur southwest of Susanville in Plumas County, Lassen County, and Butte County, many of them being in Plumas National Forest. The gold-rich North Fork and East Branch of the North Fork of the Feather River are in this area, as well as Rush Creek and other gold creeks.

East of Crescent City there are gold sites at the Smith River. North and south of Crescent City there are a number of beach gold deposits. A string of beach sites known as Gold Bluff is south of where the Klamath River enters the Pacific Ocean.