Comment
Author: Admin | 2025-04-28
Known, men flocked in and a “camp” developed. The first unofficial, overall name of the settlement, which was scattered in a most unorderly manner for about 9.6 km (6 miles) up and down the gulch, was Boughtown, a name of “appearance” (Griswold, 1961). According to the Daily Chronicle of April 7, 1879, “Men in those days were in too much of a hurry to even build houses to live in; they contented themselves generally with erecting four posts and covering the tops and sides with green pine boughs.”In this area grew “Oro City, as it was finally dubbed, (and it) became the social and economic hub of the area. It had one long main street that ran the length of California Gulch. . . . Oro City was one of the few communities that really served the needs of its citizens. It never required people to move to town; rather it followed the people. In its early years it was scattered up and down California Gulch; as the population diminished and those remaining clustered in the upper end of the gulch, that became Oro City. Then in 1868 the Printer Boy drew miners up the gulch and Oro City followed. In fact, in amoebic fashion, the town split into Upper and Lower Oro. The official site of Oro City was wherever the Post Office was located, and in 1868 that was Upper Oro, or Oro Number Two as it was occasionally called” (Blair, 1980).The most productive years of placer mining in California Gulch were from 1860 to 1867; however, by 1871 placering continued there with decreased yield and a stamp mill treated ores from several lode mines. “In 1873 only a few placers were worked. Several rich gold strikes were made on lodes in California Gulch, and the Homestake mine (near Tennessee Pass) was reported to be shipping to Golden, ore that carried 30-60 percent lead and 200-500 ounces of silver. In 1874 there was little placer mining, and most of the old, lower ground was regarded as worked out, but many new ditches were being built to carry water
Add Comment