About GOLD RUN, CA
Founded in 1854 by O. W. Hollenbeck and originally called Mountain Springs. Famed for its hydraulic mines which from 1865 to 1878 shipped $6,125,000.00 in gold. Five large water ditches passed through the town serving the mining companies which had to cease operations in 1882 when state law was passed passed prohibiting hydraulic mining. Situated on a ridge between the Bear River and the North Fork of the American River, Gold Run is an excellent example of early hydraulic mining. While the gravels of Gold Run Canyon were discovered in the spring of 1850, the riches they held were not to be exploited for several more years.
O. W. Hollenbeck arrived in the region in 1854 and established a camp he called Mountain Springs. The town came into its own in the late 1850’s when hydraulic mining began in earnest on the vast bed of auriferous blue gravel that ran through the region. Two miles long, half a mile wide, and 250 feet deep, the bed was pay dirt all the way down, a vast fortune of gold. And all that was needed to get the gold was water.
With prospects like this, it didn’t take long for the mining companies to assure a continued supply of water for their operations. Five water ditches passed through town, bringing in water from as far away as the South Fork of the Yuba River. The huge monitors shot streams of water under terrible pressure into the hills, washing the gold-bearing gravels into long flumes which caught the gold and then dumped the debris back into the river.
The Mountain Springs post office was established back in 1854, but in 1863 the name of the town and the post office were changed to Gold Run. It had become an important mining center and flourished well into the 1860’s and 1870’s, long after most gold towns had faded away. In fact, the town continued to prosper until 1884, when hydraulic mining was outlawed. It is estimated that up to that point over eighty million cubic yards of gravel were hydraulically mined in the region, which produced in excess of $15 million in gold. The scars left by those operations are still visible today, although the forests and one hundred years respite from mining have hidden much of the damage.
Learn more about this city.
City of Gold Run, CA official site
City of Gold Run, CA Chamber of Commerce
City of Gold Run, CA newspaper
County of Gold Run, CA official site
State of California official site