The
discovery of gold on January 24, 1848 by James Marshall at Sutter's Sawmill on
the South Fork of the American River started a bonanza that brought California
global fame and gave it the title of the "Golden State".
"Gold! Gold! Gold from the American River!", shouted Sam Brannan as
he paraded through the streets of San Francisco waving a small bottle of gold
dust he had purchased at John Sutter's Fort. That calculated and flamboyant
proclamation in the spring of 1848 started the news of California's gold
discovery on a race around the world. The Gold Rush of 1849 and the subsequent
influx of settlers led to California becoming the 31st state of the Union in
1850.
Our California
gold panning map shows there are currently 17,911 active gold mining claims and
17,332 abandoned claims located throughout the state. Of those active claims,
9,467 are lode claims and 8,444 are placer claims. Of those abandoned claims,
10,091 are lode and 7,241 are placer. California’s active gold mining claims
represent about 5% of all gold claims in America.
When
you first open the California map you will see a satellite view of the state
with little yellow clusters throughout. Those yellow clusters represent areas
where you’ll find high concentrations of active gold mining claims. This view
of these yellow clusters gives us an incredibly precise view of where most of
California’s gold is being found. This near real-time look at these gold
bearing areas is simply not possible with traditional fold-out paper maps.
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Now
zoom in about 90 miles NE of Sacramento to a little resort town called Bucks
Lake. You can clearly see the active (yellow) and abandoned (blue) gold
mining claims boundaries throughout the area. You are now on public land in
the Plumas National Forest. That means you can find dozens of non-claimed
public gold panning sites for you and your family to try your luck at. The
boundaries shown are accurate to within feet of what you’ll see at ground
level.
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Zoom
in further still and you can click on any active or abandoned gold claim for
ownership and other information about the claim. This information is to help
those prospectors wanting to establish their own claims. Recreational gold
panners should not try to contact claim holders and always stay away from
claimed property. Use the claims to guide you to where the action is but
always respect the property rights of others.
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Still
looking at the Bucks Lake area, turn on the Google Earth™ overlay entitled
Places of Interest. Now you can see Plumas National Forest campgrounds,
ranger stations, hiking trails, hotels and stores. You can zoom in further
still to get a birds-eye view of roads, creeks and other points of interest.
Using Google Earth™ satellite imagery, altitude and distance measuring tools
will eliminate most surprises like, “I didn’t know that hill was so steep.”
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