A New Gold Rush Could Be Coming to California –
Panning for gold on Maxwell Creek in Coulterville, California. Photo by Glynn Wilson
Tales From the MoJo Road –
By Glynn Wilson –
COULTERVILLE, Calif. – In creating my very own version of literary journalism on the web over the past 20 years, as regular readers know I’ve often turned to Mark Twain and other American writers for inspiration.
When I made the cross country trip to California last fall, he was on my mind some, along with John Muir, of course, who is as central to the creation of this little town I’ve landed in as much as the gold in the hills and streams around here that started the California Golf Rush from 1848 to 1855.
“There’s gold in them thar hills … (and) there’s millions in it,” is a quotation often credited to Mark Twain’s character Colonel Mulberry Sellers from the 1892 novel The American Claimant. According to historians that’s not quite accurate, but it serves my literary journalism purpose to use it today anyway.
Due to place, timing, preparation and some luck, as usual, I had a chance to go on a short expedition panning for gold Sunday morning. And while we did have some fun and found a few gold flakes, the experience taught me in person how hard it must have been on all those who failed to cash in finding “color” in the dirt, sand, water and rocks even back then.
The promise of finding fortune if not fame drove many a poor man to travel all the way across the country and the world to be here in those days. And due to recent developments in technology, it could drive many more to come here again.
A local weekly newspaper ran a feature story this past week about a new potential gold rush in the area.
Officials with the Lode Gold company claim there’s not only gold in those Mariposa County hills, there’s a true Mother Lode.
“They picked the cherry and threw away the pie,” said Carlos Saban, a geological engineer and the technical adviser for Lode Gold, the company that owns more than 3,000 acres of property that once was the southern end of the California Gold Rush.
Mariposa County was on the fringe of the area where the Gold Rush began, as they report. The California Gold Rush began on Jan. 24, 1848, when James W. Marshall found gold flakes in the tailrace of a sawmill he was building for John Sutter along the South Fork of the American River in Coloma. The news transformed California in a few short years.
The state and local population exploded, and led to what would eventually be the attraction that became Yosemite National Park, which also impacted Mariposa County in a major way and still does.
The science shows that gold was formed here along a “continental scar” when two continents collided millions of years ago.
The company owns 3,351 acres along Highway 49 North and it is just beginning to explore using “safer” underground mining techniques, including using Artificial Intelligence and remote, robotic machinery to extract and sift out the precious metal from other rocks, like lead and crystal, often found in and around gold deposits. Some estimates indicate there could be 3 million ounces of gold still to be unearthed. With the current price for an ounce of gold hovering around $4,500 an ounce, that’s potentially billions in gold still out there to be found.
Any new gold rush news would also generate revenue and potential wealth from other side businesses – just as it did in the early Gold Rush days – as people flock into the area to see what the hubbub is all about.
This is not my first experience dealing with side business from gold. A cousin of mine was involved for years in the Gold Fest that takes place every year in Western North Carolina. They were well aware of the money to be made in tourism related to their Golf Rush history. I got an up close look at that scene a few years ago before and during the Covid pandemic. And wrote about it of course.
Now it’s happening here too, and will play a role in our creative semi-retirement non-profit business in creating the new community radio station at YosemiteRadio.Org, along with our new community garden and arts and crafts projects.
I must honestly and humbly admit that since arriving here the last of September and early October last year and building the radio station website and studio, I’ve had my moments of doubt that this would work for the long term. But my partners who helped lure me here in the first place, my good friends Jim and Nina Rhodes, have maintained a constant optimism, knowing the inspirational stories that exist here along with my particular history and skills.
“This is going to work,” Jim assures me every Friday night in our weekly meetings at the Old Johnny Haigh Saloon on Main Street.
This week, I began to see the light as well. It reminded me of scenes from the movie “Shakespeare in Love” staring Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes, Judi Dench, Ben Affleck, Geoffrey Rush, Colin Firth and Tom Wilkinson.
At various moments in the film, when Shakespeare’s plays seem to be on the verge of disaster and failure, characters repeat versions of this line.
“Strangely enough, it all turns out well,” Fennyman says at one point.
“How?” ask other characters, who see disaster on the horizon.
“I don’t know,” is the answer. “Its a mystery.”
More Photos
Panning for gold on Maxwell Creek in Coulterville, California. Photo by Glynn Wilson
Panning for gold on Maxwell Creek in Coulterville, California. Photo by Glynn Wilson
Panning for gold on Maxwell Creek in Coulterville, California. Photo by Glynn Wilson
Panning for gold on Maxwell Creek in Coulterville, California. Photo by Glynn Wilson
Panning for gold on Maxwell Creek in Coulterville, California. Photo by Glynn Wilson
The view of the Coulterville Museum and Hotel Jeffery from the little bridge over Maxwell Creek: Photo by Glynn Wilson
The view of the Coulterville Museum and Hotel Jeffery from the little bridge over Maxwell Creek: Photo by Glynn Wilson
