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| Miners use a dip box to recover gold from a Humboldt County beach |
This 78-year-old rare report locates all the gold mines — nine pages of them — in 1941 Humboldt County, California.
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| Miners work the sluice at the Pearch mine. Trestle at the Two States Mining Company, below right. | | One of the more interesting features of Humbldt gold: MINERS EXTRACTED GOLD FROM BEACH SAND -- WOW!!!
The report also has a review of recent developments in California tungsten mining, including a look at Inyo County's Pine Creek mine, near Bishop, which employed 400 men and was processing 1,400 tons of ore daily at the time of this report.
I have never seen another one of these reports offered for sale on ebay in 23 years of buying and selling mining and geology books.
This is not a reprint. It's a first edition. This report is considered primary source material. And the book itself is in good condition, one of the best copies that I have seen of this rare fragile title. So buy it now or forever hold your peace. Once it's gone, it's gone.
Rich gold deposits
Humboldt County is not an area that comes to mind when you think of California gold production, but it has produced "millions of dollars" in gold since 1880, according to this report. In fact, gold was "the chief metal mined" when this report was written. Miners even had success working placer deposits on Humboldt County beaches. That's right, miners were extracting gold from common beach sand! And this report, of course, tells you which beach had that gold-laden sand! Locates mines with coordinates
One of the real values of this report is that it locates almost all of the mines in infallible range-and-township coordinates! Just plug them into your GPS or look them up on the appropriate topo. Yes, there are photos of the more interesting or important mines (see scans elsewhere in this ad). Because this report lists mine owners and different names for the same mine, it is also a valuable tool for collectors of stock certificates. Some mine descriptions contain brief histories of the mines in question (including dates of actual production) and previous owners. Gold mines described
Here are some of the gold mines described in the text: - Crothers Property, 1.5 miles of ocean beach near the Humboldt–Del Norte County line (exact coordinates are given) — "In July 1940, one man was making a living from the beach sand by means of washing it with a dip box and salt water. Gold was recovered by means of expanded metal lath of about one-quarter inch mesh over burlap and canvas." J. H. Crothers, 328 E. Street, Eureka, the owner of the land, "stated that John W. Sword, 367 Euclid Ave., Oakland, was planning to install equipment for work on a larger scale."
- Murray mine, six miles up the Klamath River from Orleans — A hydraulic mine that has been worked on and off for years. "Plans also called for raising dams at reservoirs to supply water for two shifts instead of one. A high-line cable and hoist powered by an automobile engine are provided to pile boulders of a maximum weight of two tons ... Three to six men under James Sage work from October to June."
- Liberty mine, on Little wilder Creek, 10 miles by mountain road from Orleans — According to the report, this mine had potential, but for whatever reason was essentially idle at the time of the report. Hopefully, it's still idle, and you can walk right in and begin mining where the original claimholders left off 60 years ago. The white-quartz ore only averaged $10 a ton ($125 a ton at today's gold prices), but the vein strikes into a hillside at the northeast end, the perfect place for a new adit (tunnel), according to the report.
- Mule Trail placer — A recently discovered deposit with work just beginning at the time of this report. "Substantial amounts of gold have been developed by means of a trench, 600 feet long, 4 feet wide and 20 feet deep. Gravel ranges in depth from 15 to 18 feet."
- Pearch mine, on 180 acres northeast of Orleans on the dirt highway to Happy Camp — During the water season, the mine is open 24 hours a
 day and worked by 10 men. Official production for 1939 was 154 ounces of gold and 23 ounces of silver. There's no doubt that these figures — like all production figures quoted in this report — were just a fraction of the real total production. No mine owner in his right mind would report anything close to the real total amount of gold mined. Higher production means that workers would want more money in wages, and the government would want more money in taxes and leases. The mine owner would be better off throwing his money in the river than declaring correct worth.
- Nichols mine, eight miles from Orleans at an elevation of 1,000 feet — "Early in 1940, a pit roughly 150 feet by 100 feet by eight feet deep had yielded $700 in gold ... Plans call for the installation of a one-cubic-yard dragline outfit to work bars of the present stream, which are said to be much higher in grade than the gravels of the terrace."
- Plus more mines, for gold and other minerals, large and small, active and abandoned, famous and forgotten.
Treasure trove of information
How can you look for "color" in Humboldt County if you don't know where the most productive areas are? Why waste weekends randomly digging and panning and sluicing? This book will lead you to the most likely areas to hit pay dirt!  | | West Coast Tungsten Companyconverted what was once a gold mill near Keeler, CA, to process tungsten ore. | | It's also a treasure trove of information for history buffs, bottle collectors, photographers, geologists, hikers, offroaders, rockhounds, prospectors, treasure hunters, metal detector enthusiasts — just about anyone interested in learning about, exploring or prospecting old mine sites in historic Humboldt County. This is not some gift-shop rockhound book; it was prepared by the California Division of Mines — written about miners for miners by miners. It's packed with geology information, ore value, mine-production stats, history, even claim holders' names and addresses. Of course, the report also covers other mineral resources of Humboldt: chromium, limestone, iron, manganese, mercury, mineral water, natural gas, petroleum and platinum. Tin and tungsten also covered
The report also contains an article on "Tin in California," plus "Developments in the Tungsten Resources of California." The latter article, which runs for 22 pages, has entries and photos on some of California's more important tungsten mines, including the huge Pine Creek mine, near Bishop in Inyo County, and various mines near Darwin, California, also in Inyo County, near Death Valley. Where is it?
Humboldt County is one of the north Pacific Coast counties with only Del Norte County between it and Oregon to the north. Adjacent counties are Sisikiyou, Trinity and Mendocino. Rivers draining this mostly mountainous county are the Mattole, Bear, Eel and Mad. The northern and northeastern parts of the county contain spurs of the Klamath Mountains and are drained by Redwood Creek and the Trinity and Klamath Rivers. The Book:
California Journal of Mines and Geology, Vol. 37, No. 4, October  1941, Quarterly Chapter of State Mineralogist's Report XXXVI, State Department of Mines, Division of Mines, San Francisco, six by nine inches, 159 pages total, about 29 are in "Mines and Mineral Resources of Humboldt County," by Charles V. Averill, mining engineer.
First and only edition, stiff paper covers. Condition is good to very good, one of the best copies of this rare fragile report that I have seen. Corners are bumped; owner's name on cover and some slight scribbling. Inside pages are very good to near fine, just some very slight edge discoloration. Spine is chipped but binding is strong. All in all, a very nice report for the collector of all things Humboldt.
Payment methods
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Feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions about the item or terms of sale. Do not wait until you have bought the item to ask about it. I post feedback once a week. Not responsible for typographikull errors. Good luck and thanks for bidding!  |
| Water cannon blast away at the Pearch mine. |  |
| Photo from book gives you an idea just how big the operation was at the Pine Creek mine, near Bishop, in Inyo County. | Cities, towns and nearby counties
Humboldt cities, towns and interesting sights include Alderpoint, Arcata, Benbow, Benbow Lake State Park, Blocksburg, Blue Lake, Bridgeville, Capetown, Carlotta, Dyerville, Ettersburg, Eureka, Ferndale, Fieldbrook, Fortuna, Freshwater, Grizzly Creek State Park, Harris, Honeydew, Hoopa, Hydesville, Kneeland, Lady Bird Johnson Grove, Lanphere Dune Reserve, Loleta, Lord Ellis Summit, Manila, McKinleyville, Miranda, Orleans, Patricks Point State Beach, Pepperwood, Petrolia, Phillipsville, Redcrest, Rio Dell, Rohnerville, Samoa, Schoolhouse Peak, Scotia, Shelter Cove, Shively, Showers Mountain, Trinidad, Weott, Whitehorn and the Yurok Indian Reservation. Nearby counties include Modoc, Lassen, Shasta, Tehama, Plumas, Butte, Glenn, Clousa, lake, Yolo, Sutter, Placer, Mono and Inyo. |