Having lived in Jamestown, CA for 15 years, Patty and I had a large, working gold mine in our backyard, up until the late 1990's. The Jamestown/Sonora area was on the southern end of what was, and is still known as "the mother lode". Our first stop yesterday was the empire mine state historic park, located in Grass Valley. This gold mine is at the northern end of the mother lode, and was one of the largest in the world, operating continuously from 1850 to 1956. During that time period of over 100 years, approx. 5.8 million ounces of gold was extracted from an underground tunnel network that was 367 miles in length.
In 1975, approx. 20 years after the mine closed, the State of California purchased the property, and it has been open to the public as a state historic park ever since. The Bourn family were the original owners of the mine, selling their interest to the property in 1929. The 4,600 square foot mansion that they called a "cottage" was opened for our group, and it was indeed impressive to see many of the original furnishings, and how the wealthy lived back in those days. The primary Bourn residence was south of San Francisco, and that estate, famous for it's gardens, is known as "Filoli".
A group picture in front of the "cottage".
After touring the cottage, and the recreation building which had a tennis court, bowling alley, billard room, and much more, we moved across the grounds to the actual mine. The main incline shaft went down over 4,000 feet, and we were able to go down a short distance. Not a good idea for those that have even a mild case of claustrophobia!
We had a picnic lunch at a park outside the Grass Valley Mining Museum, then toured the museum. The highlight of that tour was the world's largest Pelton water wheel. Using a high pressure spray of water, these wheels were the generating force that ran mining pumps, compressors, and later, electrical generators.
Our day concluded with a pot luck dinner back at the RV park, where we sang happy birthday to Ed Price, who was about to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his 39th birthday. After dinner, we had our chapter business meeting, and watched a slide show of previous rallies, that was put together by Barbara Westerfield. It was a busy day, and there's more of the same today.
Ed Price flew B-29 Bombers during WWII.
Chapter President Kurt Simon, presiding over our business meeting.
Grass Valley Fairgrounds RV park - $30 Cumulative - $80
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