The copper mine works on the Wilkins Ranch, 

 about 1903. Part of the structure is a residence. 

 National Park Service Collection. 



THE BOLINAS 

 COPPER MINES 



As the sawmills at Dogtown 

 finished stripping the surrounding gulches 

 of their redwood timber, another 

 consumptive industry was beginning in 

 the same area. During the Civil War in 

 1863 owners of the Union Copper Mining 

 Company, including Pablo Briones, opened 

 a mine in what they called Union Gulch 

 (the name probably derived from the 

 political orientation of its owners or 

 managers in support of the Union against 

 the Confederacy); another group, the Pike 

 County Mining Company, opened a mine 

 in Pike County Gulch about a mile south. 

 A newspaper noted in 1864 that the 

 companies were "pushing forward their 

 tunnels with vigor, and are sanguine with 

 success." The mine at Pike County Gulch, 



however, failed. Work continued at the Union into 1867, when Cantrill & McCormack 

 sought a rich ledge through hard rock. But the next year the mines were at a standstill, 

 the newspaper reporting that they were "rich in copper, but no silver to extract it." 

 Over the years the Union mine did ship several tons of ore out for reduction to England. 

 The mining boom occurred in many areas of the county, but most operations "fizzled". 

 The low price of copper and the high cost of transportation worked against gaining any 

 financial success. 



In the late 1860s William W. Wilkins purchased the property on which the mine 

 stood, and made agreements in 1875 with James K. Maddock and in 1877 with Joseph 

 Lauricella to "work continuously in prospecting and developing the mining interests in 

 [Union] Gulch." The next reported activity was in 1895 when a prospect shaft was being 

 sunk, revealing a 12-foot vein of "sulphurets of copper and iron." Fifty tons of copper at 

 $45 per ton was taken at that time. At some point around the turn of the century the 

 canyon was renamed Copper Mine Gulch. 



Wilkins leased the mines again in 1900 to Captain Thomas Whitelaw, who 

 "imported a lot of ancient mine machinery" and eventually turned the operation over to 

 "Wildcat" Pearson. After showing poor results and failing to pay laborers and creditors, 

 Whitelaw and Pearson were evicted by a court order brought by Wilkins, who had also 

 suffered the loss of cattle into the mine shafts. In 1917 and 1918 the Chetco Mining 

 Company worked the mines for the last time, removing 22,500 pounds of copper ore 

 which was transported by a small local schooner, the "Owl", to Pittburg, California for 

 processing. Chetco's operation, employing 25 workers and using up-to-date equipment, 

 developed the mine to its greatest extent and no doubt made the most profit of all the 

 attempts during the last half century. 



At least two tunnels, securely closed against intruders, remain at Copper Mine 

 Gulch, as well as remnants of the operation including foundations, rusty boiler and a 

 cabin site; the road from Dogtown to the mines can still be traced for much of the way to 

 the site. At least two tunnels, securely closed against intruders, remain at Copper Mine 

 Gulch, as well as remnants of the operation including foundations, rusty boiler and a 

 cabin site; the road from Dogtown to the mines can still be traced for much of the way to 

 the site. 



Sources: Toogood, Civil History, pp. 201-205; Mason, Last Stage, pp. 61-62; Marin 

 County Journal. April 8, May 2 and 9, November 11, 1863, June 11, 1864, March 16 and 

 30, April 13, 1867, and April 4, 1868; Leases Book B, p. 291, Deeds Book P, p. 460, 

 MCRO. 



76 



