GEOLOGIC MAPS AND NOTES ALONG HIGHWAY 49 BOWEN AND CRIPPEN 



65 





An interesting side trip to the old placer and hydraulic mining 

 center of Volcano can be made via good paved road east from Sutler 

 Creek. The Volcano placers were discovered early in the 1850 's and the 

 town soon boasted a population of over 5000. The drive up Sutter Creek 

 canyon is scenic and the town of Volcano, although partly in ruins, 

 retains much of its early-day color. In common with Murphys and Colum- 

 bia, Volcano has not been modernized. There are several limestone caves 

 in the vicinity. 



Amador City, 2.2 miles northwest of Sutter Creek, is the locus of 

 another group of rich mines. The Amador Creek placers were located 

 in 1848 but were never very rich, and it was not until the first lode gold 

 strike in 1851 that Amador City begin to grow. Amador City has much 

 the same setting and background as Sutter Creek which it resembles in 

 many ways. Strangely enough, a Baptist minister made the initial dis- 

 covery in Amador County, which was first known as the Minister's 

 claim. Later it was developed into the Original Amador mine. 



The Original Amador, now a consolidation of six claims is a very 

 complex working comprising over nine miles of drifts, crosscuts, and 

 raises. These open off from a 1238-foot inclined shaft. Estimated total 

 production for this mine is $3,500,000. The Original Amador is located 

 about a fourth of a mile northeast of town. 



Best known and most productive of the Amador City mines is the 

 Keystone, located southeast of town. It dates from 1853, being a con- 

 solidation of several pre-existing claims. Ore from these had been milled 

 in arrastres from 1861 to 1863. The main shaft is 2680 feet deep along 

 an average incline of 52. Much of the ore taken from this mine was of 

 sulfarsenide or sulfantimonide type which is somewhat unusual among 

 Mother Lode ores. The total production of the Keystone is about $24,- 

 500,000. 



Immediately to the east of the Keystone is the South Spring Hill 

 mine, located in 1851. The South Spring Hill shaft is 1200 feet deep along 

 a 60 incline. Before passing into the hands of the Keystone interests in 

 1920, the mine had been credited with a production of $1,092,472. 



Highway 49 turns west at Amador City and follows along Amador 

 Creek for over a mile before turning north toward Drytown. The road 

 cuts are all in meta-andesite of the Logtown Ridge formation. A thick 

 section of this formation is exposed along this sector of the highway. 



Drytown was founded in the spring of 1848 when rich placer ground 

 was discovered there. Its heydey was prior to 1857 before the placer 

 diggings became exhausted. Drytown claims the distinction of being the 

 discovery point of the first placer gold taken from Amador County. 

 Division of Highways Historical Marker 21 is located near the junction 

 of Highway 49 and the Drytown-New Chicago-Amador City road. The 

 latter is paved and is an alternate route from Amador City to Drytown. 



Along this road are the old mining camps of New Chicago and New 

 Philadelphia and the productive Gover, Bunker Hill, Fremont, Italian, 

 and Treasure mines. The former two are credited with producing over 

 $5,000,000 each. Such picturesque names as Lower Rancheria, Bloody 

 Gulch, Rattlesnake Gulch, and Murderer's Gulch are connected with 

 placering in this vicinity. 



Highway 49 merges with Highway 16, 1.2 miles northwest of Dry- 

 town and bends sharply to the east for half a mile before continuing 

 northward into Plymouth. The history of Plymouth is connected with 

 the ups and downs of the lode mines nearby, which same were discovered 

 in 1852. The Plymouth Consolidated mine is the most famous one in this 

 vicinity. Like most other large Mother Lode mines, the Plymouth Con- 

 solidated is a merger of many old claims. At least 16 claims or parts thereof 

 were consolidated into the one property. Most of the ore is reported to 

 have come from the Simpson, Aden, and Oaks claims. The deepest part 

 of the mine is at least 4450 feet deep along a shaft which is partly 

 vertical and partly inclined. Although the veins are on a continuation 

 of the same Gold Thrust on which the Amador City and Sutter Creek 

 mines are located, the wall rocks in the Plymouth Consolidated are con- 

 fined to Mariposa slate. The total production of the mine has been esti- 

 mated at more than $13,500,000. The Plymouth Consolidated is the 

 most northerly of the major mines of the Mother Lode. Above Plymouth, 

 the veins contain much more limited ore shoots and finally fray out into 

 stringer lodes or veinlet stockworks. The workings in Georgetown, Garden 

 Valley, Greenwood, and Spanish Diggings are of this type. 



The old placer mining camp of Fiddletown can be reached by a 

 paved road leading east from Plymouth. Fiddletown was settled by Mis- 

 sourians in 1849. The somewhat picturesque name was changed to Oleta 

 in 1878 and still appears as such on most maps. 



PLYMOUTH TO PLACERVILLE MAP 6 



Northbound from Plymouth, Highway 49 changes its northwesterly 

 trend and goes almost due north for 12 miles. Over much of this distance 

 the road lies in a narrow valley close to the watercourses of Big Indian 

 Creek and the North Fork of the Cosumnes River. A mile above the old 

 mining camp of Nashville, the highway crosses Logtown Ridge and drops 

 into Logtown Ravine. The latter opens out onto low rolling meadowland 

 in the vicinity of El Dorado. The land surface from Logtown Ravine on 

 to Placerville has been resurrected by Quaternary erosion and the present 

 topography is much as it was in late Cretaceous or early Eocene time. 

 Bright red deeply weathered areas of the bedrock series and remnants of 

 Tertiary gravels are evidence of the transformation. 



The Amador Star and Bay State mines are in the vicinity of the 

 Enterprise schoolhouse, four miles north of Plymouth. These are located 

 on the west side of the highway and close to it. They are 40 years younger 



