![]() On the second floor are exhibits – how stamp mills work to crush the ore, assaying the ore to determine gold content (and value of the mine), hydraulic mining with pressurized water nozzles to wash away whole hillsides (practice was discontinued, due to flooding downstream), and abandoned ghost towns. ![]() Here kids can pan for gold, they’ll find real flakes in the bag of dirt.Ĭontinue up the ramp to a reconstructed hard rock mine tunnel, miners working away in the darkness with heavy hammers and dynamite (sound effects add to the effect). Step into a mining camp diorama (check out inside of the tent to see how a miner lived, tools are on the left). Sacramento History Museum, located 101 I Street, Old Sacramento, is open daily. Most eye catching are display cases filled with bright gold nuggets, gold coins, pocket watches, lockets, pendants, pins! Tip: To see an actual hydraulic mining site, visit Malakoff Diggins State Park, near Nevada City. Walk though a reconstructed mine tunnel, check out a large diorama of Sutter’s Mill where gold was discovered, and another diorama of hydraulic mining. On the second floor in the museum are exhibits, artifacts and photos of gold miners and mining camps. By 1849, Sacramento had hotels, stores (merchants made fortunes selling mining supplies), banks, a very busy waterfront. In the early days of gold rush, Sacramento was a boomtown where miners arrived from San Francisco by steamboat, then headed out to the gold fields. Visit four of our favorite California gold rush museums in Old Sacramento, Auburn, Coloma – Marshall Gold Discovery SHP, and Mariposa. When the “easy gold” was gone, miners began digging deep tunnels in hard rock to find veins of gold, then started hydraulic mining, using powerful nozzles to wash away whole hillsides and expose the gold.Īlong Highway 49 old mining equipment remains outdoors today, metal ore carts, stamp mills to crush the ore, giant wheels to carry away mining debris, and piles of gravel and sand left by hydraulic mining. ![]() In January 1848, gold was discovered by James Marshall, while building a sawmill for John Sutter on the American River.īy summer, mining towns popped up and prospectors were gold panning and digging up the Sierra Nevada foothills.Īt the beginning, miners could use gold pans or simple wooden “rocker” boxes to find gold flakes and nuggets near streams and rivers. Here’s our four favorite museums where kids can find out how the California gold rush began, life in boom towns, mining processes and tools, and, of course, see glittering gold nuggets. Spring, summer and fall are a wonderful time to explore California Gold Country. ![]()
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