THE HISTORIC FRANKLIN MINE

Located approximately two miles north-west of French Gulch in the French Gulch mining district and in Franklin Gulch was the Franklin mine. A lucrative producer of gold, originally located by pioneers John Syme and his mining partner John Souter in 1852. It became the second quartz mine in Shasta County. It was later owned by the Franklin Mining Company who named themselves after the mine they had purchased. About 1910, owners erected a small stamp mill on the property and began to crush the rock for the ore they were after. Between 1907 and 1912, the Franklin mine produced $350,000 from three of it's four levels of operations and the production continued through various owners. From 1907 through the 1940's this gold mine was worked by the Western Exploration Company- and, or their leases after the J.H. Scott Company leased it during the 1930s. The J.H. Scott Company owned it from the second World War on. It was then abandoned, and then in the 1960s the Franklin mine passed into the hands of the Mountain Copper Company of Martinez, California. Later on, different people bought it until the mine laid idled and abandoned again. Now it remains an interesting place to visit, but use caution, be alert and take the necessary equipment you need with you. Mines can be dangerous at times. Enjoy the video.

RESOURCES: 

Place Names of Shasta County by Gertrude A. Steger revision by Helen Hinckley Jones, ©1966 by La Siesta Press, Glendale, California

Mines and Mineral Resources of Shasta County, California – County Report 6 – by Philip A. Lydon and J.C. O’ Brien ©1974 by California Division of Mines and Geology