LEGENDARY MINING LORE: GOLD NUGGETS OF HISTORY

Newcomers Frederic Rochon, a native of New York, and his Canadian partners Levi Longfield, and John Hayett, arrived from lower California and settled at Shasta together in the early months of 1870. After their arrival, they immediately located a placer mining claim on Spring Creek. After that, their mining activities took-off with them earning fair wages from this mining claim prior to making the biggest discovery of their lives. Then, on June 25, 1870, this trio discovered the largest gold nugget ever found along the channel of Spring Creek, about where the present-day town of Keswick is today.

They had successfully removed a large boulder in a bar on the channel of the creek, beside a Cottonwood tree which was growing on the bank above them, with their mining tools, when Rochon immediately picked up a lucrative gold nugget with his hand. This gold nugget contained no quartz, nor any other substance, as it was pure gold. Excitement rang out amongst themselves, and they immediately widen their perimeter before leaving the area in hopes of finding more specimens of gold nuggets. 

Then, they departed their mining claim to return home to Shasta where this gold nugget was placed on a scale at a local business. It weighed in as being fifteen pounds and four and a half ounces in gold. It was then valued at $3,200. Up-to-this-date, the main theory was that the mining claims along Spring Creek had been “worked-out", and this find created a brand-new mining boom to Spring Creek but eventually the excitement died out.

This gold nugget gave Rochon fame and fortune with state wide media coverage. Rochon barely credited his partners with any glory nor profit from this discovery. Some media outlets claimed that this was the largest gold nugget ever found in Shasta County history. 

As for Longfield and Hayett they departed the area and never returned. Rochon trusted the gold nugget to be handled by Doctor Benjamin Shurtleff, of Shasta, and his wife, Mrs. Ann (Griffith) Shurtleff who helped Rochon get it properly assayed, documented and photographed. It was their son George Shurtleff who took it to San Francisco with him for exhibition purposes on behalf of the owner and he immediately returned it to Rochon upon his return to Shasta.

There are two stories of how this gold nugget was sold, one version claims that it was sold to Charles McDonald, of Shasta, for $3,600, and the other version claims that it was sold to Santin & Everett, of San Francisco, for $3,200. Rochon eventually moved from Shasta to Round Mountain after selling this gold nugget, and later on, he relocated from Round Mountain to Bells, in Shasta County. Then, in November of 1873, another miner not affiliated with Rochon found a $300 gold nugget near the location of Rochon’s discovery site, and Rochon was in the news again because of this discovery.

Rochon worked in various careers during his lifetime, he was a laborer, a miner, a lumberman, and a carpenter. Rochon died at the Shasta County Hospital in Redding, on November 25, 1907, at the age of ninety-four years old. Years later, in 1921, Rochon's gold nugget was remembered when local residents Joseph Miller and John Stein found a gold nugget weighing nineteen pounds and two ounces along Motion Creek which was valued between $4,500 and $5,200. However, various reports claimed it weighed more than that, which wasn’t the case, immediately it became the largest gold nugget ever found in Shasta County, up-to-that-time. This gold and lore tale are a few of the legendary mining stories of Shasta County.

Above: gold in a scale being weighed, obviously not as large as the gold nuggets mentioned in this article but it gives you a visual of how gold was weighed. Courtesy of Shasta Historical Society.

Resources: 

1870 U.S. Census

A Big Specimen And How It Was Found - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, July 2, 1870

That Nugget - The Sacramento Daily Union newspaper of Sacramento, July 7, 1870

Shasta County - The Marysville Daily Appeal of Marysville, November 22, 1870

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, November 29, 1870

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, November 29, 1873

1876 Great Register of Shasta County

1880 U.S. Census

Largest Nugget Of Gold - The Daily Free Press newspaper of Redding, May 26, 1898

That Spring Creek Nugget - The Daily Free Press newspaper of Redding, May 28, 1898

Redding - The Chico Record newspaper of Chico, August 29, 1906

Fredrich Rochon -The Colusa Daily Sun newspaper of Colusa, November 27, 1907

Frederic Rochon in the California, U.S., Death Index, 1905-1939

Gold Nugget Worth About $4,500 Found In Redding Section - The Sacramento Daily Union newspaper of Sacramento, February 15, 1921

$5,200 Gold Nugget From Shasta County Melted At SF Mint - The San Francisco Call newspaper of San Francisco, February 15, 1921