A TALE OF GOLD & LORE: THE RAMSHACKLE MINING COMMUNITY OF FRENCH GULCH.

Filmed on location.

On this episode of Exploring Shasta County history, we examine the origins and history of a ramshackle 1849 gold mining community in northern California called French Gulch. We explore the area and townsite and get an exclusive look inside an 1800s residential building which is still standing in town, featuring Eric Hall.

RESOURCES:

1852 California State Census

French Gulch - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, March 12, 1853

From French Gulch - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, March 26, 1853

French Gulch - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, April 16, 1853

From French Gulch - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, April 23, 1853

From French Gulch - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, May 14, 1853

A Rich Lead - Shasta Quartz - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, July 23, 1853

Mining On French Gulch - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, July 30, 1853

Salmon On Clear Creek - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, July 30, 1853

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, September 3, 1853

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, October 30, 1853

Big Licks - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, November 19, 1853

Dissolution - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, November 26, 1853

District Court for the 9th Judicial District - Shasta County, December 3, 1853

Tricks Of A Grizzly - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, December 17, 1853

Mining News - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, May 6, 1854

Election of Board of Directors for the Washington Quartz Company - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, February 17, 1855

Another Horrible Murder - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, April 7, 1855

Bishop Alamanni - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, June 9, 1855

Sheriff's Sale - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, June 9, 1855

Congregation of French Gulch Church - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, June 30, 1855

Attempted Assassination - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, June 30, 1855

District Court - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, June 30, 1855

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, August 28, 1858

Notice - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, September 4, 1858

Board Of Supervisors - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, September 11, 1858

Dissolution - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, July 27, 1861

Brill's Saloon (advertisement) - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, August 29, 1863

Officers of the Western Star Division, No. 88, S., of T., French Gulch (notice) – The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, December 10, 1864

French Gulch Mining District - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, July 15, 1865

Letter From French Gulch - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, July 29, 1865

Honeycomb - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, November 4, 1865

French Gulch - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, December 5, 1869

A Letter From French Gulch - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, February 12, 1870

I.O.G.T. - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, August 27, 1870

French Gulch Mining District - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, December 20, 1884

Gone To His Rest - The Republican Free Press newspaper of Shasta, January 8, 1887

French Gulch - The Free Press newspaper of Redding, June 22, 1895

A Shasta County Bullion Producer Re-Opened - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, July 1, 1899

Mines Booming In French Gulch District - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, July 10, 1906

John Syme Dies In French Gulch written - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, February 19, 1907

Invitation For Bids - The Record Searchlight newspaper of Redding, May 21, 1907

French Gulch Has A New Teacher - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, January 31, 1908

One Italian Murdered and Another Fatally Wounded - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, April 2, 1909

Ed King of French Gulch Dies at Bay - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, September 21, 1909

Rich Ore in Milkmaid - The Morning Union newspaper of Grass Valley, May 8, 1912

Odd Fellows To Dedicate New Hall - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, November 21, 1913

William Franck Sells Interest to Volney Fox - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, November 21, 1913

Second Oldest Mining Town In Shasta County Has Lure written by Hamilton L. Hintz  - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, December 28, 1929

French Gulch - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, January 12, 1937

My Playhouse Was A Concord Coach, an anthology of newspaper clippings and documents relating to those who made California history during the years 1822-1888, by Mae Hélène Bacon Boggs. Published by Howell-North Press ©1942

Dredges Bring Activities to French Gulch written by Earle B. Luby - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, March 6, 1947

Shasta County, California A History by Rosena Giles, published by Biobooks, ©1949.

French Gulch Road Planned - The Record Searchlight newspaper of Redding, March 22, 1949

French Gulch Opens Library - The Record Searchlight newspaper of Redding, March 2, 1950

Early Miners Gave French Gulch Name - The Record Searchlight newspaper of Redding, June 10, 1950

$9,000 Fire Menaces French Gulch - The Record Searchlight newspaper of Redding, April 13, 1955

French Gulch IOOF Lodge Marks 100th Anniversary - The Record Searchlight newspaper of Redding, July 18, 1958

You’ll Find 3-Foot Walls, Old Mines, Roses and Memories in French Gulch - The Record Searchlight newspaper of Redding, August 20, 1960 (Van Ness Home pic)

Flames Destroy Historic House in French Gulch - The Record Searchlight newspaper of Redding, February 17, 1961

Town Has Pioneer Store written by William Asbury - The Record Searchlight newspaper of Redding, June 4, 1965

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

Sleepy Church Awakens written by Jane Borgen - The Record Searchlight newspaper of Redding, July 19, 1966

Notice of Sale of Old French Gulch School - The Record Searchlight newspaper of Redding, February 20, 1967

French Gulch Theater Guild Organizes; Elect Officers - The Record Searchlight newspaper of Redding, July 22, 1967

French Gulch May Get A Theater - The Record Searchlight newspaper of Redding, May 10, 1967

Old Fashioned Soda Fountain Opens - The Record Searchlight newspaper of Redding, May 25, 1968

French Gulch Day to be Urged - The Record Searchlight newspaper of Redding, September 9, 1968

Five Partners Take Over Old French Gulch Hotel - The Record Searchlight newspaper of Redding, September 5, 1969

French Gulch's Historic Hotel Still Going Strong written by Marc Beauchamp - The Record Searchlight newspaper of Redding, May 15, 1970

Area Offers Concerts, Theater written by Mike Harris - The Record Searchlight newspaper of Redding, August 21, 1970

U.S., Appointments of U.S. Postmasters, 1832-1971

Oil Stove Caused French Gulch Fire - The Record Searchlight newspaper of Redding, January 18, 1973

Balma To Run Mail To French Gulch - The Record Searchlight newspaper of Redding, September 13, 1973

French Gulch: the Aura of the Old Days is Still With Her - The Record Searchlight newspaper of Redding, September 19, 1973

Take a Walk Down French Gulch’s Main Street - The Record Searchlight newspaper of Redding, September 20, 1973

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

French Gulch Bands Together During Rampaging Flood - The Record Searchlight newspaper of Redding, January 17, 1974

Old Mining Town of French Gulch Undergoing Changes - The Record Searchlight newspaper of Redding, April 29, 1975

Old Church Greets French Gulch Visitors written by Kathy Beasley - The Record Searchiight newspaper of Redding, August 18, 1977

Between The Lines the Catholic Church in Shasta County, California, 1853-1977, compiled by Veronica Satorius ©1978 Published by Graphic Arts Center, Portland, Oregon. Pages: 414

French Gulch: A Town That Refused to Die written by Dave Waddell - The Record Searchlight newspaper of Redding, August 12, 1981

Life Takes its Sweet Time in Scenic French Gulch written by Jon Lewis - The Record Searchlight newspaper of Redding, August 9, 1995

Glory Days Gone, But French Gulch Still Attracts written by Kennedy Smith - The Record Searchlight newspaper of Redding, August 14, 1996

Church Blaze Saddens Town written by Anne Hart  - The Record Searchlight newspaper of Redding, November 2, 1998

French Gulch Historical Marker in French Gulch

Jail Term Given In Church Arson written by Kimberly Bolander - The Record Searchlight newspaper of Redding, August 28, 1999

Anniversary of Arson Brings Hope for Rebirth written by Jim Schultz, November 19, 1999

Trial Is Delayed for Arson Suspect - The Record Searchlight newspaper of Redding, January 8, 2000

Arson Defendant Set to Plead Monday - The Record Searchlight newspaper of Redding, March 25, 2000

Man Pleads No Contest in Fire written by Maline Hazle - The Record Searchlight newspaper of Redding, March 28, 2000

Wind Fans Blaze Near Community written by Gigi Sanchez - The Record Searchlight newspaper of August 10, 2001

Branch on Power Line Caused Blaze written by Gigi Sanchez - The Record Searchlight newspaper of August 11, 2001

A Celebrated Producer of Gold: the Washington Mine by Jeremy Tuggle - The  Record Searchlight newspaper of Redding, November 11, 2016

The Niagra Mine at French Gulch

Above: inside the adit of the Niagra mine at French Gulch. This mine is on private property and this photograph taken with permission. This photograph was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on January 14, 2023.

This quartz mine (or hard rock mine) is currently part of the Washington mine holdings at French Gulch in the French Gulch Mining District of Shasta County, just off of present-day French Gulch Road. It is located on private property. Although, this mine is not as old as the Washington mine, which was located by John Souter and John Syme in 1852, the Niagra mine was located nearby that historic mining property in 1857 while prospectors were chasing a vein of quartz which immediately excited the prospectors into digging out this adit and creating a main haulage tunnel for the mine at that time. Twenty-seven years later, in 1884, the mine was owned and operated by William T. Coleman, of San Francisco, who kept his men busy at blasting out new drifts of this mine, and his miners extracting the ore it produced. Then in 1891, this mine contained five drifts inside it which had been established over the years.

Inside, the walls of this mine contained granitic porphyry and slate in which they found an abundance of minerals which included gold, pyrite, and silver among others. These five drifts of the Niagra mine varied in length and were recorded between 300-feet to 1,380-feet. At that time, the price of blasting out these drifts cost Coleman between $3.50 to $13.50 per foot. Coleman planned future extensions of these drifts as well. The Niagra miners put in raises and winzes (winzes were also known as vertical shafts) inside this mine. The deepest shaft at the Niagra mine was recorded at 480-feet deep. An ore chute which was measured at 400-feet long existed for an easier process of loading the ore into the ore cars situated on an ore car track below it so the ore can be dumped into these ore cars and taken to the surface of the earth to be milled and processed.

The Niagra mine had an impressive stamp mill on this mining property which included 18-stamps to crush the ore of the mine to obtain the gold they sought after. While the loose gold was salvaged at the stamp mill its gold were amalgamated and alloyed into bricks while using mercury in the battery on the plates at the stamp mill. This process is more commonly known as a pan-amalgamation. Ten of these impressive stamps weighed 850 pounds each while the additional stamps weighed 600 pounds each.

Work was steady at the Niagra mine from 1891 to about 1920, and the Niagra mine continued its production of gold after that, however, work came to screeching halt once the Great Depression occurred which made a major impact in the region. Various people came in and purchased this mine after that, but production notes were not kept for this mine as a single producer due to most of the production notes merging into one account for the entire Washington mine holdings. So, it's not known exactly how much this single mine produced but it was lucrative.

The Niagra mine is located five miles north-west from the townsite of French Gulch. Niagra Road in the townsite of French Gulch was named after this mine. In 2004, the French Gulch Nevada Gold Mining Corporation purchased this celebrated mining property as part of the Washington mine holdings; a subsidiary company owned by the Bullion River Gold Corporation of Reno, Nevada. Since that time, this mining property has been bought once more and its now an active clean-up site.

RESOURCES:

The Trinity Journal newspaper of Weaverville, June 7, 1884

Appendix to the Journals of the Senate and Assembly ... of the Legislature ... - Google Books

The Mines Handbook An Enlargement of the Copper Handbook - founded by Horace J. Stevens, 1900 - A Manual of the Mining Industry of the World by Walter Harvey Weed, New York City ©1920

Albers, John P., 1961, Economic geology of the French Gulch, Shasta and Trinity counties: California Division of Mines and Geology Special Report

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

A Celebrated Producer of Gold: the Washington Mine by Jeremy Tuggle - The  Record Searchlight newspaper of Redding, November 11, 2016

Touring The Historic Washington Mine