Very quickly, Coloma became the home to all sorts of Argonauts looking for gold. It was gold, and life would never be the same in California. On January 24, 1848, Marshall spotted something glittering in the millrace, which was the channel through which river water powered the mill. James Marshall was tasked to inspect a sawmill being constructed in the Coloma Valley, part of a settlement plan by John August Sutter who was looking to build a colony called New Helvetia (current day Sacramento). Here are seven ghost towns in California worth visiting to see traces of the American West and its mining history. Many of the best sites have been converted into state parks and can still be visited to get a taste for this intriguing part of life in the Old West. Related read: 7 Facts You May Not Know About the Conestoga Wagon 7 California Ghost Towns to ExploreĬalifornia is host to numerous precious metal mining ghost towns from the Old West, and many times the only question is how long they will last. “Our heritage has gone up in flames,” said Paul Russell, the assistant director of the Plumas County Museum. However, in August 2021, the massive Dixie wildfire hit, incinerating the ghost town to the ground. People came to recognize the significance of Rich Bar and there were plans to restore some of the buildings. Rich Bar’s population peaked at 1,000 residents.Īs with many gold rush towns in California, when the gold ran out, the town declined, until all that was left was the old Kellogg House, a cemetery under which the town fathers were buried and forgotten, and some homesteads. But their motivation was clear: Rich Bar saw an output of some $9 million in gold, plus $23 million from the camps in the nearby area. So isolated was the settlement that some settlers froze to death in their attempts to reach it. It was established in 1852 above a mining camp at Feather Creek which attracted prospectors initially because of rumors of a lake of gold. Such was the case of Rich Bar in Plumas County in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Their goal was to strike it rich quick, and all were willing to pick up stakes at the hint of gold. These men were usually Argonauts, alluding to the ancient Greek myth of the quest for the golden fleece.
These seven ghost towns in California show glimpses of just how the ’49ers lived in their pursuit of riches and new opportunities.Īfter the discovery of gold in California in 1848, thousands of prospectors stampeded to the West.
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