We learned on atlas obscura that there is an old copper mine nearby and we had to learn more (plus it was a cool hike).
The Encinitas Copper Mine, part of the Escondido Mining District, was discovered in 1887 and was worked until 1917. Production size, when active, was considered to be small with operations consisting of underground workings.
Stories about the Encinitas Mine were varied and at times inaccurate. According to The San Diego Union C. W. Witham & Co. had some twenty teams at work hauling building material from San Diego to build a dam some 60 feet high across a gulch to form a reservoir. Quite a number of loads of cement, lumber and other material for the dam were already on the grounds. The Union reported a rich strike of copper ore at the mine, said to be one of the richest discoveries of copper in the west. A depth of twelve feet had been attained and at the bottom the ore gave indications of being very rich. ‘In the opinion of copper miners a find of this character invariably leads to a deposit of pure copper’. However Witham, and presumably the reports of the mine’s riches, turned out to be a fraud.
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1 comments:
Wow. A local copper mine?? Interesting!
We will check it out sometime.
I know you are a big fan of Atlas Obscura, but I never remember to check there.
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