Encinitas Copper Mine...

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.
In August 1903, The Evening Tribune reported that the Encinitas Copper Co. had ordered an 80-ton Huntington concentrator. Pending arrival of the machinery, roads were being built and other preparations made for doing business on a wholesale plan. The January 1, 1904, Union reported that development work on the ledges of copper-bearing ore at Encinitas had been started a few days earlier by the Encinitas Copper Mining and Smelting Co. which had just erected a mill for concentrating the ore. The mill had a capacity of about 60 tons a day and consisted of a crusher, Huntington mill, concentrating tables, engines and necessary fixings. There were about 1000 tons of ore on the dump running from 1% to 15% copper and an almost unlimited supply in the ground.

Again stories about the mines changed. By 1905, 5,000 pounds of copper was produced at about 12¢ a pound or around $600), not enough to keep them open. When World War I caused the price of copper to rise to 27¢ a pound, the mines were reopened and about 7,000 pounds were produced between 1915 and 1917 (worth about $1900). An attempt to reactivate the mines in 1925 failed and they have since been blasted shut.
Now all that remains is a hidden history lesson in a beautiful setting. Who knew?

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1 comments:

Four Points Bulletin said...

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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