Our brief visit to Virginia City whet everyone's appetite to learn more about mining. Luckily, located only one hour from our cabin, is the Gold Bug Mine which not only represents the zenith of hard rock gold mining, it also boasts impressive engineering and preservation.

Once the third-largest city in California, Placerville swelled in size during the Gold Rush thanks to the precious metal found first in streambeds and rocky hillsides, and later underground. How awesome to explore the boomtown history of this El Dorado County town, here at Gold Bug Park and Mine. Once a working hard-rock mine, this attraction has been delighting visitors for more than 40 years with a hands-on look at the area’s motherlode-chasing past.







It is not known how much gold was removed! No records were kept though our guide told us enough was extracted to keep them in "Beans & Jeans", hmmm. During World War II the mines throughout the Mother Lode were closed by order of the President as gold mining was considered a non-essential industry and men were needed to go to war. By 1965, the property became part of the City of Placerville allowing history seekers a fabulous place in which to explore.
A more prolific mine was the Silver Pine, established by Chilean prospectors in 1848. It wasn't until 1888 that it became fully operational. One day we hope to explore it, too.
Always interesting is the Blacksmith Shop, located in the approximate location of the original shop, which worked to keep the stamp mill and adjacent Silver Pine Mine in operation.
Without the blacksmiths during the Gold Rush period, most mining outfits could not survive. The shops played an important role in the gold miner’s life, providing him with tools he needed. Many specialized and unique tools were developed to aid the miner in his quest for gold. Since it took so long for equipment to reach the gold fields from eastern markets, the blacksmith could produce and repair the required tools faster.
Our final stop was at the Joshua Hendy Stamp Mill, located in an enclosed in a stamp mill building which provided us with a full explanation of the gold extraction process from the ore.
The original Stamp Mill was built around the turn of the century as a community crusher for miners in the area. Rebuilt in the 1930s, the two sets of 4 stamps, when in full operation, could be heard in Placerville just one mile away. A working scale model graphically, and quite loudly, demonstrates the ore reduction process.
How interesting is this? An ounce of gold from 1888 would be worth approximately $680.20 today in US dollars, based on the purchasing power of that year's official price of gold ($20.67 per fine ounce) and accounting for inflation. The official U.S. price for an ounce of gold was fixed at $20.67 per ounce from 1834 to 1933. Today's price of gold is $3,656.20. What a difference 137 years makes.