Early Lake County Colorado History

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History
of
California Gulch
and Lake County Area
in
Colorado

The history presented here is taken from several publications on the subject of mining in the region of Leadville Colorado. The books used are: Leadville: Colorado's Magic City by Edward Blair; The Carbonate Camp Called Leadville, by Don L. and Jean Harvey Griswold; The Birth of Colorado A Civil War Perspective,Duane A. Smith; It Happened in Colorado, by James A. Crutchfield; and Colorado The History of the Centennial State, by Carl Abbott, Stephen J. Leonard, and David McComb.

The discovery of gold in California Gulch, by Abe Lee in 1860, triggered the usual stampede of prospectors; within 4 months of the initial find, Oro City had more than 5,000 miners working a 5-mile segment of the gulch.

It is said that the area was called California Gulch because Mr. Lee exclaimed “By God I have California in this here pan.” Others say it was because so many of the prospectors had come from the California gold fields.
Because of the time of year the find was made, it is interesting to note how quickly word of the strike traveled and people began streaming into the area. As the Griswolds state in their book “Prospectors with their eyes brightened by the thought of gold and their fingers itching for the feel of gold rushed to the gulch by the dozens, then by the hundreds and finally by the thousands.”
Shelter was secondary to prospecting and rude tents and lean-tos were the main form of housing. Some lived in wagons which even , if large enough, served as a type of boarding house. Although families were not the norm wives came with some of the prospectors and made good wages in gold dust and nuggets in return for washing and cooking meals for the men who wanted only to hunt for gold.
The digging season lasted for six months. The form of mining that was used in the early days was placer mining. The men crouched over gold pans or rocked their sluice boxes or Long Toms (a box with ridges on the bottom that ore was put into and water used to wash away sand until only the ore remained traped in the ridges) . They rejoiced when a gleam of gold appeared in the box or pan. The hard work of the men paid off and the average made was $10 a day - a very large amount in the 1860s. Some of those who had claims in the richer part of the gulch made over $100 a day for their claim. It is said that more than $2,000,000 in gold came out of California Gulch in the first year.
While there was plenty of gold, getting it out was hampered by heavy black sand that clogged sluice boxes.

When the easily obtained ore dwindled, so did Oro City. Many of the residents where those who followed the latest word of a gold find and left the area in search of their dream. Some just moved back to camps in the vacinity of California Gulch. Georgetown, and Granite are two of the camps that attracted many of the prospectors.
In 1870 only a few residents remained in the Oro City area. They soon learned that while most people wanted the quick return from the fabled gold, that pesky black sand was carbonate of lead, and it was full of silver!

By 1878, the area that was once called California Gulch and Oro City gave way to the town of Leadville and a population of over 30,000 and a new era had begun.

                                                                      To be continued

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