In 1849 during the Californian Gold Rush when Downieville, California, was founded, it is said that you could fill a tin cup with gold in just a few hours. The Downieville area was dominated by white miners in the early days, but they left eventually and after them came the Chinese. It’s believed that many caches hidden by the whites and the Chinese are still there. The mining camps of Goodyear Hill and Nigger Tent are two of the most interesting places to search, as they were known meeting points for outlaws and road agents. One outlaw who buried treasure near Downieville was Joaquin Murrieta. The two caches was buried near Highway 49, one of them worth $75,000 and the other $125,000.
Gold finds through the years
1853 – A gold “nugget” weighing 227 pounds was supposedly found by the miner John Dodge in Slate Ravine, 1 mile East of Downieville. The nugget would be worth $4,358,400 in todays gold prices.
1870′s – A farmer named Cornish made a gold strike NE of Allegheny and near the old Hennis Pass Road. He collected $3,000 worth of nuggets and returned to his farm, where he died soon after from a mule kick. He took the location of the rich gold ledge with him to the grave.
Late 1800′s – Three men worked a rich gold claim in Castle Ravine near Downieville and after extracting $50,000 in gold, they concealed their claim and returned east to New York. None ever returned to the site to clean out the remainder of the pocket which has yet to be found.
May 14, 1904 – A gold nugget weighing 23 ounces was found.
October 8, 1904 – Three nuggets was found, valued at $265, $125, and $110, in 1904′s gold prices.
February 10, 1912 – 17 ounce from Warden Ravine 4 miles from Downieville.
1926 – A nugget valued at $1,800 was found near Galloway Ridge, near the head of Mount Vemon and Hungry Mouth Ravine.
February 1963 – A nugget of nearly 7 ounces was found near Ladies Canyon, above the bank of the North Yuba.
1974 – A potato-sized nugget weighing 25 pounds was found by 2 amateur gold dredgers in 1974 on the North Fork of the Yuba River near Downieville.
1975 – A gold seeker dredging on a river near Downieville found an old leather saddlebag containing nearly 200 $20 gold pieces.
1980 – A treasure hunter panned almost 4 ounces of gold nuggets in 6 hours on the Yuba River between Downieville and Sierra City.
A good place to start looking for leads is at the local library. Downieville is home to California’s oldest weekly newspaper, the Mountain Messenger, and many of the above gold finds were reported in that very newspaper. If you’re lucky the library may have an archive with old Mountain Messenger articles where you might find mentions of gold finds or outlaws near Downieville.
Taking up treasure hunting near Downieville might become a profitable hobby, or what do you think?
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