French Gulch

The gold here outlasted the rush by a century and a half. The Washington mine, found in 1852 and the county's first quartz mine, was still being worked in 1990, when miners opened a rich new vein they called the Lucky 7, and a Nevada company bought it in 2004. The bronze's twenty million dollars is the modest figure; a mining history puts the district past thirty million. St. Rose Church, founded in 1856, is gone. A 2002 Clampers plaque on the old hotel tells the separate story of the French Gulch Hotel.

What the plaque says

French Gulch Founded nearby by French miners in 1849, the town of Morrowville, relocated here, was the center of one of the state's richest gold producing areas. Total production was over $20,000,000. One of California's first stamp mills operated at the nearby Franklin Mine. From 1856 to 1858 French Gulch was the trailhead on the western branch of the California-Oregon Trail. St. Rose Catholic Church was founded in 1856. As a supply and stopping place the town rivaled Shasta. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 166 First registered January 11, 1935. Plaque placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the Gertrude Moss Historical Fund, Shasta Historical Society and Trinitarianus Chapter #62, E Clampus Vitus, July 24, 1993.

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Whiskeytown — 5.8 mi
• Pioneer Baby's Grave — 9.8 mi
• Old Town of Shasta — 10 mi
• Father Rinaldi's Foundation of 1856 — 11 mi