Gold Run

The bronze blames a law that was never passed. It says the mines here stopped in 1882 when state law prohibited hydraulic mining. What stopped them was a pair of court rulings two years later: the state supreme court enjoined the Gold Run company itself in 1884, and Judge Lorenzo Sawyer's federal injunction of 7 January that year effectively ended the practice statewide. 1882 is the year the suit was filed. Five water ditches ran through this town to feed the monitors.

What the plaque says

GOLD RUN FOUNDED IN 1854 BY O. W. HOLLENBECK AND ORIGINALLY CALLED MOUNTAIN SPRINGS. FAMED FOR ITS HYDRAULIC MINES WHICH FROM 1865 TO 1878 SHIPPED $6,125,000.00 IN GOLD. FIVE LARGE WATER DITCHES PASSED THROUGH THE TOWN SERVING THE MINING COMPANIES WHICH HAD TO CEASE OPERATIONS IN 1882 WHEN STATE LAW WAS PASSED PROHIBITING HYDRAULIC MINING. STATE REGISTERED LANDMARK NO. 405 TABLET PLACED BY CALIFORNIA CENTENNIALS COMMISSION. BASE FURNISHED BY PLACER COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY. DEDICATED JUNE 25, 1950

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Empire Mine State Historic Park — 10 mi
  The oldest, deepest, richest hard-rock gold mine in California, with 367 miles of flooded tunnels underneath.
• Nevada City — 11 mi
  Gaslamps, brick storefronts, and the Nisenan who are still fighting to be recognized on their own ground.
• Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park — 14 mi
  A canyon washed out of a mountain by water cannon, and the lawsuit that ended hydraulic mining.

More markers nearby

• Dutch Flat — 2.5 mi
• Iowa Hill — 4.7 mi
• First Transcontinental Railroad - Colfax — 7.2 mi
• Yankee Jims — 10 mi