Ghost Town USA’s
Guide to
the Ghost Towns, Mining Camps,
and Other
Formerly Inhabited Places in
MARIPOSA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
Locations beginning with B
B & B MINE
One of several mines operating in the Saxton
Creek area of the Whitlock
Mining District. Actual location
not determined.
BADGER MINE
AKA
– Prescott Vein
Located at Hornitos, this hard rock
gold mine operated in the 1850s and yielding about $80,000 in gold.
BAGBY elevation 1000’
AKA – Benton Mills
The gold mining and milling town of Benton Mills was located on the south side of the Merced River just east of the SH 49 bridge.
Later it expanded to the north side of
the river. The old town was flooded in
1967 by the waters of Lake
McClure. Foundations and ruins
are still visible in low-water years. PHOTOs! An
excellent write-up about Bagby and this time period
is on Carolyn Feroben’s Mariposa County (CA)
Genealogy and Historical Research BAGBY web
page.
BAGBY MINING DISTRICT
Centered around Benton Mills/Bagby on the Mother Lode gold belt, there were quite a
number of mines located here. For more
information and a listing of the mines, see the detailed listing for Bagby.
GUDDE
says in CGC
that this old gold mining camp was shown on an 1851 map just west of Quartzburg.
BANDARITA
...SEE
Coulterville
BANDARITA MINE
Discovered
in 1856, this hard-rock gold mine is located about seven AIR miles north of the
Mountain King Mine at the confluence of the North Fork of the Merced
River with Gentry Gulch, about eight AIR miles east of
Coulterville. It once had an eight-stamp
mill and produced about $1.5 million in gold.
It was in the Greeley
Hill Mining District, which is part of the larger Kinsley
Mining District.
BANDERETA
...SEE
Coulterville
BARCROFT MINE
AKA – Enterprise Mine
This gold mine located in the Hornitos
Mining
District was active off and on between the early 1880s through 1940 or so. It was originally discovered and worked by R. W. BARCROFT.
During the 1950s it was known as the Enterprise Mine. Exact location not determined.
BARRETT CITY
Another minor gold camp
along the Merced River covered by Lake
McClure. It
was located about six miles north of Exchequer.
BARRETT MINE
A hard rock gold mine located directly on
the Mother Lode vein system. Location
not determined. May
have been at or near Barrett City.
BEAR CREEK (#1)
AKA – Bear Gulch
This 1850s era gold-mining camp was located
about 1.5 miles southeast of Briceburg, northeast of
Mariposa. DeLorme shows the creek flowing from an area
near Midpines to the Merced
River at Briceburg, roughly parallel to
SH 140. Exact location of this Bear
Creek Mining Camp is not determined.
In 1855, Moses MOCK and a Mr. HUMPHREY
built a sawmill
here.
The
Bear Creek School was once located here, and is shown
on an old map near the junction of SH-140/Triangle Road near Mid Pines. It may not have been active at the same time
as the mining camp.
For
details on the below listed mines, follow the links to the appropriate
alphabetic listing pages.
·
KING SOLOMON MINE (#1)
·
PIEDRA DE GOZA MINE
·
ROMA
MINE …SEE
Piedra de Goza Mine
·
SIERRA RICA MINE
…Also SEE Humphrey & Mock Sawmill
In
1949, the James H HENRY dredge and dragline was operating along
Bear
Creek, about three miles west of Mt. Bullion.
DeLorme shows this Bear Creek west
of SH 49, flowing from the Bear Valley area southeast towards Mt. Ophir, thence
south to Carson Creek, west of Mariposa.
Exact location of this Bear Creek Mining Camp is not determined.
...SEE Bear Creek #1 (above)
Listed
in CHAMBERLAIN’s The Call of Gold as one of the
unique place names in the Coulterville-Yosemite Road region. No location is given. I assume it would be somewhere between
Coulterville and Yosemite Valley.
BEAR VALLEY
(CHL #331)
AKA – Biddle’s Camp, Biddleville, Campo
del Oso, Haydensville, Johnsonville, Simpsonville
This
major gold mining town was located on SH 49 northwest of Mariposa, and grew to
a population of about 3000. This was in
the heart of John C. FREMONT’s
“empire.” To view the PHOTOs!
Go to the individual site page.
A
post office was established here in 1890.
It is located along Becknell Creek, on a rural road just east of the Ben
Hur Road, at a point 13 miles south of the junction of Ben Hur Road/SH 49, at a
point just east of Mormon Bar. In 1990
the area’s population was 50.
...SEE Bagby
BERETTI
MINE
A
gold mine located in Hunter Valley. The exact location not determined.
…SEE
Sawmills
for a listing of the various sawmills in Mariposa County.
BEXTER
WHITE & COMPANY’S SAWMILL
Located
at Millville, this sawmill was built in
January 1854.
...SEE Bear Valley
...SEE Bear Valley
Located
in the Coulterville Mining District. Actual location not determined.
Located
near Hornitos, this mine showed some activity in the 1949-1950 period. Actual location not determined.
On
SH 49, at the top of Big Spring Hill, 2.2 miles east of Mormon Bar and 3.9
miles west of Bootjack. Hydraulic mining
took place here. This was also the first
Mariposa County homestead for the PRESTON
family.
This
1870s group of gold mines was located in the Cat Town Mining District. Actual location not determined.
One
of several mines in the Jerseydale Mining District. Actual location not determined.
A
gold mine located in Hunter Valley. The exact location not determined.
Listed
in CHAMBERLAIN’s The Call of Gold as one of the
unique place names in the Coulterville-Yosemite Road region. No location is given. I assume it would be somewhere between
Coulterville and Yosemite Valley.
BOB
McKEE MINE
This
gold mine was located in the Kinsley Mining District. Actual location not determined.
This
location was probably was probably an 1850s era placer gold mining camp located
along the north side of the Merced River east of Bagby, based on the
description of another mining camp called Washington Flat (#1).
…SEE
Washington Flat (#1)
This
small mining camp was home to the Cherokee/Shimer Mine, and a ten-stamp mill
from 1858 until at least 1863. It was
located at or near the Bondurant Mine.
It was in the Greeley Hill Mining District, which
is part of the larger Kinsley Mining District.
This
gold mine was named after its owner, the first County Judge James A BONDURANT,
and was located about ľ mile west of the North Fork of the Merced River, about
eight AIR miles east of Coulterville, at the east end of Bondurant Road. It operated off and on between 1856 and 1942,
producing $390,000 in gold. This is also
the probable site of the mining camp of Bondurant. It was in the Greeley Hill Mining District, which
is part of the larger Kinsley Mining District.
An
1850s era placer gold mining camp located on the south side of the Merced River
a mile east of Benton Mills. It had a post
office between 1855 and 1860. It was
named after Stephan BOND,
who operated the store and post office.
Listed
in CHAMBERLAIN’s The Call of Gold as one of the
unique place names in the Coulterville-Yosemite Road region. No location is given. I assume it would be somewhere between
Coulterville and Yosemite Valley. A
Boneyard Creek is shown on the DeLorme Atlas map flowing south
from Jackass Ridge (four miles north of Coulterville), to Maxwell Creek (about
one mile northeast of Coulterville). It could possibly be in that area. (GBS)
Located in the Bonnet Garden area.
…SEE also Bonnet Garden
(above).
Located
at the junction of SH 49/Darrah Road, 4.8 AIR miles east-southeast of
Mariposa. A one-room school was once located here.
In
2002 it consisted of a small core of commercial buildings on the north side of
SH 49. In 1980 the population was listed
as 25, but in 1990 the area population was listed as 1295. Where they all
live, I have no idea, as there is really no town per se. (GBS)
Located
on the east side of the North Fork of the Merced River, 0.5 miles east of the
junction of the Buck Meadows/Old Yosemite (Greeley Hill) roads, six miles east
of Greeley Hill. This old tourist
attraction began to draw folks to it in the mid 1850s, when miners discovered
it. Stairs were built into the cave, and
a number of buildings, including a hotel (in 1881) were erected to serve the
tourists. In the early 1950s a fatality
caused the cave to be closed to the public, and by the 1970s it was nearly
forgotten.
Listed
in CHAMBERLAINs The Call of Gold as one of the
unique place names in the Coulterville-Yosemite Road region. No location is given. I assume it would be somewhere between
Coulterville and Yosemite Valley.
Along
the Merced River at the junction of SH 140 and Bull Creek Road, nine AIR miles
east-northeast of Bear Valley, and nine AIR miles (15.1 road miles) north of
Mariposa. Established in 1909 as a
resort (#1) along the north side of the river when William BRICE
moved a house and store here. In the
1920s a convict work camp was located across the river. When it was abandoned in 1926, BRICE
moved to the south side (#2) of the river.
This
early 1850s-1860s gold mining camp was located on Agua Fria Creek and White
Rock Road, about five miles southwest of Mariposa. In 1852 Andrew CHURCH
operated a store here.
The
Washburn Mine was also located here.
One
of a dozen or so gold mines located at Hite’s Cove. Actual location not determined.
(Bert)
BRUCE’S SAWMILL:
Bert
BRUCE built the Circular Sawmill in 1912. Location not determined.
(Jay)
BRUCE’S SAWMILL
The
location of this c1913 sawmill is not determined.
An
old mine located on the north side of Lake McClure, just east of the confluence
of the Piney Creek Arm with the main part of the lake.
Listed
in CHAMBERLAIN’s The Call of Gold as one of the
unique place names in the Coulterville-Yosemite Road region. No location is given. I assume it would be somewhere between
Coulterville and Yosemite Valley.
There
is a Buckhorn Flat located along Buckhorn Creek about 3.5 AIR miles southeast
of Coulterville.
Could
this be the same location? (GBS)
Location
not determined, but there is a Buck Meadows shown on the DeLorme Northern California Atlas at
the junction of SH 120/Buck Meadows Road, just south of the county line, about
10.5 AIR miles northeast of Coulterville.
In
my notes I have a Buckeye located at the junction of the Old Yosemite Highway
and the Mt. Bullion Road. I know nothing
else about it. (GBS)
A
hard rock gold mining district located about eight miles south of Mariposa,
possibly in the Ben Hur Area. The mines
were worked intermittently between the 1860s and 1941. A Buckeye Hill is located about 1.7 AIR miles
south of Ben Hur.
In 1869 there was a 4-stamp mill
here, and in 1870 there was an 8-stamper.
For
details on the below listed mines, follow the links to the appropriate
alphabetic listing pages.
·
GRANITE KING MINE
·
LIVE OAK MINE (#2)
This
one-room school was probably located in the Sweetwater Mining District. In 1884 Miss Sadie ULEN was the teacher.
Actual location not determined.
This
gold mine was in the Colorado area of the Whitlock Mining District, and operated
between the 1850s and the 1930s. In 1851
a gold mill operated here. Actual
location not determined.
…SEE Feliciana Creek
This
hard rock mine was located west of Trabucco Creek east of SH 140, about 1.9 AIR
miles southeast of Briceburg, in the Whitlock Mining District.
BUFFALO
MINE (#2)
One
of several mines located in the Jerseydale Mining District. Actual location not determined.
No
detailed information on this mining district found. This may be another name for the Kinsley Mining District.
This
1850s gold mining camp was located five miles northwest of Mariposa. GUDDE
notes in CGC that: “This is NOT the same place as Mount Bullion.”
This
gold mine was located in the Kinsley Mining District. Actual location not determined.
Located
at Hite’s Cove, this old mine was first
known as the Squirrel Mine. It was
discovered in 1851 and had one of California’s first stamp mills operating
here.
This
creek flows from near the junction of Hornitos Road/CR J16, south about seven
AIR miles to Burns Reservoir. The
reservoir is 12 AIR miles northeast of Merced, in Merced County, just west of
the Mariposa County line.
From
1949-1951, the Thurman & Wright Dredge #3 was operating in “bench gravel”
along Burns Creek. It was the largest
operating dredge in the county at that time, and pulled about $650,000 in gold
from over five million cubic yards of gravel and sand. The activity was “near Hornitos.” In April 2002, the tailings were still (Apr
2002) visible along CR J16 north of Hornitos.
…also
SEE Burns Diggings (below).
AKA
– Burns Ranch, Burns Town
This
1848-1850s era placer, gravel and lode gold mining camp was located along Burns
Creek, southwest of Hornitos. GUDDE speculates in CGC that this may be the same camp
that grew into Quartzburg. The camp and
creek were named after John & Robert BURNS,
1847 era ranchers who had gold discovered on their lands in 1849.
…also
SEE Burns Creek (above).
…SEE Burns Diggings (above).
…SEE Burns Diggings (above).
In
the Granite Springs Mining District, which
is located in the upper northwest corner of the county, straddling the Tuolumne
County line, north of Lake McClure. Most
of the gold mines in the district closed down by the 1930s. The Burr Mine produced about $350,000 in
gold. Actual location of the mine is not
determined.
* * *
Return
to the GTs of Mariposa Co., CA Index Page
Detailed
information on individual locations:
AGUA FRIA | BAGBY | BEAR VALLEY | COULTERVILLE | HORNITOS | MARIPOSA | MOUNT BULLION
BIOGRAPHIES
| SOURCES
Also
visit:
Ghost
Town USA’s Ghost Towns of California
Also
visit: Ghost Town USA’s
Home Page | Site Map | Ghost Town Listings | On the Road Again |
Photo Gallery | Treasure Legends
CURRENT Ghost Town of the Month | PAST Ghost Towns of the Month
Ghost
Towner's Code of Ethics | Publications | Genealogy
| License
Plate Collecting
A
few LINKS to outside webpages:
Ghost
Towns | Treasure
Hunting | License
Plate Collecting | Genealogy
First
Posted: December 10, 2001
This
website and all information posted here-in is
copyright © 1998-2015
by Gary B Speck Publications
ALL rights reserved