Hwy '49er: Red Cloud Mine

The Hwy '49er Series:  This is a series of caches meant to highlight some interesting and, maybe even, some more obscure historical facts about California's gold mining history.  Most of these caches will be placed in the Sierra Nevada foothills in the general vicinity of Hwy 49, the Gold Country Highway.  Highway 49 starts in the south at Oakhurst, Madera County, and continues generally northwest, weaving through many of the gold mining communities of Tuolumne, Calaveras, Amador, El Dorado, Placer, Nevada, Yuba, Sierra, and Plumas counties until it reaches its northern terminus at State Route 70, in Vinton.

An Invitation:  All local cachers are invited to add to this series of caches, placing and calling out new locations of gold mining history along highway 49.   New caches can be of any type according to cache publishing guidelines.  It would be great to see this series eventually run the entire stretch of Hwy 49.  Also, please share any information you may have about the postings in your logs.  There's bound to be some intersting facts out there that can be shared with everyone.

Red Cloud Mine, Hornitos - Just to the north of this cache, about 1/3 mile past the gate is the site of the Red Cloud mine, currently on private land.  This mine shouldn't be confused with the Red Clound mine and the mining district of the same name to the northeast, in the Greeley Hill area.    

Sources: USGS Topographical Maps 1:24,000, 1973; Wikipedia.org; Ghost Towns & Mining Camps of California, Remi Nadeau, 1999