Hwy '49er: Mt. Ophir Mine Traditional Cache
Bouncing Bumble: Archiving this one.
Hwy '49er: Mt. Ophir Mine
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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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.
A Warning - Please be careful when caching in any areas
of the foothills. These hills are home to many creatures, including
slithering ones. Please be aware of your surroundings and keep a
watchful eye, especially if you have children with you while
caching.
Mt. Ophir Mine - This
hard rock mine was located at
Mount
Ophir
, which was in the Mount
Bullion Mining District. It operated off and on from the 1850s
through 1914. It yielded between
$250,000 and 300,000 in gold. Mount Ophir is now a ghost town, a few
foundations and rock walls still exist. See cache GC2M2W6 for more
details. The mine was located on the hillside on the other side of Hwy 49
from the cache site. There's a pull-out along the road at
GZ.
Sources: USGS Topographical Maps 1:24,000, 1973; Wikipedia.org;
Ghost Towns & Mining Camps of California, Remi Nadeau, 1999;
history.webroots. ancestory.com; Images of America - Mariposa County, Leroy
Radanovich, 2005.
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)