California Gold Rush Legend
All US states have nicknames. New York is the Empire State. New Jersey is the Garden State. California is the Golden State. Its nickname comes from the California Gold Rush in US history. The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when a carpenter and sawmill operator, James Wilson Marshall (October 8, 1810 – August 10, 1885) discovered gold at Sutter’s Mill in California. This discovery caused more than three hundred thousand people inside and outside the United States of America to head to Northern California. He establishes the nickname for California to be the Golden State. Because the number of miners arriving in California peaked in 1849, all minors were called “Forty-Niners”. It later became the name of the San Francisco football team.
It’s about a three-hour drive to visit the original area of the California Gold Rush. One can use Interstate 580 East, Interstate 205 East, Interstate 5 North, Route 99, and Route 88 to get to Sutter Creek. Just before driving to the mining area, the visitor can rest in the center of Sutter Creek. The California Gold Rush created a popular movement to the West Coast and formed a Wild West period. Downtown Sutter Creek looks like it was from gunslinger days.
A fifteen minute drive brings you to the entrance of the Gold Mines. The mine is now for tourism purposes only. They are no longer looking for gold. There are no flashy signs or Vegas-style neon signs. However, since it is the original entrance, the visitor must respect it as a testimony to history. The door shows “Mine Tower”, but the entrance is small and old. The visitor must be careful not to miss the entrance to the parking lot as there are no directional signs for the driver to refer to.
The tour provides visitors with a tram ride deep into the mine. The inside of mine is lit, but parts of it are dim and almost dark. There are well-lit areas and they have wax figures that show the days that the minors worked. Upon entering the cave, the first thing you see is a bird in a cage. Now in the Mine Tour, the person and the bird are imitation wax dolls. It is noted that they kept a bird to know when the gas is spreading in the mine. The poor bird is the first to die to warn children that there is a danger of gas.
Although the minors inside are wax dolls, they display real tools and tools. Many of them look heavy and clumsy. Inside the gold mine is a complicated structure. A visitor finds a deep, straight pit after a long, gentle downward slope that continues for a distance. He shows that they did not have a specific excavation plan. They dug in the way the gold vein guided the miners.
A guide tells the authority that there are still two hundred million ounces of gold underground. Now the visitor must answer the tour guide’s last question if he expects to be a minor.