Potholes Mining District, Chocolate Mountains, Imperial County, California, USAi

Regional Level Types
Potholes Mining District	Mining District
Chocolate Mountains	Mountain Range
Imperial County	County
California	State
USA	Country

A hydraulic placer Au mining area located in T15S, R23E, SBM, in the SE Chocolate Mountains, SE corner of the county, near the Colorado River, about 50 miles east of El Centro and 10 miles NE of Yuma, Arizona, W of the Laguna Dam. Nearly all of the gold produced here has come from dry desert placer deposits. The value of the total output is estimated at $2 million. The district was so named because the gold was found in small depressions or pots. Small-scale mining began here in 1775-1780, when California was under Spanish rule, and continued into the early 1800's when the state was under Mexican rule. The most productive period, apparently from the 1860's to the early 1890's, saw as many as 500 Mexicans and Indians working the dry washes. Winnowing was with blankets, and, later, hand-operated bellows-type dry washers were employed. Nearly all of these were one or two-man operations. When a deposit was worked out the miners would move on to another one, usually in the same district. These operations had mostly ceased by 1900, as the deposits were largely exhausted. Later, several attempts were made here and in the Cargo Muchacho and Chocolate Mountain districts to the west to work the dry placers by large-scale methods. All of these attempts failed because of high equipment and operating costs, erratic distribution of gold values, rough terrain, and scant moisture, which even in desert placers, makes it difficult to separate the heavy and light particles. Also, much of the easily recoverable gold had already been removed from these deposits.

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