Columbia Mining District, East Belt, Tuolumne County, California, USAi
Regional Level Types | |
---|---|
Columbia Mining District | Mining District |
East Belt | - not defined - |
Tuolumne County | County |
California | State |
USA | Country |
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Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):
37° North , 120° West (est.)
Estimate based on other nearby localities or region boundaries.
Margin of Error:
~20km
Type:
Köppen climate type:
Mindat Locality ID:
219373
Long-form identifier:
mindat:1:2:219373:4
GUID (UUID V4):
bcaeaee2-1fad-4211-8200-afab83329895
Location: This famous placer-mining district is in north-central Tuolumne County, in the vicinity of the old mining town of Columbia, five miles north of Sonora. It includes the Yankee Hill, Sawmill Flat, Squabbletown, Brown's Flat, and Springfield areas. The Sonora district is just to the south and the American Camp district lies to the northeast.
History: Columbia was one of the richest and most famous placer-mining districts in California. Early in 1850 a group of Mexican miners who had been forced off their claims at Sonora struck it rich here. Americans moved in and in turn forced them to leave. For a short period, the district was known as Hidreth's Diggings and American Camp, but it soon became "Columbia, Gem of the Southern Mines". During the 1850s and early 1860s, the diggings were enormously productive, the output averaging $100,000 (period values) or more per week. Columbia was one of the largest cities in California at this time, with an estimated population of 25,000 to 30,000. The district declined in the late 1860s, but small-scale mining continued until recently. The central portion of the old town became a state park in 1945 and is now a popular tourist attraction. Many of the famous old buildings have been restored. The value of the total production of the district has been estimated to be at least $87 million (period values), and some have put the figure as high as $150 million.
Geology: Columbia lies in a preserved Tertiary valley with pre-volcanic features. It is a flat valley that is underlain chiefly by crystalline limestone and dolomite of the Calaveras Formation (Carboniferous to Permian). The limestone has numerous deep potholes and cavities, which contained enormously rich gravel. Several very large nuggets and gold masses were taken here, including one that weighed over 50 pounds and several weighing more than 300 ounces. Slow degradation of the area in pre-volcanic times tended to concentrate coarse gold in this flat basin. It is south of the main Tertiary Stanislaus River. Vertebrate fossils were found in the gravels. In the earlyday mining operations, the gravels were hoisted from the potholes and washed through sluices and long toms on raised platforms.
Select Mineral List Type
Standard Detailed Gallery Strunz Chemical ElementsCommodity List
This is a list of exploitable or exploited mineral commodities recorded from this region.Mineral List
Mineral list contains entries from the region specified including sub-localities19 valid minerals.
Detailed Mineral List:
ⓘ Altaite Formula: PbTe Habit: Crystals are a combination of cubic and octahedral faces with trapezohedral and dodecahedral modifications Description: Occurs as crystals cemented by gold. |
ⓘ Calcite Formula: CaCO3 Fluorescence: Scarlet triboluminescence. |
ⓘ Chalcopyrite Formula: CuFeS2 |
ⓘ Galena Formula: PbS Localities: |
ⓘ Gold Formula: Au Localities: Reported from at least 30 localities in this region. |
ⓘ Graphite Formula: C Localities: References: |
ⓘ Kyanite Formula: Al2(SiO4)O |
ⓘ 'Manganese Oxides' Localities: |
ⓘ Marcasite Formula: FeS2 Localities: |
ⓘ 'Mica Group' |
ⓘ Petzite Formula: Ag3AuTe2 |
ⓘ 'Psilomelane' Localities: |
ⓘ Pyrite Formula: FeS2 Localities: |
ⓘ Pyrolusite Formula: Mn4+O2 Localities: |
ⓘ Pyrrhotite Formula: Fe1-xS Description: Occurs in quartz. |
ⓘ Quartz Formula: SiO2 Localities: Reported from at least 8 localities in this region. |
ⓘ Rhodonite Formula: CaMn3Mn[Si5O15] Localities: Madrid claim (Madrid property), Browns Flat, Columbia Mining District, East Belt, Tuolumne County, California, USA Stonewall Mine (Pedro prospect; Pedro claim), Browns Flat, Columbia Mining District, East Belt, Tuolumne County, California, USA Unnamed Mn occurrence [1], Rose Creek, Columbia, Columbia Mining District, East Belt, Tuolumne County, California, USA |
ⓘ Sphalerite Formula: ZnS |
ⓘ Sylvanite Formula: AgAuTe4 |
ⓘ Tin ? Formula: Sn |
ⓘ Tremolite Formula: ◻Ca2Mg5(Si8O22)(OH)2 Habit: Fibrous Colour: White Description: Occurs in marble. |
ⓘ Uraninite Formula: UO2 |
List of minerals arranged by Strunz 10th Edition classification
Group 1 - Elements | |||
---|---|---|---|
ⓘ | Gold | 1.AA.05 | Au |
ⓘ | Tin ? | 1.AC.10 | Sn |
ⓘ | Graphite | 1.CB.05a | C |
Group 2 - Sulphides and Sulfosalts | |||
ⓘ | Petzite | 2.BA.75 | Ag3AuTe2 |
ⓘ | Sphalerite | 2.CB.05a | ZnS |
ⓘ | Chalcopyrite | 2.CB.10a | CuFeS2 |
ⓘ | Pyrrhotite | 2.CC.10 | Fe1-xS |
ⓘ | Altaite | 2.CD.10 | PbTe |
ⓘ | Galena | 2.CD.10 | PbS |
ⓘ | Sylvanite | 2.EA.05 | AgAuTe4 |
ⓘ | Pyrite | 2.EB.05a | FeS2 |
ⓘ | Marcasite | 2.EB.10a | FeS2 |
Group 4 - Oxides and Hydroxides | |||
ⓘ | Quartz | 4.DA.05 | SiO2 |
ⓘ | Pyrolusite | 4.DB.05 | Mn4+O2 |
ⓘ | Uraninite | 4.DL.05 | UO2 |
Group 5 - Nitrates and Carbonates | |||
ⓘ | Calcite | 5.AB.05 | CaCO3 |
Group 9 - Silicates | |||
ⓘ | Kyanite | 9.AF.15 | Al2(SiO4)O |
ⓘ | Tremolite | 9.DE.10 | ◻Ca2Mg5(Si8O22)(OH)2 |
ⓘ | Rhodonite | 9.DK.05 | CaMn3Mn[Si5O15] |
Unclassified | |||
ⓘ | 'Psilomelane' | - | |
ⓘ | 'Mica Group' | - | |
ⓘ | 'Manganese Oxides' | - |
List of minerals for each chemical element
Localities in this Region
- California
- Tuolumne County
- East Belt
- Columbia Mining District
- Blewetts Point
- Experimental Mine (Schoettgen prospect)
- Hidden Treasure Mine [1]
- Old Tuolumne group (Old Tuolomne Consolidated; Old Tuolumne Cons)
- Radium No. 1 Mine
- Ridgeway Mine
- Rifle Mine (Riffle)
- Shanghai Mine
- Smooth Bore claim (Old Smooth Bore claim)
- Specimen Gulch placer claim (Never Give Up)
- Unidentified Au workings [21]
- Browns Flat
- Belmont claim
- Browns Flat placer claim
- Don Pedro Mine
- Lazer Mine (Lazar Mine)
- Little Leo claim
- Madrid claim (Madrid property)
- Mexican and Spring Hill claim
- Protector claim
- Spring Hill and Cowan placer (Mexican)
- Stonewall Mine (Pedro prospect; Pedro claim)
- Stuart & Morris Mine
- Sugarman claim mine
- Unidentified Au workings [18]
- West Extension of Austrian claim
- Columbia
- Alves placer
- Bell Columbia Marble Quarry
- Bell placer
- Blue Mountain Quarry (Blue Mountian)
- Blue Rock placer
- Clark placer
- Columbia area occurrences
- Columbia Basin Mine
- Columbia Quarry
- Davis placer
- Densmore & Young America Mine (Densmore Mine)
- Elton placer
- Finn placer
- Gem Mine [3]
- Gold Springs placer
- Good Return placer
- Morgan Mine
- No Name claim
- Northwest of Columbia
- Old Dominion Mine
- Peery Placer Mine
- Port Stockton Cement Company property
- Republic claim
- Rose Creek
- Santiago placer
- Sawmill Flat
- Blewetts Point
- Columbia Mining District
- East Belt
- Tuolumne County
- California
- Tuolumne County
- East Belt
- Columbia Mining District
- Columbia
- Sawmill Flat
- Douglasville placer (Douglassville)
- Eureka Plumbago Mine (Eureka Plumbago prospect)
- Good Luck claim [2]
- Hilton and McPherson placer
- Hudson and Calhoun Mine (Ford group; Ford Mine; Fox)
- Lewis Mine
- Marcovich placer
- National occurrence
- Sievert Consolidated Mine (Sevart Consolidated; Sievert Cons; Sevart Cons)
- Wooten placer
- Springfield Drift Mine
- Three Pine Gulch placer claim
- Tuolomne placer
- Unidentified Au workings [22]
- Vine Spring Mine
- Volunteer Mine
- White Land placer (Ah Mow placer)
- White Lead Gravel claim (White Land Gravel claim ??)
- Williamson placer
- Wolf and Company placer
- Yellow Quarry
- Yukon Mine Number One
- Sawmill Flat
- Squabbletown
- Yankee Hill
- Bessie lode
- Brown Geovanatte placer
- Colorado occurrence (Yankee Hill; Zemicraw)
- Crawford placer
- Dondebo Placer Mine
- Experimental Mine
- George Mullins Company Placer Mine (Mullin-Hampton Dredging Company)
- Gold Nugget placer
- Hard Gravel placer
- Harvey lode claim
- Hunter Fluming Mine
- Ingolotti and Company placer
- John Royal Mine (John Royal claim)
- Jolly Travelers Sady occurrence (Lone Trail; Little Queen)
- Marble placer
- Marble Quarry
- Old Home placer
- Page Placer Mine
- Quartet Placer Mine
- Red Gravel placer
- Reservoir placer
- Unnamed Kyanite occurrence [1]
- Wind Wheel lode (Wind Wheel)
- Yours Truly placer
- Columbia
- Columbia Mining District
- East Belt
- Tuolumne County
Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality
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