History
In 1850 George D. Roberts discovered gold in a quartz outcropping which became known as the Ophir Vein. As word spread that hard rock gold had been found in California, miners from the tin and copper mines of Cornwall, England, arrived to share their experience and expertise in hard rock mining. Particularly important was the Cornish contribution of a unique system of pumps, operated on steam, which emptied the depths of the mine of its constant water seepage. This enabled increased productivity and expansion underground. The Cornish provided the bulk of the labor force from the late 1870s until the mine’s closure eighty years later.
William Bowers Bourn II inherited the Empire Mine in 1887. With his financial backing and the mining knowledge of his younger cousin George Starr, the Empire Mine became famous for its mining technology, while the grounds became known for their gardens, residences, and social clubhouse. The noise was constant and could be heard from 3 miles (4.8 km) away.
In 1929, at the recommendation of Fred Searls of Nevada City, Newmont Mining Corp. purchased the Empire Mine from Bourn. Newmont also purchased the North Star Mine, resulting in Empire-Star Mines, Ltd. The business was managed by Fred Nobs and later by Jack Mann. By the 1950s inflation costs for gold mining were leaving the operation unprofitable. In 1956 a crippling miners' strike over falling wages ended operations. The mine was officially closed a year later on May 28, 1957 when the last water pumps were shut and removed. In its final year of operation in 1956, the Empire Mine had reached an incline depth of 11,007 ft (3,355 m).
In 1975 California State Parks purchased the Empire Mine property to create a state historic park. The state park now contains 853 acres (345 ha), including forested backcountry. Newmont Mining retained the mineral rights to the Empire Mine.
Read more about this topic: Empire Mine State Historic Park
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“It’s a very delicate surgical operation—to cut out the heart without killing the patient. The history of our country, however, is a very tough old patient, and we’ll do the best we can.”
—Dudley Nichols, U.S. screenwriter. Jean Renoir. Sorel (Philip Merivale)
“You treat world history as a mathematician does mathematics, in which nothing but laws and formulas exist, no reality, no good and evil, no time, no yesterday, no tomorrow, nothing but an eternal, shallow, mathematical present.”
—Hermann Hesse (1877–1962)
“We don’t know when our name came into being or how some distant ancestor acquired it. We don’t understand our name at all, we don’t know its history and yet we bear it with exalted fidelity, we merge with it, we like it, we are ridiculously proud of it as if we had thought it up ourselves in a moment of brilliant inspiration.”
—Milan Kundera (b. 1929)