The History of the Gold Discoveries of the Southern Mines of California's Mother Lode Gold Belt

About the Book

This book is the chronological history of the gold rush and gold discoveries from 1848 through 1860, as viewed and reported by the newspapers and miners, on what was called the Southern Mines area of California's Mother Lode Gold Belt. It is the parallel volume to The History of the Gold Discoveries of the Northern Mines, published in 2000 by Trafford. The Southern Mines was that area south of the Cosumnes River, which also included the Mokelumne, Stanislaus, Tuolumne and Merced rivers, plus all their forks that ran into those rivers.

This books contains as many newspaper articles that could be found relating to the gold rush days. In using the newspaper articles from the golden era as printed, with their dates, the information reveals just when the "New Diggings" as they were called, were found; where they were being made; how rich some of the diggings were; what type of diggings they were; the names of some of the prospectors who found some of the diggings or what was found and why some of them received the names they did. The overall purpose of this book is to give a full picture of exactly what was happening to as many different diggings, locations, camps, and towns that came up in the Southern Mines area, and to give an account of events over at least a certain length of time, exactly as it was reported.

About the Author

While in the U.S. military stationed in Turkey in the early 1970s, Lewis Swindle became interested in minerals and geology. In returning to the US and during the 26 years he lived in Colorado, he spent countless hours in the mountainous terrain looking for, digging and collecting the minerals known to exist in the Pikes Peak region. He always enjoyed writing, which resulted in having six extended articles about minerals and his experiences published in a national mineral magazine over a period of eight years. He then spent six years searching the plains around Pikes Peak to determine the origin, types and forms of Petrified Wood existing within that area. In moving to California and the Gold Belt region, it seemed only natural that searching out the history of its gold would follow the author's next interest.

Also by Lewis J. Swindle:
The History of the Gold Discoveries of the Northern Mines
The Fraser River Gold Rush of 1858
The Story and Trials of Adolph Julius Weber