Gold production from the Alleghany Mining District in the early years was from placer mining.
The source of the placer gold was traced to the rich gravels of the ancestral Yuba River which crosses the ridges of the district. Numerous drift mines were begun along the ridges exploring the gravels for gold. Forest City was the hub of the District with its large placer deposits from the 1870’s to mid 1890’s.
Chip’s Flat and Smith’s Flat (late 1870’s) were the only two hydraulic mines in the District; they were relatively small.
The first lode quartz mining in the District was in the mid 1850’s at the German Bar and Irelan mines. A number of veins on Kanaka Creek like the Twenty One, El Dorado and Oriental were located and prospected in the 1860’s. The Tightner mine was located in 1891 while the Sixteen to One on the same vein was located in 1896. Production from the lode mines in the District began to surpass that of the drift mines in the late 1890’s. This coincided with the decline of Forest City. Alleghany became the hub of the District with its large lode deposits. Lode mining in the District peaked in the mid 1920’s but continues to this day primarily from the Sixteen to One Mine.
A compilation by Sidney Norman published during October of 1932, lists a total gold production of 1.77 million ounces from all the mines of the Alleghany district as follows:
Sixteen to One – 750,000 ounces
Plumbago – 200,000 ounces
Tightner – 150,000 ounces
Rainbow – 110,000 ounces
Oriental – 100,000 ounces
Ruby – 50,000 ounces
Monte Christo – 50,000 ounces
Gold Bluff – 50,000 ounces
Brush Creek – 50,000 ounces
Gold Canyon – 37,500 ounces
Black Bear – 25,000 ounces
Excelsior – 25,000 ounces
South Fork – 25,000 ounces
North Fork – 25,000 ounces
Eldorado – 16,250 ounces
Irelan – 15,000 ounces
Kate Hardy – 15,000 ounces
Triple Pocket – 12,500 ounces
Gold King – 12,500 ounces
White Bear – 11,500 ounces
German Bar – 10,000 ounces
Docile – 5,000 ounces
Osceola – 5,000 ounces
Morning Glory – 5,000 ounces
Red Star – 4,000 ounces
Mariposa – 3,750 ounces
Dreadnaught – 3,750 ounces
Rising Sun – 3,000 ounces
Special thanks to Geologist Raymond Wittkopp and Historian Willard Fuller for assistance with this article.