The Decade after the Gold Rush: Social Structure in Grass Valley and Nevada City, California, 1850-1860

Abstract

AT A TIME WHEN gold mining dominated California's economy, Grass Valley and Nevada City were the two richest, most productive gold camps in the state. The two towns lie four miles apart in the lower foothills of the Sierra Nevada, approximately seventy miles northeast of Sacramento. Both began as placer mining camps, but achieved their greatest importance as centers of the quartz mining industry. Because the first gold excitement in the area was at Nevada City, that community was able to become the county seat and establish itself as the commercial focus for camps which developed later. When its placers declined in value, Nevada City was able to maintain itself through its political, legal, and business importance until rich hydraulic and quartz mining interests could be developed. G rass Valley, with poorer placer deposits, initially grew more slowly, but when mining technology advanced to the point where its extensive quartz gold deposits could be effectively exploited it quickly eclipsed its neighbor and all other camps in California. The mineral wealth of these towns allowed them to thrive long after most camps had disappeared. Although reduced in size and no longer producing gold, they still survive.