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Kentucky Mine Historic Park and Museum
The Gold Rush lives on at the Kentucky Mine and Museum in Sierra City!
Today, the stamp mills are silent excepting two times each day when the Kentucky Mine stamp mill is once again brought to life to give folks on the twice daily tours of the mine and stamp mill a close up encounter with an operating stamp mill.
Tour members are cautioned to cover their ears if sudden loud noises bother them because when the stamp drops, nearly everyone jumps!
This is a chance to see and hear the sounds of a working gold mine is just the dramatic ending of the hour-plus tour that takes visitors through the incredible day-to-day experience of hard rock mining in the Sierra City mining region during the later part of the 19th century.
The Kentucky Mine is located on highway 49 just a mile north outside the town of Sierra City in Sierra County.
The Kentucky Mine began development during the late 1850's. The mine consisted of two claims, the Grandma and the Kentucky totaling 40 acres and covered a lode of 3000 feet.
The Kentucky load an extension of the Sierra Buttes, had a vein averaging 30 inches and carried some high grade ore.A five-stamp mill was built at the mine during the 1860's, which was increased to a ten-stamp mill in 1888.
The mill was driven by water from a flume built from the Yuba River. The mine was later abandoned, only to be relocated in 1910 by Emil Loeffler of Sierra City. Emil ran the mine with his son, Adolph “Dutch” Loeffler, until 1944 when Dutch was killed in a mine accident.
The current six level mill onsite was built starting in 1928 from salvaged parts of other local stamp mills in the area.
The mine finally closed in 1953. Today the grounds of the Kentucky Mine are part of the Sierra County Historical Park, which contains an excellent museum as well as a fully operational stamp mill and one of the few operating Pelton wheels.
The museum contains displays and artifacts about Native Americans, early day mining, logging, pioneer skiing, and day-to-day life a hundred years ago. A visit to the Kentucky Mine and Museum located on Highway 49 near the town of Sierra City, CA, is a unique opportunity for you and your family to step into the world of the gold miners.
The Kentucky Mine and Museum is open 10 am to 4 pm, 7 days a week, from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend.Townsend Big-Eared BatThe Townsend Big-Eared Bat is a species of concern that is being protected at the Kentucky Mine. These agile fliers venture out to forage only after dark, using their keen echolocation to hunt moths and other insects. In the spring and summer, females form maternity colonies in mines, caves, or buildings, while males roost individually.In winter, these bats hibernate in caves and abandoned mines.
They are extremely sensitive to disturbance at their roosting sites and have suffered severe population declines throughout much of the U.S. Monumental NuggetThe largest gold nugget ever found in Sierra County, known as the “Monumental”, weighed 106 pounds and was discovered on the Sierra Buttes Mine property at approximately the eighth level in 1869.
You can see what this monumental chunk of gold looked like when it was brought from the ground when you visit the Kentucky Mine Museum to view the carefully crafted, life size replica now on display. According to Carroll Hayes, whose family purchased the Sierra Buttes Mine in 1904, miners on their way to work at the mine saw a portion of the nugget on the trail after rain had washed away the dirt that had been covering it. They quickly began unearthing the rest of the nugget and couldn’t believe their eyes when they saw the “Monumental” chunk of gold. Experience that same sense of awe when you see the incredible “Monumental Nugget”!
Sierra County Historical SocietyKentucky Mine Museum
100 Kentucky Mine Rd.P.O. Box 260Sierra City, CA 96125(530) 862-1310 https://www.sierracountyhistory.org/ GOLD MINING in Sierra CountyGold mining in the region developed from placer mining intoindustrial underground quartz mining.
The Gold Rush lives on at the Kentucky Mine and Museum in Sierra City!
Today, the stamp mills are silent excepting two times each day when the Kentucky Mine stamp mill is once again brought to life to give folks on the twice daily tours of the mine and stamp mill a close up encounter with an operating stamp mill.
Tour members are cautioned to cover their ears if sudden loud noises bother them because when the stamp drops, nearly everyone jumps!
This is a chance to see and hear the sounds of a working gold mine is just the dramatic ending of the hour-plus tour that takes visitors through the incredible day-to-day experience of hard rock mining in the Sierra City mining region during the later part of the 19th century.
The Kentucky Mine is located on highway 49 just a mile north outside the town of Sierra City in Sierra County.
The Kentucky Mine began development during the late 1850's. The mine consisted of two claims, the Grandma and the Kentucky totaling 40 acres and covered a lode of 3000 feet.
The Kentucky load an extension of the Sierra Buttes, had a vein averaging 30 inches and carried some high grade ore.A five-stamp mill was built at the mine during the 1860's, which was increased to a ten-stamp mill in 1888.
The mill was driven by water from a flume built from the Yuba River. The mine was later abandoned, only to be relocated in 1910 by Emil Loeffler of Sierra City. Emil ran the mine with his son, Adolph “Dutch” Loeffler, until 1944 when Dutch was killed in a mine accident.
The current six level mill onsite was built starting in 1928 from salvaged parts of other local stamp mills in the area.
The mine finally closed in 1953. Today the grounds of the Kentucky Mine are part of the Sierra County Historical Park, which contains an excellent museum as well as a fully operational stamp mill and one of the few operating Pelton wheels.
The museum contains displays and artifacts about Native Americans, early day mining, logging, pioneer skiing, and day-to-day life a hundred years ago. A visit to the Kentucky Mine and Museum located on Highway 49 near the town of Sierra City, CA, is a unique opportunity for you and your family to step into the world of the gold miners.
The Kentucky Mine and Museum is open 10 am to 4 pm, 7 days a week, from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend.Townsend Big-Eared BatThe Townsend Big-Eared Bat is a species of concern that is being protected at the Kentucky Mine. These agile fliers venture out to forage only after dark, using their keen echolocation to hunt moths and other insects. In the spring and summer, females form maternity colonies in mines, caves, or buildings, while males roost individually.In winter, these bats hibernate in caves and abandoned mines.
They are extremely sensitive to disturbance at their roosting sites and have suffered severe population declines throughout much of the U.S. Monumental NuggetThe largest gold nugget ever found in Sierra County, known as the “Monumental”, weighed 106 pounds and was discovered on the Sierra Buttes Mine property at approximately the eighth level in 1869.
You can see what this monumental chunk of gold looked like when it was brought from the ground when you visit the Kentucky Mine Museum to view the carefully crafted, life size replica now on display. According to Carroll Hayes, whose family purchased the Sierra Buttes Mine in 1904, miners on their way to work at the mine saw a portion of the nugget on the trail after rain had washed away the dirt that had been covering it. They quickly began unearthing the rest of the nugget and couldn’t believe their eyes when they saw the “Monumental” chunk of gold. Experience that same sense of awe when you see the incredible “Monumental Nugget”!
Sierra County Historical SocietyKentucky Mine Museum
100 Kentucky Mine Rd.P.O. Box 260Sierra City, CA 96125(530) 862-1310 https://www.sierracountyhistory.org/ GOLD MINING in Sierra CountyGold mining in the region developed from placer mining intoindustrial underground quartz mining.
The Sierra Buttes minewas started in 1851 and mined over $7,000,000 of gold in its firstdecades when the value of gold was below $16.00 an ounce.Hard rock mining in western Sierra County has continued to thepresent. The Bald Mountain Mine in Forest City produced goldfor decades.
The Brush Creek Mine at Goodyears Bar was aproducer of gold until the 1980’s. The Original Sixteen-to-OneMine has continued in production since the late NineteenthCentury.
Hydraulic mining also was significant in the western,particularly the northwestern, portion of the county with largemines at Pine Grove, Morristown, Brandy City and JoubertsDiggings.
