gold mines
Twelve Feet from Fortune
The most told Plaskett story of all: the Nevada silver tunnel sold twelve feet short of the Comstock Lode.
The Mines
Gold was found in the Santa Lucias, and for a while the coast had its own little gold rush. The Los Burros Mining District boomed in the 1880s just over the ridge from Pacific Valley; the Plasketts staked claims on Plaskett Ridge, hauled ore by mule sled, and built their own water-powered arrastra on Plaskett Creek to grind it. These are the stories of the coast’s mining days — the strikes, the characters, and what’s still out there under the redwoods.
gold mines
The Profitable Mine That Led to Loss
The Kings River mine paid handsomely — and financed the venture that lost it all.
gold mines
Willey Cruikshank Discovered the Last Chance Mine
The boy who watched Chinese miners pan Salmon Creek grew up to strike the Last Chance mine.
gold mines
The Los Burros Mining District and the Lost Town of Manchester
Organized 1876, transformed by Willey Cruikshank's Last Chance strike in 1887 — and gone by 1897, burned and grown over. The rise and fall of the coast's gold district, and the lost town of Manchester.
gold mines
The Arrastra on Plaskett Creek
Built by William Lucas Plaskett about 1885 and turned by a water wheel on the creek, the family arrastra ground the Western Star's gold ore — and its timbers, iron and basin are still there.
gold mines
The Buclimo Mine - Named for Seven Partners
Burman, Ulrich, Clinton, Linderman, Isenman, Morey and Olsen — seven partners, one mine name: Buclimo.
gold mines
Dudley Plaskett Discovers Gold at Ocean View
In May 1911 Dudley Plaskett picked solid gold nuggets out of the creek mouth — then followed them upstream.
gold mines
Ed and Lawson Plaskett - Gold Mining Dreams
Ed and Lawson Plaskett chased the rumor every coast man heard — that gold waited in the home hills.