KERN COUNTY 

In 1851, gold was first discovered on Greenhorn Creek near the Kern River by a exploration party sent out by John C. Fremont. This discovery led to the first Kern River gold rush. Prospectors spread out finding rich placer gold yielding as  much as $50 per pan and several lode deposits. In 1852, Richard Keys, a half-Cherokee '49er discovered lode gold at Keyesville. Soon afterward Captain Maltby discovered the nearby Mammoth mine. After discovery of placer gold in the Kern River in the spring of 1854 a stampede of miners began to the area. By January 1855 the area was swarming with miners. In August 1855 five or six arrastras were running and by spring 1857, 16 were running. From 800 to 1,000 men were working the mines. The first stamp mill was hauled though Visalia from San Francisco and erected on the river in 1856 by Abia T. Lightner. By 1858 three arrastras, and five water driven mills with a total capacity 22 stamps, were working Keyesville ore. They were all destroyed in the floods of 1861-1862. Three years later, in 1865, a 20-stamp mill was constructed on the Kern River, but it did a poor job recovering gold and was soon shut down. In its heyday the town of Keyesville consisted of 5 or 6 stores, 3 hotels, 4 saloons, a brewery, two livery stables, a wagon-making shop, 2 blacksmith shops, a barber shop, 2 butcher shops, a shoemaker's shop, express and post offices. There were boarding houses and saloons at the individual mines. After the high-grade placer deposits had been exhausted, the Euro-Americans moved on to other areas, however, Chinese miners continued to work the gravels in Keyesville well into the 1860s. The underground mines in Keyesville were idle until a 1897 revival. During this time a 5-stamp mill was erected at the Keyes mine and a 10-stamp mill at the Mammoth. Both mines were intermittently active until about World War II. The Keyes mine produced a total of $450,000, the Mammoth about $500,000. Small scale placer mining has been conducted  in the Keyesville Mining District from the first discovery of gold until present. After discovery of placer gold in the Kern River in the spring of 1854 a stampede of miners began to the area. By January 1855, the area was again swarming with miners. But, even before this rush, in 1852 Richard Keys, discovered lode gold. Soon afterward, Captain Maltby discovered the nearby Mammoth mine. Abia T. Lightner constructed the first stamp mill in the area. By 1858 there were five water driven mills with 22 stamps. However, the floods of 1861 - 1862 destroyed them all. The town of Keyesville supported about 50 to 60 people and boasted eight houses, a saloon, and crude hotel. A 20-stamp mill was erected in 1865 on the Kern River, but the mill proved inefficient and only ran a short time. After the Euro-Americans had heavily mined the gulches for placer gold, the Chinese arrived to work the sands.

Excerpt from:

Gold Districts of California; California Division of Mines and Geology, BULLETIN 193....pages 60,84

Greenhorn Mountain

Location and History:

This district is in Kern County about 28 miles northeast of Bakersfield. The first discovery of gold in Kern County was made in Greenhorn Creek in 1851 by a member of General John C. Fremont's party.A rush soon followed, and in town of Petersburg as established. Gold-mining activity declined before 1890, but there has been minor prospecting since. Most of the output has been from placer mining.

Geology:

Much of the area is underlain by quartz diorite. There are a few bodies of metamorphic rocks and also some pegmatite dikes. The chief
Placer deposits were in Greenhorn, Fremont, Bradshaw, and  black Gulch Creeks. There are numerous mall, poorly mineralized quartz veins, most of which are a few miles east of David Guard Station. The gold is in the free state and there is very little sulfide mineralization.
Uranium-bearing peat bog was discovered in 1955 in the northwest part of the district.

Bibliography
Brown, G, C., 1916, Green Horn Mountain district: California Min. Bur.Rept. 14, p.482,
Troxel, B. W., and Morton, P. K., 1962, Kern County, Greenhorn Mountain district California Div. Mines and Geology, County Rept., pp. 34-35.

Keyesville

Location and History:

This district is in the southern Sierra Nevada in- Kern County about 32 miles northeast of Bakersfield and two miles southwest of Isabella Dam. Gold was discovered here in 1852 by Richard M. Keyes, and for a time this was the largest community in Kern County. The chief periods of mining were the 1850s,1860s, 1890s, and 1909-15: The area was prospected during the 1930s, but little has been done here since, and Keyesville has become a ghosttown.

Geology and Ore Deposits:

Virtually the entire district is underlain by quartz diorite. The gold deposits occur in a northeast-trending belt about three miles long. The veins consist of narrow quartz stringers with fault gouge that contain free gold and small amounts of pyrite, arsenopyrite, and pyrrhotite. There are some placer deposits including one of possible Pleistocene age.

Mines: Bright Spot, High Grade, Homestake, Keyes $450,000, Keyesville, Keyesville Placer, Mammoth $500,000, Mooncastle, Nephi, Nob Hill,
Opportunity, Sunrise, Virginia, Will Jean.

Bibliography
Brown, G. C., 1916, Kern County, Keyes district: California Min. Bur.Rept. 14 p. 483.
Troxel, B, W., and Morton, P. K., 1962, Kern County, Keyesville district, High Grade mine, and Mammoth mine: California Div. Mines and Geology, County Report l, pp.38-39, 111-112, and 1l5-117.Tucker, W.B., and Sampson, R. J,, l9til3, Kern County, Keyes district California Div. Mines Rept. 29, p. 283.