Empire Mine
| Empire Mine State Historic Park | |
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View down the main drift at Empire Mine
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| Location | Nevada County, California, USA |
| Nearest city | Grass Valley, California |
| Coordinates | 39°12′13″N 121°2′34″W / 39.20361°N 121.04278°WCoordinates: 39°12′13″N 121°2′34″W / 39.20361°N 121.04278°W |
| Area | 853 acres (345 ha) |
| Established | 1975 |
| Governing body | California Department of Parks and Recreation |
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Empire Mine
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| Area | 777 acres |
| Built | 1896 |
| Architect | Polk, Willis |
| NRHP Reference # | 77000318 |
| CHISL # | 298 |
| Added to NRHP | December 09, 1977 |
Empire Mine State Historic Park is a state-protected mine and park in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Grass Valley, California, USA. The Empire Mine is on the National Register of Historic Places, a federal Historic District, and a California Historical Landmark. Since 1975 California State Parks has administered and maintained the mine as a historic site. The Empire Mine is "one of the oldest, largest, deepest, longest and richest gold mines in California." Between 1850 and its closure in 1956, the Empire Mine produced 5.8 million ounces of gold, extracted from 367 miles (591 km) of underground passages.
In Oct. 1850, George McKnight discovered gold in a quartz outcrop (ledge) called the Ophir Vein, but sold the claim in 1851 to Woodbury, Parks and Co., who sold it in 1852 to John P. Rush and the Empire Quartz Hill Co. The Empire Mining Co. was incorporated in 1854, after John Rush was bought out. As word spread that hard rock gold had been found in California, miners from the tin and copper mines of Cornwall, England, arrived to share their experience and expertise in hard rock mining. Particularly important was the Cornish contribution of the Cornish engine, operated on steam, which emptied the depths of the mine of its constant water seepage at a rate of 18,000 gallons per day. This enabled increased productivity and expansion underground. Starting in 1895, Lester Allan Pelton's water wheel provided electric power for the mine and stamp mill. The Cornish provided the bulk of the labor force from the late 1870s until the mine’s closure eighty years later.
William Bowers Bourn acquired control of the company in 1869. Bourn died in 1874, and his estate ran the mine, abandoning the Ophir vein for the Rich Hill in 1878. Bourn's son, William Bowers Bourn II, formed the Original Empire Co. in 1878, took over the assets of the Empire Mining Co., and continued work on the Ophir vein after it was bottomed out at 1200 feet and allowed to fill with water. With his financial backing, and after 1887, the mining knowledge and management of his younger cousin George W. Starr, the Empire Mine became famous for its mining technology. Bourn purchased the North Star Mine in 1884, turning it into a major producer, and then sold it to James D. Hague in 1887, along with controlling interest in the Empire a year later.
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