One Shot for Gold: Developing a Modern Mine in Northern California
Winner of the 2023 Clark Spence Award from the Mining History Association!

An account of the creation of a modern, environmentally sensitive mine as told by the people who developed and worked it.


In 1978, a geologist working for the Homestake Mining Company discovered gold in a remote corner of California’s Napa County. This discovery led to the establishment of California’s most productive gold mine in the twentieth century. Named the McLaughlin Mine, it produced about 3.4 million ounces of gold between 1985 and 2002. The mine was also one of the first attempts at creating a new full-scale mine in California after the advent of environmental regulations and the first to use autoclaves to extract gold from ore.

One Shot for Gold traces the history of the McLaughlin Mine and how it transformed a community and an industry. This lively and detailed account is based largely on oral history interviews with a wide range of people associated with the mine, including Homestake executives, geologists, and engineers as well as local neighbors of the mine, officials from county governments, townspeople, and environmental activists. Their narratives— supported by thorough research into mining company documents, public records, newspaper accounts, and other materials—chronicle the mine from its very beginning to its eventual end and transformation into a designated nature reserve as part of the University of California Natural Reserve System.

A mine created at the end of the twentieth century was vastly different from the mines of the Gold Rush. New regulations and concerns about the environmental, economic, and social impacts of a large mine in this remote and largely rural region of the state-required decisions at many levels. One Shot for Gold offers an engaging and accessible account of a modern gold mine and how it managed to exist in balance with the environment and the human community around it.
1137782948
One Shot for Gold: Developing a Modern Mine in Northern California
Winner of the 2023 Clark Spence Award from the Mining History Association!

An account of the creation of a modern, environmentally sensitive mine as told by the people who developed and worked it.


In 1978, a geologist working for the Homestake Mining Company discovered gold in a remote corner of California’s Napa County. This discovery led to the establishment of California’s most productive gold mine in the twentieth century. Named the McLaughlin Mine, it produced about 3.4 million ounces of gold between 1985 and 2002. The mine was also one of the first attempts at creating a new full-scale mine in California after the advent of environmental regulations and the first to use autoclaves to extract gold from ore.

One Shot for Gold traces the history of the McLaughlin Mine and how it transformed a community and an industry. This lively and detailed account is based largely on oral history interviews with a wide range of people associated with the mine, including Homestake executives, geologists, and engineers as well as local neighbors of the mine, officials from county governments, townspeople, and environmental activists. Their narratives— supported by thorough research into mining company documents, public records, newspaper accounts, and other materials—chronicle the mine from its very beginning to its eventual end and transformation into a designated nature reserve as part of the University of California Natural Reserve System.

A mine created at the end of the twentieth century was vastly different from the mines of the Gold Rush. New regulations and concerns about the environmental, economic, and social impacts of a large mine in this remote and largely rural region of the state-required decisions at many levels. One Shot for Gold offers an engaging and accessible account of a modern gold mine and how it managed to exist in balance with the environment and the human community around it.
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One Shot for Gold: Developing a Modern Mine in Northern California

One Shot for Gold: Developing a Modern Mine in Northern California

by Eleanor Herz Swent
One Shot for Gold: Developing a Modern Mine in Northern California

One Shot for Gold: Developing a Modern Mine in Northern California

by Eleanor Herz Swent

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Overview

Winner of the 2023 Clark Spence Award from the Mining History Association!

An account of the creation of a modern, environmentally sensitive mine as told by the people who developed and worked it.


In 1978, a geologist working for the Homestake Mining Company discovered gold in a remote corner of California’s Napa County. This discovery led to the establishment of California’s most productive gold mine in the twentieth century. Named the McLaughlin Mine, it produced about 3.4 million ounces of gold between 1985 and 2002. The mine was also one of the first attempts at creating a new full-scale mine in California after the advent of environmental regulations and the first to use autoclaves to extract gold from ore.

One Shot for Gold traces the history of the McLaughlin Mine and how it transformed a community and an industry. This lively and detailed account is based largely on oral history interviews with a wide range of people associated with the mine, including Homestake executives, geologists, and engineers as well as local neighbors of the mine, officials from county governments, townspeople, and environmental activists. Their narratives— supported by thorough research into mining company documents, public records, newspaper accounts, and other materials—chronicle the mine from its very beginning to its eventual end and transformation into a designated nature reserve as part of the University of California Natural Reserve System.

A mine created at the end of the twentieth century was vastly different from the mines of the Gold Rush. New regulations and concerns about the environmental, economic, and social impacts of a large mine in this remote and largely rural region of the state-required decisions at many levels. One Shot for Gold offers an engaging and accessible account of a modern gold mine and how it managed to exist in balance with the environment and the human community around it.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781647790073
Publisher: University of Nevada Press
Publication date: 05/04/2021
Series: Mining and Society Series
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 288
File size: 4 MB

About the Author

Eleanor Herz Swent is a past president of the Mining History Association and winner of the Rodman Paul award for contributions to mining history. She was born and raised in Lead, South Dakota, home of the Homestake Mine, and lived for many years in mining communities. In conjunction with the University of California-Berkeley Oral History Center, she helped create an oral history series on western mining and was the sole interviewer for this book. She currently lives in Palo Alto, California. 

 

Table of Contents

Contents

List of Illustrations

Foreword

Preface

Part 1

1. Mercury

2. Knoxville and Mercury Miners

3. Lake County, California

Part 2

4. Homestake Mining Company

5. One Shot Mining Company

6. Gold So Fine That It Would Float

7. Searching for Gold

8. The First Step

9. Securing the Property

Part 3

10. Protecting the Environment

11. 1981: A New Team

12. Environmental Planning

13. Informing the Public

14. Obtaining 327 Permits

Part 4

15. The Construction Phase

16. Autoclaves: A Global Effort

17. 1985: Start-up

18. Developing the Mine

Part 5

19. Shutdown and Reclamation

20. The McLaughlin Natural Reserve

21. Lake County, Later

Postscript

Appendix

References

Index

About the Author

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