Traveling California's Gold Rush Country (Historic Trail Guide Series)
"Monday 24th this day some kind of mettle was found in the  tail race that looks like goald first discovered by James Martial the  Boss of the Mill," wrote Henry Bigler in his diary on Jan. 24,  1848, from Sutter's Mill, located on the edge of the American River. By 1858, more than 600,000 women and children from as  far away as China and Australia had become part of California's Gold  Rush. Nearly 150 years later, nuggets of gold fever can still be found  in California's Gold Rush country, sparkling across 600 miles--from  Mariposa County in the Sierra Nevada to Humboldt County on the Pacific  Ocean. Detailed maps, historical anecdotes, and gold-panning tips make  this book an ideal travel partner, whether you have one day or one  month to explore this area's feverish past. Part of the area's allure  lies in the fact that the Mother Lode (a 100-mile-long vein of gold-bearing quartz believed to be buried somewhere in the Sierra Nevada)  has never been found.