The Gold Mines Of Beale Air Force Base - Part 1 of 2

In this review of the gold mines of Beale Air Force Base (located in Yuba County, California) and its mining history, we’ll focus on Lone Tree Hill in the first video (The next video will cover more ground)... Unfortunately, the famous tree that gave the hill its name no longer stands. However, Lone Tree Hill has been a landmark since the pioneer days. Then, it served as a beacon for travelers looking for Spenceville Road as its golden glow against the dark tree-studded hills could be seen for a distance of twenty miles. Today, the PAVE PAWS site is located on the southwestern slope of Lone Tree Hill.

During California’s Gold Rush, any place where quartz was found was thought possible of hosting great gold deposits. As such, the quartz outcroppings on the top of Lone Tree Hill were noticed with growing excitement back in the 1870s. At least three mines were started on the hill, two by shafts from the top and one by an adit into the side. Small pushcarts carried the ore and waste rock out from the adit, which, of course, is still there facing the base. As you’ll see, there is a shaft running down toward the adit from the top of the hill, but we confirmed that these do not connect underground.

The Wheatland Free Press of March 13, 1875 announced the opening of a mine named the Munroe Mine at Lone Tree Hill, and in October of 1876 reported:

“The shaft on the Munroe Ledge is 100 feet deep, rock is getting better all of the time, and there will be a very rich paying mine soon. Work on the shaft at the Lone Tree Mine [a second mine] is also progressing. A mill will soon be erected near the Munroe Mine and hoisting works put up on the Lone Tree. The owners of the Ore Grande mine [also on Lone Tree Hill] have workmen engaged in running a tunnel.”

Such were the hopes of the times…

The Lone Tree Mine is also mentioned in Thompson and West’s History of Yuba County, published in 1879:

“A small two-stamp mill is being worked at the Lone Tree Mine, on Lone Tree Hill, in Rose Bar Township, that pays in a small way.”

Even though mining on a grand scale was never realized at Lone Tree, whenever it rained small amounts of gold were found in the many gullies on the sides of the hill. Stories are told of couples on this hill who picked up enough gold in this way to make a meager living.

Later when the 13th Armored Division used the 86,000 acres of Camp Beale as its training ground, Lone Tree Hill again became a landmark. Mr. J.B. Teel of St. Louis was stationed here during World War II as a tank driver and mechanic. He wrote,

“The Camp should enshrine that tree, because that hill is where we would always wind up our field problems and get our usual 'chewing out' for what we did or didn’t do. There was a saying that if anyone cut the tree down on Lone Tree Hill, he would be shot!”

Butch, a beloved fox terrier mascot of the 59th Armored Infantry Regiment, was buried below the “Lone Tree” after he died in 1943.

The lone tree fell sometime after 1960.

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As well as a small gear update here: https://bit.ly/2p6Jip6

You can see the full TVR Exploring playlist of abandoned mines here: https://goo.gl/TEKq9L

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Thanks for watching!

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Growing up in California’s “Gold Rush Country” made it easy to take all of the history around us for granted. However, abandoned mine sites have a lot working against them – nature, vandals, scrappers and various government agencies… The old prospectors and miners that used to roam our lonely mountains and toil away deep underground are disappearing quickly as well.

These losses finally caught our attention and we felt compelled to make an effort to document as many of the ghost towns and abandoned mines that we could before that colorful niche of our history is gone forever.

So, yes, in short, we are adit addicts… I hope you’ll join us on these adventures!

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