El Dorado Mine: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Whiskeytown National Recreation Area

Regions 8, 9, 10, & 12 Park Cultural Landscapes Program

Inventory Unit Description: The El Dorado Mine is located within the Whiskeytown Unit of the Whiskeytown-Shasta-Trinity National Recreation Area (NRA) in Shasta County, California approximately twenty miles northwest of Redding. The 24.71-acre vernacular landscape lies in the Klamath Range of the Trinity Mountains at an elevation of approximately 1,330 feet. The El Dorado Mine is located south of Highway 229 on the west side of Mill Creek and is accessed via a historic road that leads to the site. First located by William Paul circa 1885, the El Dorado Mine was acquired by James G. Conner circa 1900 who owned and leased the mine for a number of years. In 1957, Frank C. and Laura O. Bickford purchased the El Dorado Mine site, built a residence and mined it for gold until 1967 when the National Park Service purchased the property. Today, the site serves as a popular visitor attraction offering access to a late nineteenth and early twentieth century mining and milling site in the Whiskeytown Unit. In 1973, the Tower House Historic District was listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The El Dorado Mine is located within the boundaries of the Tower House Historic District; however, the 24.71acre El Dorado Mine is potentially individually eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under a different historic context. Based on additional historical research, the El Dorado Mine appears to be locally significant under Criterion A for its association with mineral production and the development of extraction techniques used in small-scale hard-rock mining in Shasta County, California. The period of significance begins in 1885 when the mine was discovered by William Paul and ends in 1967 when the National Park Service purchased the property from the Bickfords. During this period, the mine was intermittently operated over the course of 82 years by several owners and associated lessees who continued the tradition of hard-rock gold mining on the premises. Several landscape characteristics help to convey the historic character of the El Dorado Mine site, including natural systems and features, spatial organization, topography, circulation, buildings and structures, and archeological sites. Overall, the property continues to possess strong associations with the development of the lode mining industry in Shasta County, California in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. While the El Dorado Mine operated on a small-scale level and likely had a relatively small impact on the economic development of Shasta County, it has retained sufficient integrity of design, materials, workmanship, setting, and association. Today, the property continues to illustrate the historic qualities associated with a small-scale gold mining and milling operation in California between 1885 and 1967 and remains in fair condition.

El Dorado Mine: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Whiskeytown National Recreation Area

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