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SEE MORE SHERLOCK HISTORY HERE
SHERLOCK; Creek, Gulch, Diggins, Mariposa County
from _California Gold Camps, Gudde- published 1975
East of Bear Valley, on the south side of Merced River and well above it. Shown on
Butler's map, 1851, and on later maps. Mining started early in 1849. One of the
first outbreaks against Mexicans occurred here (Alta, October 25, 1849; CHSQ, XXXV,
p.38) The men who were driven out were apparently the Sonorians employed by the
discoverers ( T.T. JOHNSON, p.230) The reliable Daniel Woods (pp.84 f. ) tells the
following story of the discovery: The brothers SHERLOCK discovered the deposit
accidentally and took out 30 thousand dollars from a small square spot of ground.
When they went to Monterey to deposit the gold, two sailors overheard them, took a
furlough of seven weeks, followed the SHERLOCK's and returned to their shp with
ninety pounds (!) of gold. Woods himself mined here in November, 1849, but was
disappointed with the result. However, he met an old sailor who had kicked away a
stone and found underneath it a nugget worth $500.00 A similar lucky find is
reported in the Mariposa Chronicle of uncertain date: The JOHN MARSHALL company
found a nugget of almost eigthy-six ounces with only little quartz; it had been
thrown away because it was covered by a black mineral substance (Hitell Clippings,
p. 26). In a letter of September, 1852, Allsop, who apparently had a claim here,
speaks of successful operations in the creek with little outlay. Several mines
were active until recent years. The Diltz Mine, discovered in the 1860's, operated
intermittently until about 1952, and is still listed in 1957. In the early 1930's
several large masses of almost pure crystallized gold valued at 7 to 10.5 thousand
dollars each at the old price were found (mining Bureau, XXXI, pp. 29 f: LIII, pp.
99 ff.) the total production is estimated at between 750 thousand and one million
dollars (Bull. , 193, p.131). Sherlock Gulch with an intermittent stream is shown
on the USGS Sonora 1939 quadrangle.
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