Chinese Camp is in western Tuolumne County about 10 miles southwest of Sonora. It was a placer-mining center settled by Chinese miners in 1849. Much work was done in the 1850s, and the piles of soil and gravel turned over in the search for gold can still be seen in nearly every gulch. The old mining town of Chinese Camp is quite well-preserved.
Much of the placer gold was recovered from extremely rich quartzitic gravels of Eocene age. Some gold also was mined from gravels of late Tertiary age. Most of the early-day work was done by hydraulicking and ground sluicing; during the 1930s there was some dragline dredging. Bedrock consists of serpentine, greenstone, and slate. There are a few gold-quartz veins in the area. The value of the total output from placer mining is estimated at $2.5 million.
Bibliography
Turner, H. W., and Ronsome, F. L, 1897, Sonora folio, California: S. Gear. Survey Gear. Atlas of the U.S., folio 41, 7 pp.
