The Friant district is in northeastern Fresno County on the San Joaquin River, in the vicinity of the Friant Dam. Placer mining was carried on in the district during the early days in the vicinity of Fort Miller, a military post now inundated by the reservoir. Later this place was the terminus of a branch of the Southern Pacific Railroad and known as Pollasky. It was renamed in the 1920s for Thomas Friant of the White-Friant Lumber Company. About $200,000 worth of gold was recovered as a by-product from sand and gravel excavated for use in the construction of the dam in 1940-42. Since 1946, from $5000 to $25,000 worth of gold has been produced annually from the sand and gravel plants here. The gold occurs in the river gravels and small terrace deposits adjacent to the river. The gold is fine and flaky, recovered in riffles set below the fine screens in the sand-washing plants.
Bibliography
Bradley, Walter W., 1916, Fresno County, gold: California Min. Bur. Rept. 14, p. 440.
Logan, C.A., Braun, L. T., and Vernon. J. W., 1951, Fresno County, gold: California Jour. Mines and Geology, vol 47, no. 3, pp. 503-504.
