Location and History
This district is in east-central Madera County at the site of the town of Hildreth about 35 miles east of Madera. It is on the northwest end of an indistinct belt of gold mineralization that extends southeast through the Temperance Flat and Big Dry Creek districts in Fresno County. Apparently the chief period of mining in the area was from about 1860 to 1890, with possibly some prospecting and development again during the 1920s and 1930s. The district was named for the Hildreth brothers, farmers who settled here abour 1870.
Geology
The principal rock in the district is medium- to coarse-grained granodiorite with several narrow northwest-trending beds of slate and schist. There are a number of north-striking quartz veins containing free gold and often abundant sulfides. The veins are as much as 20 feet thick, and several have been developed to inclined depths of about 600 feet.
Mines
Abbey $100,000+?, Golconda, Hanover, Hildreth, Morrow (Moro, Bazinet), Mud Springs $250,000, Volcano No.1 $100,000.
Bibliography
Goldstone, L. P., 1890, Hildreth mining district: California Min. Bur. Rept. 10, pp. 194-197.
Irelan, William, Jr., 1888, Hildreth mining district: California Min. Bur. Rept. 8, pp. 202-205.
Mclaughlin, R. P. and Bradley, W. W., 1916, Madera County, gold: California Min. Bur. Rept. 14, pp. 539-553.
