Location and History
White River is in southern Tulare County and northern Kern County approximately 25 miles southeast of Porterville. Gold was discovered here in 1853. The town was originally known as Tailholt, but the name was changed to White River in 1870. Mining continued until around 1906, and there has been minor activity since. The district was estimated to have yielded a total of $750,000 worth of gold by 1914.
Geology
The area is underlain by granodiorite and smaller outcrops of more basic intrusives. Small amounts of schist and slate and a few limestone lenses lie to the west. A series of west-northwest-trending parallel quartz veins occur in shear zones in the granodiorite. The ore contains free gold and small amounts of pyrite.
Mines
Bald Mountain (several hundred thousand dollars), Eclipse No.2, Josephine, Last Chance, Stencil.
Bibliography
Laizure, C. McK., 1923, Tulare County, White River mining district: California Min. Bur. Rept. 18, pp. 524-527.
Tucker, W. a., 1919, Tulare County, White River mining district: California Min. Bur. Rept. 15, pp. 912-915.
