Ditches, flumes and canals
Water has always been and continues to be of major importance in the development of Calaveras County. Water was essential to the recovery of gold, and since Foothill Rivers are seasonal and unpredictable, it wasn’t long before entrepreneurs constructed dams to store water, and ditches and flumes to transport it between drainages. Often transitory in nature, many of these ditch systems were abandoned as the placers played out, while others were improved end extended for hydraulic and hard rock mining.
Water has always been and continues to be of major importance in the development of Calaveras County. Water was essential to the recovery of gold, and since Foothill Rivers are seasonal and unpredictable, it wasn’t long before entrepreneurs constructed dams to store water, and ditches and flumes to transport it between drainages. Often transitory in nature, many of these ditch systems were abandoned as the placers played out, while others were improved end extended for hydraulic and hard rock mining.
Utica Mine North Shaft
Utica Mine, the most important mine in the Angels District, set national records in the 1890's producing more than 4 million dollars in gold in 30 months. The Utica was also the site of Angels Camp's worst mine disaster when 17 men were buried when the North Shaft collapsed in 1889. Three men escaped through the adjoining South Shaft. The bodies of those who died were recovered over a period of years, the last two remained buried for 12 years. The Utica properties expanded to include the Stickle, the Utica Cross-Shaft, and Gold Cliff Mines. Combined production totaled 16.4 million dollars from 1887-1918 when Angels Camp's gold mining era ended.