All US states have nicknames. New York is the Empire State. New Jersey is the Garden State. California is the Golden State. Its nickname comes from the California Gold Rush in US history. The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when a carpenter and sawmill operator, James Wilson Marshall (October 8, 1810 – August 10, 1885) discovered gold at Sutter’s Mill in California. This discovery caused more than three hundred thousand people inside and outside the United States of America to head to Northern California. He sets California’s nickname to be the Golden State. Because the number of miners coming to California peaked in 1849, all minors were called “Forty-Niners.” It later became the name of the San Francisco football team.
It’s about a three hour drive to visit the original California Gold Rush area. One can use Interstate 580 East, Interstate 205 East, Interstate 5 North, Route 99, and Route 88 to reach Sutter Creek. Just before driving to the mining area, the visitor can rest in the center of Sutter Creek. The California Gold Rush created a popular movement to the West Coast and formed a Wild West period. Downtown Sutter Creek bears the appearance of gunslinger days.
A fifteen minute drive brings you to the entrance of the Gold Mines. The mine is now for tourist purposes only. They are no longer looking for gold. There are no flashy signs or Las Vegas-style neon signs. However, since it is the original entrance, the visitor must respect it as a testimony of history. The door shows “Mine Tower”, but the entrance is small and old. The visitor should be careful not to miss the entrance to the parking lot, as there are no directional signs for the driver to refer to.
The tour gives visitors a trolley ride into the deep end of the mine. The inside of mine is illuminated, but some parts are dim and almost dark. There are very lit areas and they have wax dolls that show the days that the minors worked. Upon entering the cave, the first thing you see is a bird in a cage. Now in the Mine Tour, the person and the bird are imitation wax dolls. It is noted that they kept a bird to know when the gas is spreading in the mine. The poor bird is the first to die to warn minors that there is a danger of gas.
Although the minors inside are wax dolls, they display real tools and tools. Many of them seem heavy and clumsy. Inside the gold mine you see a complicated structure. A visitor finds a deep, straight shaft after a long, gentle downward slope that continues for some distance. He shows that they did not have a specific excavation plan. They dug in the way the gold vein guided the miners.
A guide tells the authority that there are still two hundred million ounces of gold underground. Now the visitor must answer the tour guide’s last question if he expects to be a minor.