California Gold Rush Stories: Becoming California

One of the more useful elements for collecting gold in the 1800s was mercury. Today it is one of the most prominent mining toxins in the Sierra Nevada.

The silvery metal commonly was dumped into Gold Rush creekside sluice boxes where it bound with finer-grained gold into an amalgam more easily removed from the box's sediments. When hydraulic mining created a great deal more slurry, more mercury was added. Some of the mercury got suspended in the water and transported downstream. Much of it is still with us.

During the Gold Rush there was a 20 to 30 percent loss of mercury to the environment. An estimated 26 million pounds of mercury were used to extract gold from the ore. An estimated 10 million pounds were lost to the environment. There's still a lot of it left up here and we can still see it sparkling in the creeks today. It heads the list of Gold Rush chemical remnants, which also includes lead, arsenic, and asbestos.

Those toxins are being found today in tailing piles, waste rock piles, and in crumbling building foundations built from tailings.

More than 150 years after James Marshall saw a sparkle in the American River that started a worldwide rush to California, the cleanup of those potentially harmful byproducts is still to be addressed.

There are an estimated 47,000 abandoned mine sites in on public lands the Sierra. Naturally occurring arsenic and asbestos were taken from the ground at those mines, exposed to air and water, and left to taint their surroundings.

The Sierra Nevada Conservancy has awarded a grant to the Nevada Irrigation District, today's provider of water to all parts of the Sierra, for a pilot program to study the removal of Gold Rush mercury from the Bear River. The pilot program will study the best way to remove the toxin from NID's Combie Reservoir. (When disturbed, mercury tends to migrate down waterways.)

The United States Geological Survey will partner with NID in conducting the study.

As more attention is paid to the Gold Rush leftovers it is becoming clear that the cleanup of water and grounds in the Sierra may cost more than all the gold taken from the ground.



	"Becoming California, a series that brings the California Gold Rush alive with the people who lived it."
	Trading Gold for Mercury - A Bad Deal by Don Baumgart
	One of the more useful elements for collecting gold in the 1800s was mercury. Today it is one of the most prominent mining toxins in the Sierra Nevada. The silvery metal commonly was dumped into Gold Rush creekside sluice boxes where it bound with finer-grained gold into an amalgam more easily removed from the box's sediments. When hydraulic mining created a great deal more slurry, more mercury was added. Some of the mercury got suspended in the water and transported downstream. Much of it is still with us. During the Gold Rush there was a 20 to 30 percent loss of mercury to the environment. An estimated 26 million pounds of mercury were used to extract gold from the ore. An estimated 10 million pounds were lost to the environment. There's still a lot of it left up here and we can still see it sparkling in the creeks today. It heads the list of Gold Rush chemical remnants, which also includes lead, arsenic, and asbestos. Those toxins are being found today in tailing piles, waste rock piles, and in crumbling building foundations built from tailings. More than 150 years after James Marshall saw a sparkle in the American River that started a worldwide rush to California, the cleanup of those potentially harmful byproducts is still to be addressed. There are an estimated 47,000 abandoned mine sites in on public lands the Sierra. Naturally occurring arsenic and asbestos were taken from the ground at those mines, exposed to air and water, and left to taint their surroundings. The Sierra Nevada Conservancy has awarded a grant to the Nevada Irrigation District, today's provider of water to all parts of the Sierra, for a pilot program to study the removal of Gold Rush mercury from the Bear River. The pilot program will study the best way to remove the toxin from NID's Combie Reservoir. (When disturbed, mercury tends to migrate down waterways.) The United States Geological Survey will partner with NID in conducting the study. As more attention is paid to the Gold Rush leftovers it is becoming clear that the cleanup of water and grounds in the Sierra may cost more than all the gold taken from the ground. --------- Copyright Don Baumgart, 2008
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	For further information regarding this web site, contact ims@nevadacountygold.com Updated: Tue, Mar 3, 2009