Nevada County
Location and origin
Grass Valley, some 26mi/42km north of Auburn on the CA 49, gets its name from the time it was founded in 1849 by the first settlers, who unexpectedly found plenty of fodder here for their cattle. They could not have suspected that under the meadows lay the biggest
gold deposits in all California. The Empire gold-mine is today the center of Empire Mine Historic Park and is open to visitors. In the 107 years of its existence nearly 6 million ounces of gold have been mined.
In Grass Valley also lived Lola Montez, the lover of King Louis I of Bavaria. The house in which she stayed for a time is to be converted into a museum.
Walking tours
Walking tours in the Empire Mine give the visitor a good impression of the working conditions in a gold-mine. You can go some 40ft/13m down into the shafts, which are lit for a length of 150ft/45m, but which are 367mi/587km long altogether. On a model you can see the direction and depth of the individual veins.