It’s easy to forget just how many gold mines there were in El Dorado County at one time. Most have long ago closed, and the buildings torn down, burned down, or just fell. The above photo shows the Sherman Mine, c.1930s, which was located right in Placerville, behind the El Dorado Irrigation offices on Mosquito Road.

This description accompanied the photo. “The bottom of the triangular structure at center is skeletal while panels cover the top half. Another lightly-colored structure can be seen just behind the structure and extending to the left. While poles and other supplies sit in piles against the tall structure on the right, a man in a suit and hat lean on a post and look towards the trees on the right. More supplies and debris are scattered on the ground on the right and in the foreground while trees and bushes cover the small hill around the shafthouse”.

I found the location using Google Earth, where you can see the hill and where I think the mineshaft was. It was very active from 1905 to 1911, with a total production of $136,000. “The deposit, a five-foot-wide vein of gold-bearing quartz, was developed by a 750-foot inclined shaft with levels at 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, and 750 feet; winze sunk from 750 feet and 5500 feet of drifts. The ore as treated in a ten-stamp mill.”

You would have heard that ten stamp mill, as well as other stamp mills in the area. One aspect of life in the foothills during the gold mine days we forget was the constant sound of stamp mills pulverizing rock to recover the gold better. The sounds were so ubiquitous in our area, that if they stopped, it could indicate problems at the mine. “Why did the mill stop”?

Below is a Google Earth view of the site.