Empire Mine State Historic Park 1-18-12
Empire Mine State Historic Park is the site of one of the oldest, largest, deepest, longest and richest gold mines in California. This park had been on my list for some time. Since I have been on a Gold Rush kick of late, the time seemed right. The park promises 12 miles of trail and plenty of historic interest. The visitor center is open 10-5, 7 days a week. All of the hiking trails are available for free from dusk to dawn. A hiking trail map sold for $1 in the visitors center is highly recommended as the trails are poorly marked and sometimes confusing. There are three main hiking areas in the park: Hardrock, Osborn Hill and Union Hill. All have unique aspects and different terrain. The main historic area of the park including the main mine shaft and original buildings and housing will cost you $7, but are well worth the price. Take the tour offered by the volunteer docent, it is the only way to get inside some of the most spectacular buildings in the park.
So after my somewhat glowing intro, the hikers among us will probably be very disappointed with this park. I started my hiking in the Union Hill section of the park. The trail is well maintained and winds through dense woods. There is not much to see, and you will have plenty of privacy. This loop was a total of 4.75 miles, the details of which you can find here.
I followed the Union Hill Trail to the Lost Loop trail. The Lost Loop trail was lost for a good reason, there is nothing to see here but some power lines cutting through the forest.
After leaving the Lost Loop Trail, I continued on the Union Hill Loop trail to the Indian Ridge Loop Trail. I then took the Pipeline Trail. This is more of the same, except for this small section of pipe that used to run from the North Star Powerhouse to the Empire Mine. This is the only thing of historic significance on the entire trail, 10 feet of exposed pipe..
I joined the guided tour offered by the volunteers at the park. This tour focuses mainly on the the residential areas of the park. The mine was owned by a very influential family that made a lot of improvements to the property. The first building we visited was the Clubhouse pictured on the left. This building housed a ballroom, billiards room, large kitchen, squash courts, and a huge patio with tennis courts to entertain visiting guests. After leaving the Clubhouse we walked up the long pathway pictured on the right towards the "Cottage". The building was constructed of waste rock from the mines and is spectacular inside and out. The landscaping is equally impressive
Most of the gardens and trees were planted by the original owners over 100 years ago. All of the decorations in the house are also original possessions of the family that owned the mine.
One of the most amazing parts of the entire park is the scale model of the mines. This was originally housed in what is called "The Secret Room" To keep track of the mine’s 367 miles of underground workings, a place called “The Secret Room” (named for its blacked-out windows) was built. In it, the entire room was filled with a scale model of the mine’s below the surface workings. Few people knew the room existed while the mine was in operation. Today, visitors to the park can see it in the Visitor Center. The model represents five square miles of underground workings. This thing is AMAZING, I cant even imagine the number of hours that went into building this!!
Next on the agenda was the Hardrock trail. This is the centerpiece trail for the park, and it was very disappointing. The notable exception is the WYOD Mine site and waste piles. This mine is called the Work Your Own Diggins Mine, and was based on leasing sections of the mine to men who could own and work part of this mine. The waste piles are colorful and fun to explore.This hike is about a 3 mile loop the details of which you can find here.
In production for more than 100 years, the mine produced 5.6 million ounces of gold before it closed in 1956. That is equivalent to a box seven feet long, seven feet high, and seven feet deep of solid gold. 9.2 Billion Dollars in today's market, amazing.. The mine was closed along with most other mines in the area when the government under FDR froze the price of gold and made production impossible.
The mining operations of the Empire make for an interesting area to explore also. The mine business office is open as a walk through museum of sorts. Pretty cool to walk the same stairs and hallways as generations of miners before you. The Blacksmith shop is also very cool, there was a park volunteer in the shop working on an authentic smith. There is also examples of the candle holders and other equipment used in the mine. You can also walk a short way down the opening of the shaft, very cool.
I finished my hiking on the Osborn Hill Loop Trail. I was warned by the ranger that there was a lot of construction and poor signing, but I found the trail very enjoyable. It would be an awesome mountain bike trail. This loop was 3.5 miles, the details of which can be found here.
The total stats for my day of hiking were:
13.75 miles
2,575 Feet of climbing
13.75 miles
2,575 Feet of climbing