Jean Baptiste Charbonneau - Gold Mining

Gold Mining

In September 1848, Charbonneau arrived in Placer County, California at the American River, near what is now Auburn. Arriving early in what became known as the California Gold Rush, he joined only a handful of prospectors. Panning was not done during the hard Sierra Nevada winter or spring runoff, so in June 1849, he joined Jim Beckwourth and two others at a camp on Buckner's Bar to mine the river at the Big Crevice. This claim "…was shallow and paid well". Charbonneau lived at a site known as Secret Ravine, one of 12 ravines around Auburn. A successful miner, he kept working in the area for nearly sixteen years.

Charbonneau afforded the mining region's highly inflated cost of living. For example, at a time when a good wage in the West was $30 per month, it cost $8–16 per day to live in Auburn. Transiency was high but Charbonneau was still there in 1860, working as the hotel manager at the Orleans Hotel. By 1858, many miners had left the California fields for other gold rushes In April 1866, he departed for other opportunities at age 61. He may have headed for Montana to prospect for gold, although sites such as at Silver City and DeLamar in Idaho Territory were much closer.