>From "Wagon Wheel" 1966, Quoting narrative from 1956, (excerpt) Quartz mining started in Shasta County at French Gulch in the fifties. The first mine was the Franklin and it was the second quartz mill in the state. It was a five-stamp mill and the stems were made of oak wood. The shoes were square cast iron and bolted to the stems. They had no silver plates at that time to amalgamate the gold as it came from the mill. Instead they used sluice boxes with riffles, and as there was very heavy sulphide in the ore, it would clog the riffles with sulphide and allow the gold to pass on over. So the Franklin mine was abandoned and the shaft allowed to cave in. However, the old timers frequently told of the ore in the bottom of the old shaft which was less than fifty feet in depth. (note:from family history this is John Syme's +associates work,1860/1870/1880) The Milkmaid mine was discovered later by William McGuire and William Espy, who later lost the mine in a lawsuit. The Milkmaid owners included the Franklin in their patents. I believe it was in 1908 a man named Ed Lewis heard of this ore being in the Franklin shaft, which of course was caved full. Lewis decided he would sink down along one side of the caved ground and take a look. When he got to the bottom he found the ore just as described by the old timers. John Syme told me about this ore many times. Lewis went to Nevada where he had friends who were active in mining and they together got an option and acquired the Milkmaid, including the Franklin claim. This shoot of ore turned out to be the famous Swede shoot, which produced several hundred thousand dollars in just a few months, by a company of Swedes who had made a fortune in Alaska and came down and took a lease and bond on the Milkmaid. The Washington was probably the next quartz mine found in the French Gulch district. It was worked for many years and produced around two million dollars, when it seemed to be worked out and lay idle for many years. About 1930 George Grotefend, a dentist, who was born and raised in Shasta, decided he wanted to mine. He bought for a song all the stock of the company that owned the Washington and put a couple of men to work driving what is known as the H level, sometimes called the 350 level. He drove this ahead about 150 feet, where he encountered a nice showing of ore. He took out about 100 tons of ore and piled it on the dump, as the old Washington mill had deteriorated to a point where it would have to be rebuilt before one could mill ore. About that time J. H. Scott came to the French Gulch district and engaged in mining but had been unsuccessful. He asked Grotefend for a deal on the Washington. Grotefend wanted $10,000 down and twenty-five per cent royalty to apply on the purchase price of $70,000 for the mine. Scott sampled the ore on the dump himself and paid Grotefend the $10,000. He shipped the ore to the smelter and recovered over $13,000 from the 100 tons and from the shoot of ore and took out around $800,000 when World War II came and he was forced to shut down. However, a couple of leasers only last year shipped some ore from the lowest level, and One Level, receiving over $2,000 from 340 pounds of ore and a couple of tons ran about $200 per ton. There is a lot of ore left in this mine. My opinion is that it has not been developed to where it can be made to produce its best. As you might say it has not yet been scratched. Thus spoke Henry Carter in 1956. Anyone have a more recent history on Washington mine???? --JD