Location and History:

The Greenhorn mining district, founded in 1858,  is located about 28 miles northeast of Bakersfield and its approximate boundaries are the Kern River on the south, Fremont Creek on the west, Woodward Peak on the north and Black Gulch on the east.  Being this district goes from the Kern River up to the summit of the Greenhorn’s, elevations range from 2000 -6500′.

The district encompasses Greenhorn Gulch, the location of the first discovery of gold in (what is now) Kern County. It was in 1851 when a member of General John C. Fremont’s party found gold near the mouth of Greenhorn Gulch at the Kern River. As a result, a rush soon followed with miners pouring into the area over the next few years. In 1855, the town of Petersburg was established by Peter Gardett. Gold-mining activity declined before 1890, but there has been minor prospecting since with most of the output has been from placer mining.

Geology:

Much of the Greenhorn mining district is underlain by quartz diorite. There are a few bodies of metamorphic rocks and also some pegmatite dikes. The chief placer deposits were in Greenhorn, Fremont, Bradshaw, and Black Gulch Creeks. There are numerous small, poorly mineralized quartz veins, most of which are a few miles east of David Guard Station. The gold is in the free state and there is very little sulfide mineralization. Uranium-bearing peat bog was discovered in 1955 in the northwest part of the district.

Mines:

Little Sparkler (Uranium), Lonestar (Gold), Mayflower (Gold), Eagle (Gold) , Rough and Ready (Gold).

Bibliography

• Clark, W. B., 1992,California Div. Mines Bull. 193, Sixth Edition, p. 60.
• Brown, G. C, 1916, Green Horn Mountain district: California Min.
  Bur. Rept. 14, p. 482.
• Troxel, B. W., and Morton, P. K., 1962, Kern County, Greenhorn
  Mountain district: California Div. Mines and Geology, County Report 1,
  pp. 34-35.