The Harvard Mine in Jamestown and photos of the Mother Lode, as in the real thing, the actual quartz vein that grew all the gold. Not the area called the "Mother Lode" as in the foothills of the Sierra.

Got a great chance to go behind the fence of the off limits area of the biggest gold producing mine in this area, now idle except for arsenic and sulphur laced water that will hopefully someday be treated well enough to provide another water source for this water hungry country.

Rapelling down the cliff was scary for me, but just at the beginning where the first step down was as high as my waist. Kinda hard to get back up that thing, but it was a lot easier than backing down! Glad I went down in there, though, because I got to see the amazing quartz vein that is along the Melones Fault and tons of really great rocks, including serpentinite, and mariposite, the gorgeous green stuff with the quartz veins running through it. The sheer wall in the photo to the left is the serpentinite that is so soft and incoherent that it tumbles down and the benches that they built for mining are completely gone.

The leader of the tour has spent a career in mining and is still trying to find another bit of gold, but it's hard to find any more. Not like the huge chunks of free gold that came out of here. It was a good trip.