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Indian Diggings (only)

  • Indian Diggings, El Dorado County, California – Indian Diggings Marble Quarry circa 1863  (from The Resources of California:  Comprising Agriculture, Mining, Geography, Climate, Commerce, &c., and the Past and Future Development of the State, by John Shertzer Hittell, published by A. Roman, 1863, pp. 296-297.  This book is available on Google Books.)

    “...The principal mining towns are Placerville, Coloma, Georgetown, Diamond Springs, El Dorado, Spanish Bar, and Indian Diggings....”

    • “‘Indian Diggings,’ says Mr. Capp, ‘is a mining village twenty-five miles southeastward from Placerville, on the bank of Indian Creek.  In this district, a belt of limestone, or blue and white marble, rises in ridges through the slate bed-rock, and is in places cut by the water into long and deep channels, some of which serve as natural tail-races for the miners, but it often renders large amounts of blasting necessary....”

  • Indian Diggings, El Dorado County, California – Indian Diggings Marble Quarries & Israel Luce (1866) The following information is taken from a photocopy of a California State Agricultural Society book, page 314, date possibly 1864. This article was submitted to me in 1998 by Leeanna Rossi, author of Headstones of the Gold Rush Era: Sculpting Masterpieces in Marble, Golden Notes, vol. 43, number 3, Fall 1997.

    “Sacramento, January 2d, 1866.

    “Mr. I. N. Hoag, Secretary of the State Agricultural Society:

    “Sir:-In compliance with your request, I give you some information in regard to our marble quarries. The quarries from which we procure the marble known as "Indian Diggings marble," are located in El Dorado County, about three miles from the line that divides El Dorado from Amador County, twenty-five miles east of south from Placerville, thirty-two miles east of Latrobe, and sixty-two miles from Sacramento City. A branch of the new Amador road from Virginia City, Silver Mountain, etc., leads within one half mile of the quarries.

    “These quarries were first seen by me in the winter of eighteen hundred and fifty-three and four; at that time there was nothing to attract attention to them except the quality of the marble, which was as fine as the best Italian.

    “In the winter of eighteen hundred and fifty-six and seven, the solid ledges were uncovered by hydraulic mining, from which we have been taking marble since the summer following, from eighteen hundred and fifty-seven to eighteen hundred and sixty-one. We quarried only for monumental work. In eighteen hundred and sixty-one we erected a steam mill, with three gangs of saws, by which we have been able to supply the increasing demand for this material.

    “The marble is more easily worked, more free from iron, flint, or other outside matter, and as it is as susceptible of as high a polish as the best Italian, there is no reason why it should not, in a few years, supersede the use of imported marble altogether. For general purposes, there is no marble in the United States that can compete with it; and, as you are well aware, we have exhibited it at all the State fairs since eighteen hundred and fifty-eight, in competition with foreign or domestic production. And we have the proud satisfaction of knowing that California has carried off the palm in marble, as she has in everything else in which she has come in competition with other parts of the world.

    “In view of the above facts, it seems that this part of the production of the State has been almost entirely overlooked, and has not received the fostering care and encouragement from your society or the State Government that its importance demands. Knowing the deep interest that you take in developing all the resources of the State, I have placed the above at your disposal, hoping that it may assist you in your good work.

    “I remain, respectfully, Your obedient servant, ISRAEL LUCE.”

  • Indian Diggings, El Dorado County, California – Indian Diggings Marble Quarry (circa 1867) – Excerpts from Mineral Resources of the States and Territories West of the Rocky Mountains (pdf), by J. Ross Browne, Report to the Committee on Mines and Mining, House of Representatives During the Second Session of the Fortieth Congress, 1867-1868, Ex. Doc. No. 202, 1868.  (This book is available on Google Books.) 

    Section VII.  El Dorado County (circa 1867) (pp. 81-85)

    “El Dorado county lies between the Cosumnes and the Middle fork of the American river, and extends from the eastern boundary of the State to near the Sacramento plain.  It was in this county that Marshall made his discovery of the gold on the 19th January, 1848; and El Dorado was previous to 1853 called the Empire county, because it was for a time the most populous in the State, but it is now surpassed by many others....”

    “The lime belt, which is distinctly traceable across Tuolumne, Calaveras, and Amador, appears at Indian Diggings in El Dorado, and then seems to be lost.

    “A new lime belt appears very distinctly twelve miles west of the main belt.  In this new belt is the beautiful Alabaster cave, near Centreville.”

    Miscellaneous Resources in California (Tombstones, etc.) (circa 1867) (pp. 82)

    “A considerable part of the marble used for tombstones in California is obtained from a marble quarry at Indian Diggings.  Steatite, or soapstone, of very good quality is obtained from a quarry near Placerville, and numerous places in the county supply a chalk-like silicate of lime that is used in San Francisco for polishing metals, especially silver-ware.  The county has 85,000 acres of enclosed land, 22,000 acres under cultivation, 1,164,000 grape-vines, 91,000 apple trees, 52,000 peach trees, saws 10,000,000 feet of lumber annually, has taxable property assessed at $3,500,000, and casts 5,000 votes....The Alabaster cave in the northwestern corner, and Lake Tahoe at the northeastern, are both places of fashionable resort.”

    Indian Diggings, El Dorado County (circa 1867) (pp. 85)

    “Indian Diggings, 25 miles southeastward from Placerville, is on the limestone belt, and is the furthest north of all the large mining camps on that belt.  No solid bed rock is found here. It is supposed that pay gravel is found 200 feet from the surface, and to drain the diggings to that depth would require a tunnel a mile long.  At Slug gulch a shaft was sunk down through what appeared to be solid limestone bed rock into a stratum of limestone boulders.  A ditch of water was accidentally turned into this shaft, and the water ran there for several days without any accumulation of water in the shaft.  No outlet was ever discovered.  Brownsville, at the side of the Indian Diggings, may be considered part of the same place, and the two together have about 20 acres of deep diggings, which will not be exhausted for many years.  Indian Diggings and Brownsville, unlike Columbia and Volcano, do not wash with a pipe in a dump box....”

    Marble, Limestone, &c. in California (circa 1867) (pp. 241-246)

    “The use of marble for domestic, artistic, and funeral purposes is very general in California, especially in San Francisco.  Marble mantels, tables, and slabs are to be found in almost every residence, workshop, and store.  The graves of all, save the utterly friendless dead, are adorned with marble tablet or monument of some kind.  This taste has created an important branch of productive industry.

    “There are fourteen factories engaged in the manufactures of marble in San Francisco, some of which employ 30 or 40 men.  One has steam machinery for cutting and polishing the marble, and turns out 3,000 feet of slabs per month, in addition to tombstones, mantels, and other ornamental work.  There are marble factories at Sacramento and Marysville, and one at each of the following towns in the interior:  Stockton, Sonora, Petaluma, Santa Cruz, San José, Downieville, Folsom, and other places.  Probably 1,000 persons are employed in California quarrying, transporting, and working marble.

    “The consumption in San Francisco averages 500 cubic feet per month; the factories in the interior use about one-fourth as much; total consumption in the State, say 600 feet per month, or 7,200 feet per annum.  The average price of marble at present is $5 per foot.  It thus appears that the value of the raw material used in this business amounts to $36,000 annually.  The value of manufactured marble in the State is estimated at $2,500,000.

    “The most singular suggestive feature in this business is presented in the fact that, although California contains an abundance of marble of great beauty and variety, most of that used in San Francisco is imported from Italy or New York.  This fact may be attributed to the want of good roads and cheap transportation.  It is found more economical to bring the raw material from Genoa, Italy, including transshipment at Bordeaux or Marseilles, than from the foot hills in the State, less than 100 miles from Stockton or Sacramento.

    “There are two firms in San Francisco engaged in the importation of marble.  Brigadelli & Co. are in the Italian branch of the business.  They own a vessel of 300 tons register, sailing between San Francisco and Genoa.  Large quantities are brought by French vessels from French ports.  From June, 1866, to June, 1867, this firm imported 545 tons of Italian marble and had 600 tons more on the way, the whole of which was sold, leaving orders still unfilled.  The present price of Italian marble is 50 cents per superficial foot, in slabs of seven-eighths of an inch thick; in blocks of ordinary dimensions, $5 per cubic foot; blocks weighing several tons, at $6 per cubic foot.  California marble cannot be laid down in San Francisco at these rates.  Myers & Co. import Italian marble from New York, where it is brought in vessels from Genoa.  This firm also imports white marble from Vermont, which sells at $15 per cubic foot, being used in the finer kinds of work.  Some of the ornamental mantels in the homes of the wealthy cost $750 to $1,000 each.

    “The marble dust used in the preparation of effervescing beverages is imported from New York.  Five hundred tons annually are consumed, at a cost of about $30 per ton.

    “The cost of transportation, which gives the imported marble a monopoly of the markets along the coast, prohibits its introduction in the interior.  All the factories in towns above Sacramento, Marysville, and Stockton use the native marble, because it is cheapest at these places.  With reference to the quality of the Pacific coast marble, as compared with the imported article, the fact should be taken into consideration that it is excavated from near the surface.  None of the quarries have been opened to any considerable depth; consequently the marble is scarcely as fine in color or texture as it will be found at a greater depth.  Much of it, nevertheless, when compared with Italian, loses nothing in the contrast.  Many samples of the California marble are superior.  The block of white marble, from the quarry at Columbia, Tuolumne county, from which the sculptor Devine* formed the bust of the late Senator Broderick, compares favorably with the Carrara in color, texture, and purity.

    (*  Patrick J. Devine, sculptor, located in Sacramento.  Peggy B. Perazzo)

    “The recently-discovered quarries of black and white marbles near Colfax, Placer county, on the line of the Central Pacific railroad, will probably stop the importations from Italy.  The beauty of the black marble from this locality, the exquisite polish it retains, and the advantage the owners of the quarry possess in railroad communication, which enables them to deliver it at San Francisco cheaper than the Italian, will probably give it the control of the market.

    “There are many localities in California where quarries of marble are known to exist, but, with few exceptions, they remain undeveloped.  A belt of limestone traverses the State from north to south, between the foot hills and the Sierras, said to be 20 miles wide, forming a prominent feature of the topography of the counties famous for placer gold, particularly in Tuolumne, Calaveras, Amador, Nevada, El Dorado, and Placer counties.  This belt abounds in white or grayish marble; and it is not improbable marble of variegated colors will be found on more thorough examination, as local causes are known to control the color.  In illustration, it may be stated that in the gulch on the south side of the road between Columbia and Gold Springs, Tuolumne county, there are bodies of marble of a jetty blackness, colored by manganese; on Matelôt gulch, about a mile to the east, there is a deposit of marble which, through the action of salts of iron, has been mottled with red, brown, yellow, blue, and green spots; on Mormon gulch, about three miles to the west, are masses of marble of very fine texture veined with pale green by the action of chlorine.  This variety of color is not peculiar to that locality, but may be observed throughout the State.  The Suisun marble, of Solano county, and the black and white marbles recently found near Colfax, Placer county, are cases in point.

    “Little attention has thus far been paid to the marble quarries of the State, because the working of them has not been profitable, except in a few localities.  As soon as railroads and cheaper labor shall remove existing impediments, they will probably become a source of profit, both to individuals and to the State....”

    Indian Diggings Marble Quarry, El Dorado County (circa 1867) (pp. 243)

    “Indian Diggings. – This quarry is located on the limestone belt, above referred to, in El Dorado county.  It was opened in 1857.  A considerable quantity of marble has been taken from it, darkly and coarsely marked with gray and black.  It is very beautiful in large masses, but has a smeary appearance in small pieces; it is susceptible of a high polish, but it retains well.  Monuments, after exposure for 10 years to the heat and cold peculiar to the foot hills of California, are as bright and glossy on the surface and edges as when erected.”*

    • (* Many of the old cemetery stones in California cemeteries constructed from the Indian Diggings marble show considerable disintegration along the gray veins in the stone today.  Peggy B. Perazzo.)

  • Indian Diggings, El Dorado County, California – Indian Diggings Marble Quarries (circa 1868) (Excerpt from The Natural Wealth of California...., by Titus Fey Cronise, San Francisco: H. H. Bancroft & Company, 1868, pp. 628-629.)

    “Not until within the last three or four years was the business of quarrying, or manufacturing marble, engaged in to any extent in California, nearly everything required in this line having been previously imported already made. Much of the material is still imported from abroad, the most of it from Italy, and worked here to order; though, for several years past, considerable quantities of this stone have been taken from the several quarries now open in this State.

    “The two principal works engaged in manufacturing marble are located in San Francisco, the value of their joint products amounting to about $200,000 yearly. The Pioneer Works, driven by steam, employ on an average thirty-five men - make tombstones, monuments, furniture, etc., and import most of their material. At the other yard, from twelve to fifteen hands are employed, and about the same style of articles are made.

    “The first quarry opened in the State was at Indian Diggings, El Dorado county, in 1857, since which time large quantities have been extracted. It is of the clouded variety, and is much used for memorial purposes. Near Dayton, Amador county, a quarry of white marble, slightly veined, has been opened, and considerable quantities of the stone brought to San Francisco, to be used for building purposes. Near Columbia, Tuolumne county, is another extensive formation of marble, from which large quantities of stone, some of the blocks of great size, have been broken out. In Placer county, contiguous to the line of the Central Pacific Railroad, there is a quarry of variegated black marble, considered valuable. In Solano county, and in many other parts of the State, marble of nearly every description abounds; the only reason that these deposits have not been more extensively worked, being the very limited demand for the article on this coast.”

  • Indian Diggings, El Dorado County, California – Indian Diggings Marble (circa 1869)  (from Resources of the Pacific Slope:  A Statistical and Descriptive Summary of the Mines, Minerals, Climate, Topography, Agriculture, Commerce, Manufacturers, and Miscellaneous Productions, of the United States and Territories West of the Rocky Mountains, by John Ross Browne, San Francisco:  H. H. Bancroft & Company, 1869.  This book is available on Google Books.)

    (pp. 81)  “The lime belt, which is distinctly traceable across Tuolumne, Calaveras, and Amador, appears at Indian Diggings in El Dorado, and then seems to be lost.

    “A new lime belt appears very distinctly twelve miles west of the main belt.  In this new belt is the beautiful Alabaster cave, near Centreville.”

    (pp. 243)  “The most important quarries at present worked are the following:

    “Indian Diggings. – This quarry is located on the limestone belt, above referred to, in El Dorado county.  It was opened in 1857.  A considerable quantity of marble has been taken from it, darkly and coarsely marked with gray and black.  It is very beautiful in large masses, but has a smeary appearance in small pieces; it is susceptible of a high polish, which it retains well.  Monuments, after exposure for 10 years to the heat and cold peculiar to the foot hills of California, are as bright and glossy on the surface and edges as when erected....”

    “The Colfax Quarries. – The most noted of these was discovered in 1866, in the mountains bordering the Bear river, about two miles to the east of the town of Colfax, Placer county, near the line of the Central pacific railroad.  The marble differs from all others found on the coast, being a dark gray, with jet black venation...

    “...The owners of the quarry at Columbia pay $10 per ton for hauling their marble to Stockton when the roads are good, but from $12 to $15 per ton during the winter, with an addition of $2 per ton from that place to San Francisco by water.  The expenses for transportation are still higher from the Indian Diggings quarry....”

  • Indian Diggings, El Dorado County, California – Indian Diggings Marble Quarry circa 1875  (from
    The American Cyclopaedia: A Popular Dictionary of General Knowledge, Thomas Jefferson Conant, Blandina Conant, Vol. 14, published by Appleton, 1875, pp. 512.  This book is available on Google Books.)

    • “...The Placerville and Sacramento Valley railroad, extending to Shingle Springs, El Dorado co., 48 m., brings immense quantities of bowlders and granite for the San Francisco market, and also of marble from the Indian Diggings quarries.  This is the only marble of any consequence yet discovered on the Pacific coast; it is of fine quality, and of extensively used in San Francisco and Sacramento.  Steamers run to San Francisco, Marysville, and various points on the Sacramento River....”

  • Indian Diggings, El Dorado County, California – the Indian Diggings Marble Quarry – Photo of Indian Diggings Marble circa 1880  (from Census Reports Tenth Census. June 1, 1880, Vol. 10, United States. Census Office, 10th Census, 1880, Henry Gannett, Government Printing Office, 1884, pp. 279.  This book is available on Google Books.)

    (pp. ix)  Illustrations.  “LVIII. – Marble, Indian Diggings, El Dorado county, California.”

    • (pp. 279)  “...At Indian Diggings, Eldorado county, a marble has been quarried with almost white ground and blue streaks running through it, used a little for grave-stones, but not much liked, and is not now quarried.”

  • Indian Diggings, El Dorado County, California – Indian Diggings Marble Quarry & Marble Mill circa 1883 (from Historical Souvenir of El Dorado County, California: with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men & pioneers, Compiled by Paolo Sioli, 1883, pp. 96.  You can view the transcription of the excerpts about limestone, marble, and slate in Historical Souvenir of El Dorado County, California (pdf).

    Marble.

    “Numerous are the ledges of marble, and just as numerous are the different varieties of marble, of all colors and grains, that have been discovered in the some parts of El Dorado county.  Only a few of them have been worked to such an extent that an estimate about their value could be given.  Marble deposits have been discovered in Marble Valley, in Ringgold creek canyon on Mr. Hogan’s place, at Indian Diggings, and at various places on the Georgetown divide.  Prominent among these is, because it is the only one that has been worked sufficient to justify an estimate, the marble ledge at Indian Diggings.  It was opened about ten years ago, by Messrs. Luce & Aiken, of Sacramento, who were the first owners.  They erected saw-works in 1876 or 1877, and, after these had been destroyed by fire, a large marble-mill was erected with four gangs of saws, run by a ten-horse-power engine, which has been successfully worked during the favorable season of the year.  The marble of this quarry is of beautiful texture, and inexhaustible in quantity, and by competent judges has been pronounced as fine, as susceptible of a high a polish, as the best Italian.  The marble is used for mantle-pieces, for grave stones and other monuments – a very limited use, as long as we call a big lumber box inhabited by human beings, a mansion.”

  • Indian Diggings, El Dorado County, California – Indian Diggings Marble Quarries (circa 1887) (Marble) (Excerpt from Appendix To The Journals of The Senate and Assembly of The Twenty-Seventh Session of The Legislature of the State of California, Vol. VII, Sacramento: State Office, P. L. Shoaff, Supt. State Printing, 1887, pp. 185.

    “Among the products of this county are lime, marble, copper, and iron...The marble quarries are at Indian Diggings, in the northeastern portion of the county. Marble from these work into beautiful monuments, and finish with a polish and beauty equal to the finest Italian. They, however, are too distant from rail communication at present to be worked with much profit....”

  • Indian Diggings, El Dorado County, California – Indian Diggings Marble Quarry (1891) (Marble) (From Stones For Building and Decoration, by George P. Merrill, New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1891)

    “California. – It has been stated that owing to the violent geological agencies that have been in operation since the formation of the marble deposits in this State the stones are found to be so broken and shattered in nearly every case, that it is impossible to obtain blocks of large size free from cracks and flaws.* The State is nevertheless not lacking in desirable material.

    (* Footnote *, pp. 85: Report of Tenth Census, 1880, vol. x, p. 279.)

    “Near Indian Diggings, in Eldorado County, there occurs a fine-grained white, blue-veined marble that closely resembles the Italian bardiglio, from the Miseglia quarries, but that the groundmass is lighter in color. It has been used only for grave-stones and to but a slight extent at that….”

  • Indian Diggings, El Dorado County, California – Hayward Gravel Mine/ Limestone Deposit* circa 1896  (from Report XIII of the State Mineralogist for the Two Years Ending September 15, 1896, (Thirteenth Report/Third Biennial), California State Mining Bureau, 1896, pp. 145.  (* In an 1915 California State Mineralogist report, this property was referred to as a “crystalline limestone” deposit.)

    • “Hayward Gravel Mine (Hydraulic). – It is in Indian Diggings, at 3,150’ elevation, and comprises 358 acres on an ancient channel.  The bank is 275’ high, of which 159’ is gravel, with cement capping.  Water is taken from the Middle Fork of Cosumnes River through the Empire (Douglas) ditch, 28 miles long, 5’ wide on top, 2 ½’ on bottom, 2 ½’  deep, with 16’ grade per mile, carrying 900 miner’s inches of water, delivered at the mine under 260’ pressure.  The dump is into Indian Creek.  A sawmill is under construction.  Seven men are employed. Plymouth consolidated Gold Mining Co., of Oakland, owner; J. Crane, of Plymouth, Amador County, superintendent.”

    • Indian Diggings, El Dorado County, California – Hayward, Hobart and Lane Estates (circa 1915) (Marble Deposit) (Excerpts from Report XV of the State Mineralogist, Mines and Mineral Resources of Portions of California, Chapters of State Mineralogist’s Report Biennial Period 1915-1916, Part III. The Counties of El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, Yuba, California State Mining Bureau, 1919, pp. 271-459. Used with permission, California Department of Conservation, California Geological Survey.) (In 1896, this property was described as the “Hayward Gravel Mine,” a hydraulic gold mine.  See above.)

      “Hayward, Hobart and Lane Estates of San Francisco owns a deposit of crystalline limestone at Indian Diggings, which is undeveloped on account of its distance from transportation.”

      (pp. 302)

      “Hayward (Indian Diggings) Mine (Drift).  See our Report XIII, p. 145.  Situated at Indian Diggings, and comprises 358 acres.  Idle.  Hayward, Hobart & Lane Estates, Merchants Exchange Bldg., San Francisco, Cal., owner.”

  • Indian Diggings, El Dorado County, California – the Limestone Belt at Indian Diggings  (from History of California, Volume 3, by Theodore Henry Hittell, N. J. Stone, 1897, pp. 110.  (This book is available on Google Books.)

    “...While there were many rich places in the Cosumnes region, there were no especially noted points, except perhaps Indian Diggings, though Michigan Bar, Newtown and Grizzly Flat may also be mentioned....Off more to the southward, and about twenty-five miles southeast of Placerville, was Indian Diggings, a brisk and lively place where there were almost always several hundred miners at work and sometimes as many as five or six hundred.  This spot was apparently the most northerly point on what was known as the great limestone belt, which ran thence southerly, distinctly traceable, to the neighborhood of Columbia and Sonora, a distance of some forty miles.  The limestone, which in some places becomes marble, appears to rise in ridges through the slate; and, like limestone formations in general, it has numerous fissures and caves.  Several of these caves, though not very extensive, present in their stalactites and stalagmites many objects of great beauty and interest; while the fissures afford subjects of mystery and wonder.  At one place, called Slug Gulch, near Indian Diggings, a shaft was sunk through the limestone to what was supposed to be a stratum of boulders and pay-dirt.  By some accident a mining ditch was turned into this shaft and, though it was allowed to run for several days there never appeared to be any accumulation of water in the shaft.  Nor was any outlet for the water ever discovered.  Whether it was drunk up by the thirsty gravels of ancient river beds buried under the more recent strata, or whether, like the river Alph, it sank through ‘cavers measureless to man, down to a sunless sea,’ may never be known or will only be found out when much more extensive explorations shall have been made than any yet attempted.”*

    (*  Footnote:  “Resources of the Pacific Slope, &c., by J. Ross Browne, New York, 1869, 85; San Francisco Bulletin, September 25, 1857.”)

     
  • Indian Diggings, El Dorado County, California – the Indian Diggings Marble Quarry circa 1911  (from California Blue Book, Vol. 1911, California. Secretary of State, 1913, pp. 622.  This book is available on Google Books.)

    • “Near Placerville, and also at Indian Diggings, deposits of a blue-veined marble exist that await development.  The limestone near Placerville is found near the beds of clay and slate, and these have been tested for the manufacture of Portland cement.  A first-class cement can be made from these minerals and the only problems to be solved are those of manufacturing and marketing.”

  • Indian Diggings, El Dorado County, California – the Indian Diggings Marble Quarry up to 1915  (excerpt from California's El Dorado Yesterday and Today, by Herman Daniel Jerrett, Press of J. Anderson, 1915, pp. 78-79.  (This book is available on Google Books.)

    Indian Diggings.

    “A town of no little consequence in the early ‘50’s, and the home of many Indians who were mining here for some time before the whites made their appearance in 1850, at which time the native miners were discovered, hence the name of the place that soon grew to prominence in the county.  The town is about twenty-five miles southeast of Placerville, near the southern boundary of the county.  Indian creek passes within the town limits and was unusually rich.  By 1856 the camp had reached the height of its prosperity, with a population of more than fifteen hundred, that supported nearly a dozen stores, several hotels, and saloons, drug store, fraternal orders, in fact, a camp with every convenience that a thriving town could afford in the early days.  Some idea of the travel into this old camp may be formed by the number of stages running between the town and Sacramento, there being two daily and one tri-weekly, besides the one to Placerville.  Indian Diggings was a place noted for something more than its gold, it being the home of the marble beds used for building and ornamental purposes, which are waiting for capital to further develop.  The town was several times visited by fire and totally destroyed August 27th, 1857, and partically (sic) destroyed in the year 1860.  One of the first hotels was run by J. W. Gilmore, who was also Postmaster.  Others who lived here during the town’s prosperous times were Hall & McPherson, hotelkeepers; W. & S. Grubbs, T. D. Heisquell, P. Gibson, G. & J. McDonald, H. C. Sloss, L. S. Bell, J. R. Head, B. R. Sweetmond, J. G. Busch, A. Riker, J. S. Lock, J. P. Cantin, R. H. Reed, John Cable, John Patterson and A. J. Lowry, later of Placerville.  Indian Diggings was not behind her sister camps politically, for she sent to the Legislature, as representatives of El Dorado county, the following:  George McDonald, Tyler D. Heiskell, H. C. Sloss, John C. Bell, John Fraser, A. F. Taylor and Thomas Fraser, later Registrar of the United States Land Office in this State.  The old town has followed many of the others, and now – well, she has assisted the writer in bringing to a close her historical career.”

  • Indian Diggings (northwest of), El Dorado County, California - Limestone Deposit (Limestone) (Excerpts from “Limestone in California,” by Clarence A. Logan, California Journal of Mines and Geology, Vol. 43, No. 3, July 1947, California Division of Mines, San Francisco, California, pp. 175-357. Used with permission, California Department of Conservation, California Geological Survey.)

    "Four miles northwest of Indian Diggins, and extending a mile and a half northeast across the canyon of Middle Fork of Cosumnes River from Slug Gulch to Rocky Bar, there is a large deposit of limestone. This is in part associated with copper ore at the Cosumnes copper mine. The association of limestone, copper ores, and magnetite is also found at other copper mines in the county. In such cases, the calcite has been re-crystallized into coarse crystals during the process of mineralization accompanying the following granitic intrusion. There has been no commercial utilization of such deposits."

    "Indian Diggins Marble Deposit. This deposit is in sec. 18, T. 8 N., R. 13 E., about 25 miles southeast of Placerville and has not been developed because of its remoteness from railroad. About a mile southwest of it, at Marble Spring, is another deposit. Both are good-sized."

    Plate 26- B. Indian Diggins Limestone Deposit, El Dorado County. Indian Diggins Limestone Deposit, El Dorado County
  • Indian Diggings, El Dorado County, California - Historical Information on the Area from the Mountain Democrat Online.
    • Indian Diggings: The True Life Wild West, by Doug Noble, Mountain Democrat Correspondent, June 25, 1999. The Aitken and Luce marble saw mill, which started in 1858, was one of the remaining structures in the area. The mill produced marble for monuments buildings and ornamental uses. (The link from which this information was obtained is no longer available at this link. Check with the Mountain Democrat Online for information about this article.)
      <http://www.mtdemocrat.com/archives/index.inn?loc=detail&doc=/1999/June/25-295-zcolumn35.txt>
    • April 22, 1999 - The Carson Emigrant Trail to Carson Valley, July 19, 1999. The Carson emigrant trail served many of the southern mines in Amador County. It existed many years before the Amador Nevada Wagon Road was constructed. The trail went from "Diamond Springs a branch via Grizzly Flat led to Brownsville (Mendon), Indian Diggings and Fiddletown. From Mud Springs a branch led to Logtown, Quartzburg (Nashville), Saratoga (Yeomet) an Drytown."(The link from which this information was obtained is no longer available at this link. Check with the Mountain Democrat Online for information about this article.)
      <http://www.mtdemocrat.com/archives/index.inn?loc=detail&doc=/1999/July/19-309-columnists1.txt>
    • Sept. 24, 1999 - Limestone lays deep in Diamond Springs, by Doug Noble, Democrat columnist, October 1, 1999. There was a large limestone quarry three mile east of Diamond Springs, on Quarry Road, known as the Diamond Springs Limestone Mine. Limestone has been mined from this location since at least the days of the Gold Rush and possibly earlier. A block of limestone from this mine was donated to be included in the interior of the Washington Monument in Washington, D. C. over a hundred years ago.(The link from which this information was obtained is no longer available at this link. Check with the Mountain Democrat Online for information about this article.)
      <http://www.mtdemocrat.com/archives/index.inn?loc=detail&doc=/1999/October/1-657-D2_Y101.TXT>
    • Oct. 1, 1999 - Mines of El Dorado County: Limestone quarries can be "Cool," by Doug Noble, Democrat columnist, October 1, 1999. The largest limestone quarry in El Dorado County is the Cool-Cave Valley (Coswell-Cave Valley) Mine. You can find it on the south side of the south side of the Middle Fork of the American river about four miles east of Auburn.
    • Nov. 19, 1999 - Grade-A Mines Start with "I" and "J,"  by Doug Noble, Democrat columnist, December 6, 1999. The limestone quarries known as the Indian Diggings Mines were located around Indian Diggings. The deposits were crystallized limestone. (The link from which this information was obtained is no longer available at this link. Check with the Mountain Democrat Online for information about this article.)
      <http://www.mtdemocrat.com/archives/index.inn?loc=detail&doc=/1999/December/6-534-T1119_D.TXT>
    • May 19, 2000 - Greenwood: Originally a Louisville Trading Post,  by Doug Noble, Mountain Democrat Columnist, May 19, 2000. This article includes a section on the history and description of Indian Diggins. The article also discusses how the name Indian Diggings was changed to Indian Diggins. (The link from which this information was obtained is no longer available at this link. Check with the Mountain Democrat Online for information about this article.)
      <http://www.mtdemocrat.com/articles/2005/06/27/columnists/doug_noble/2000/i519_d.txt>
    • April 20, 2001 - Latrobe Began as a Railroad Center, by Richard Hughey, Mountain Democrat columnist, May 18, 2001. This article notes that in Latrobe there was a deposit of slate of "superior quality." Eventually the market for slate ended and the quarry was closed down at that time. (The link from which this information was obtained is no longer available at this link. Check with the Mountain Democrat Online for information about this article.)
      <http://www.mtdemocrat.com/archives/index.inn?loc=detail&doc=/2001/May/18-238-S04201_H.txt>
  • Indian Diggings, El Dorado County, California - the Indian Diggings Marble Quarries.

    These marble quarries are located southeast of the Indiana Diggings Cemetery, according to the U. S. Geological Survey map, Omo Ranch 7 ½' Quadrangle. Limestone and marble was discovered in 1859. The Hayward, Hobart and Lane Company bought the marble quarry in 1916 and attempted to transport the marble to Sacramento but was unsuccessful as the marble fell into the Consumnes River (near Highway 16). (The preceding information was compiled from various sources.)

    I have been told that the quarry is not easily found as there are many logging roads in the area. Stone from this area is generally white and heavily streaked with grey veining. Many examples of this marble can be found in California cemeteries, especially in the Old Sacramento City Cemetery in Sacramento. (See the following entry for photographs of cemetery stones constructed from Indian Diggings marble and some Indian Diggings area marble/limestone stones.)

  • Indian Diggings Area, El Dorado County, California - Indian Diggings Mine (Limestone/Marble) (From “Mines of El Dorado County,” by Doug Noble, El Dorado County Library web site. You can view this document in PDF format on the El Dorado County Library web site, or you can download the PDF document to your computer. See the “El Dorado County History” section for instructions to download the document.)

    “There were several locations in and around Indian Diggings where crystallized limestone deposits were found. These mines were collectively known at the Indian Diggings Mines.”

  • Indian Diggings, El Dorado County, California - Israel Luce, Quarrier & Sacramento Monument Dealer – “Israel Luce, his Indian Diggings Marble Quarry & Others in Relation to Old Sacramento City Cemetery Stones” (pdf), by Peggy B. Perazzo, June 2012.
  • Indian Diggings Marble Quarry Area and Indian Diggings Cemetery, El Dorado County, California - Visit to the Indian Diggings Cemetery and Indian Diggings Marble Quarry Area in the summer of 2003.

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