Hard-Rock, High-Grading and Harlots

Twilight Of The (Mining) Gods

The first years of Grass Valley's fifth decade as an incorporated town were perhaps the high point of hardrock mining in the area. Over 2500 miners were employed in various Nevada County mines and Grass Valley accounted for 1700 of them. This resulted in a payroll of $314,000 a month (1940), most of it spent in the town. Overall, the Grass Valley mines were producing $11,000,000 a year. From 1930 to 1940, the Idaho-Maryland and the Brunswick mines alone brought out $26,700,000 in gold. (During this period, California gold production hit nearly $46,000,000 a year, the highest since 1862 and twice the worth of the petroleum pumped out of the ground.)

And there didn't seem to be any end in sight. The Empire and the Brunswick were both sinking new shafts to follow recently discovered veins of gold. Part of this activity was due to the Roosevelt Administration. It took America off the gold standard in 1934 and forbade the metal from being held by private citizens. Other than jewelry and collectors pieces, all privately held gold had to be turned in. (It was an order that would stand until rescinded by President Ford almost forty years later.) At the same time, gold was pegged at a new price – $35 an ounce. Compared to the old break-even price of $20.67, gold mining was now quite profitable. And some local mines were producing 175 to 200 tons of ore a day. The mighty Idaho-Maryland mine properties brought to the surface up to 600 tons per day.

Grass Valley reflected this prosperity. The town contained 178 stores. (Of that number 25 were food stores, 32, liquor – a disparity, but to show that the townspeople were really a sober lot, over $1,200,000 was spent on food, only $383,000 on booze.) The population, which had dipped below 4000 in the early 1930s,' hit 5700 in 1940. It would not be that high again until the mid-1970s.'

The only dark spot anyone could see – dark if you were a mine owner – was labor unrest. A concerted attempt was made to unionize the mines in 1941. In May of that year this resulted in a 19-day strike against the Idaho-Maryland. It finally ended in a victory for the miners...but the victory was short lived. Other events happening in the world would, seven months later, push labor strife, indeed gold mining itself, into the background – the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

At first the Japanese attack on December 7, 1941, didn't seem to have much direct affect on the town – though it certainly made young, draft-eligible males anxious. A few miners moved out of Grass Valley in response to war-related jobs opening up elsewhere. Still, overall, there wasn't any indication that the mines would have to be shut down. Then, in August of 1942, a few small articles appeared in the Union, hinting that the War Production Board might have to curtail gold and silver mining. Two months later, on October 8, 1942, President Roosevelt issued order L-208. This order closed down, within sixty days, all non-essential civilian work including gold and silver mining. The men and material used to run the mines could be put to better use sustaining the war effort.

The mines were closed. Mine management was allowed a skeleton crew to keep the pumps running – so the mines would remain water-free – and maintain mine machinery. Everyone else was laid off. Some mines still used mules to haul the ore carts. Mines such as the Empire, the Golden Center and the Pennsylvania brought up the animals and turned them out to pasture. (One wonders what the mules thought when they saw the blue sky for the first time. They had spent their lives – born, bred, dying – all underground).