California Gold Miners.
In the mid-1850s, prospectors were roaming the mountains and creeks of Siskiyou County along the northern boundary of California in search of their fortunes. Gold had been found in Humbug Creek as early as May 1851, but a group of disillusioned miners dubbed the place “humbug” when they failed to find any of the precious metal. However, that did not stop other prospectors from looking, and a few years later, when another group hit pay dirt, hundreds of miners flooded into what would become known as the Humbug Mining District. Soon, a mining camp was formed along the banks of Humbug Creek called Humbug City.
It is near here that the legend of the Lost Humbug Creek Mine began. When a man working at one of the Humbug District mines began to feel ill, he started for Yreka, some ten miles to the southeast, to see a doctor. Shortly after coming upon the Deadwood Trail, he began to feel so ill that he lay down beneath a tree. As he looked around, he spied a promising piece of quartz floating, and, upon further exploration, he found an entire outcropping.
Suddenly feeling better, he traveled some three or four miles back to his cabin, returning with a pick and shovel. He soon took out a sack full of gold, estimated to be worth $5,000 to $7,000. Excited to share the news, he soon traveled to Hawkinsville, where his parents and two brothers lived. Afterward, he returned to the site for more gold, but he began to feel sick once again. Leaving his pick and shovel and covering the site with brush, he went to the county hospital, where he died a week later.
Search as they might, his family was never able to find the site of their dead brother’s gold. The outcropping is said to be on the west side of the Humbug Mountains.
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated November 2025.
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