SAN DIEGO ASSOCIATION OF GEOLOGISTS
2011 SDAG Field Trip: Nov. 4-6, 2011
Picacho State Recreation Area and the Cargo Muchachos

• Gold mining within the Chocolate and Cargo Muchacho Mountains has a long and stored history, yet remains relatively unknown when compared to the other California gold camps of the Sierra Nevadas or the Mojave Desert.
• Mexican miners were among the first to learn of the 1849 gold rush in Northern California. They were adept at locating gold deposits in places whereAnglos were not. American miners were antagonistic toward the Mexicans, and drove them out. By the mid-1850’s many resettled in southeastern California and western Arizona and discovered most of the major placer deposits of the area.
• Mexican miners traveled and worked in family groups. Among the methods used in placer deposits was the blanket method. Simply throw sand up in a blanket and let the wind blow the lighter materials away. Gold nuggets remain, while finer gold is captured in the hairs of the blanket.
• While Anglos preferred to develop and mechanize deposits, Mexican minersand their families lived in what could be called subsistence mining, just recovering enough to make a living. When gold petered out, they moved on. This is one of the reasons so little is known of the earlymining days of the area.