A Fabled Mine in Danger

A jewel of California’s rich mining history sits rusting and falling apart behind a wire fence at the dead end of a street in the town of Jackson, the heart of the Mother Lode gold region. The derelict site consists of the head frame, hoist building and related structures of the Argonaut Mine, discovered by two black miners in the 1850s and destined to be one of California’s richest. Today, the property is for sale for commercial development.

Schoolchildren know of Coloma, the site of John Marshall’s gold discovery in 1848. Columbia, queen of the southern mines, is preserved as a state park north of Merced. But the story of gold mining in the Golden State is more than the legends of the ‘49ers.

The Argonaut and its counterpart, the Kennedy Mine, on the other side of Highway 49, epitomize the rich, later mining era, from the late 19th century to the beginning of World War II. This was deep, hard-rock gold mining in which immigrants from Italy, Serbia and other European countries got $4 a day for mucking out ore and waste from mine faces as deep as 4,600 feet beneath the surface. The immigrants also founded an ethnically diverse community.

The mining at Argonaut was as dangerous as it was hard. The worst mine disaster in California history occurred there in 1922 when fire trapped 47 miners at the 4,350-foot level. An epic 22-day race by rescue teams, launched from the depths of the Kennedy Mine, ended with the discovery of only bodies. Poisonous gases had killed all the men within a few hours. The drama is retold in a new book, “47 Down: The 1922 Argonaut Gold Mine Disaster,” by O. Henry Mace.

It’s still easy to find and tour the Kennedy Mine. The restored buildings are visible from the road and marked by signs. The visitor has to work to find the unmarked Argonaut, hidden at the end of a lane where housing tracts encroach.

Real estate agent Tony D’Arcy says the Argonaut property, 22 acres divided into plots on both sides of Highway 49, is listed at $1.2 million and zoned commercial.

The Argonaut’s history, or a new mini-mall? City planners say historic features of the mine buildings must be incorporated into any development, but when rehabilitation of old structures gets expensive, history often loses.

State parks officials, who also administer historic sites, should be the ones to decide whether the Argonaut deserves saving. Voter-approved state bond funds may still be available to buy the land at a negotiated price. The old mine shouldn’t be paved over without more effort to do otherwise.