The Old Diggings or Buckeye district is about five miles due north of Redding in the vicinity of the towns of Buckeye and Summit City. The area was settled by miners from Ohio, the "Buckeye State", It was extremely productive during the gold rush, when large amounts of placer gold were recovered by hydraulicking. Later, considerable amounts of lode gold were produced, particularly from 1904 until 1919, when large tonnages of siliceous gold-bearing copper are ,vere recovered from the Reid mine and used as flux in the Mammoth smelter at Kennett. The area was prospected again in the 1930s.
The district is underlain largely by greenstone of Devonian age. The veins consist of white sugary quartz that contain free gold, pyrite, and small amounts of chalcopyrite. Tellurides have been reported to occur in the deposits. The veins range from a few feet to as much as 25 feet in thickness and were mined to depths up to 1000 feet. Milling are contained from less than 1/6 to one or more ounces of gold per ton. Some high-grade pockets were found. Most of the placer gold was recovered from older bench gravels.
Mines
Calumet, Central $500,000, Evening Star, Mammoth, National $200,000, Texas $750,000, Reid $2.5 million+, Walker.
Bibliography
Averill, C. V., 1933, Gold deposits of the Redding·Weaverville districts: California Div. Mines Rept. 29, pp. 2-73.
Logan, C.A., 1926, Shasta County, gold: California Min. Bur. Repf. 22, pp. 167-186.
McGregor, Alex, 1890, Old Diggings district: California Min. Bur. Rept. 10, pp. 629-632.
