Hydraulic mining essentially came to an end in 1884 with the Sawyer Decision, legislation passed to resolve this conflict. Conflicts over water arose between mining and farming interests. The sediment washed away by hydraulic mining clogged riverbeds and lakes, threatening agriculture throughout the Central Valley.

(Malakoff Diggings is now a state park and open to visitors.)ĭams (such as the English Dam in Nevada County, shown in one photograph), which were constructed to help supply water to the mines during the dry summer months, changed the course of rivers. Two images show California's largest hydraulic mine - Malakoff Diggings, in Nevada County - in action. The process of hydraulic mining, which became popular in the 1850s, caused irreparable environmental destruction. Many of these problems were directly related to gold-mining technology. The Gold Rush, positive for California in so many ways, had a devastating effect on the state's environment. Rivers were dammed or became clogged with sediment, forests were logged to provide needed timber, and the land was torn up - all in pursuit of gold. They also illustrate the effect of the mines and the mining industry on California's landscape. With a great measure of ancient science coming from the Greeks, it is not a far reach to assume that they may have been the first individuals to think of gold in elemental terms.The images in this group show mines, miners at work, and the tools they used. The origins of this symbol may provide some hint to the first scientific studies of the gold element as the letters that form the symbol are the first two letters of the Latin word, Aurum, which was used by the Greeks as the word for gold.

Even the biblical record sites many cases where gold and other precious metals were used as decorations or for commerce. Valued for its unusual yellow sheen and malleability, gold has found its way into the craftsman's hands, being formed into jewelry, decorations and eventually coins. From the ancient civilizations of Greece, Egypt, Nubia and Rome, gold has been a centerpiece of trade and commerce. Gold is mentioned in nearly every corner of the worlds history. This loss of detailed information about the discovery of gold in the historical record is not to say that we have no early records of the use of gold.

Since the use of gold goes back to a time near the dawn of man, the historical records of gold's original discovery have long ago been lost to modern man.

How did gold get on earth