The Stonewall Mine, San Diego County's Richest Gold Producer
Near Julian, California
Of all the mines that opened in the hills around Julian during the gold rush of eighteen seventy, the Stonewall Mine was the most productive in all of San Diego County. It opened in the early years of the rush and produced gold steadily for more than two decades. Its most remarkable years came in the late eighteen eighties and early eighteen nineties, when the mine yielded approximately nine hundred thousand dollars in gold between eighteen eighty eight and eighteen ninety one alone.
The mine's total lifetime production reached roughly two million dollars, an enormous sum for a Southern California operation. The mine changed hands several times. It was eventually acquired by John Downey, who had served as governor of California in the eighteen sixties and who invested in improved machinery and deeper shaft work to extend the mine's productive life.
Despite those investments, the ore gradually thinned, and the Stonewall closed around eighteen ninety three, joining the general decline of Julian's mining era. The mine's closure accelerated the town's transition to agriculture. The site of the Stonewall Mine today is within Cuyamaca Rancho State Park, a few miles south of Julian.
Some surface remnants survive, and the park interprets the site's history as part of the larger story of the gold rush that built this mountain community and the apple orchards that kept it alive after the gold was gone.
