Mount Ophir
Was founded during the California Gold Rush, and was the site of the first authorized gold stamping mill, or mint, in California.
The stamping mill was built in 1850-51 by Moffat and Company, operating under the authority of Augustus Humbert, who had been appointed by President John Tyler to be the federal Assayer for California. The Mount Ophir Mint produced hexagonal gold slugs with a fifty-dollar denomination. Much of the coinage produced by the Mount Ophir Mint was later melted down into government ingots. By 1853 the mint was closed. The ruins of the mill are still visible.
Mount Ophir during the early 1850s was a large camp, and stores and tents straggled along the main road for quite a distance. In 1854, Louis Trabucco purchased the stone-walled trading post in Mount Ophir, which was patronized by miners and packers. Its ruins now stand next to the foundation of a large two-store frame hotel built in 1852.
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03-26-2008, 01:30 PM
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