Mount Ophir

Assorted Ruins

Assorted ruins are scattered about the area here, on both sides of the creek. Some sources allege that one of these ruins housed a private mint operated by John L. Moffat, where he supposedly struck some of the famous octangular $50 gold “slugs” prized by collectors of California Territorial gold. Alas, this is not so. While Moffat was a major stockholder in the Merced Mining Company, which had purchased “Quartz” Johnson’s Mount Ophir mine on March 4 of 1851, there is no evidence to support the story of a mint being located at Mount Ophir. The confusion probably arises from the fact that while Moffat was an owner in the Merced Mining Company, he was also still the principal in Moffat & Co., a private mint located in San Francisco which was producing the $50 gold pieces under contract for the U. S. Assay Office.