Visit New Melones Lake
Gold nuggets the shape and size of melon seeds reportedly account
for the naming of Melones, a rich placer mining camp established by
Mexican miners in early 1848. The camp was originally founded and
located in Indian Gulch, roughly one-half mile below the town of Carson
Hill, above Carson Creek.Known by a variety of spellings, including Malones, Malon, Meloneys,
Melone, and a number of similar variations, the camp was a wild one
during its brief existence. A large number of rough and tumble miners
were scattered about the slope of Carson Hill in the early days, busily
engaged in mining activities. A diary kept by Captain Leonard Noyes
relates what the town was like: “This place called Melones was built of
Brush streets, say 10 feet wide, lined on each side with these Brush
houses where Gambling was carried on at an enormous extent....I don’t
think there was ever in the Mines so wicked a crowd. Some are killed
every night, shooting and cutting all the time. I have always felt when
in those narrow streets that I was liable to have a knife shoved into me
at any moment....”The camp survived for a few years, but by 1853 the rich placers were
fairly well depleted, so the miners left to search elsewhere for better
diggings in the gold fields.Before crossing the Stevenot bridge over the Stanislaus River on
your way north, pull over to the right, get out of the car, and look up
the canyon over the sparkling waters of the New Melones Lake. Just
upstream from the point where the grey tailing piles of the Melones Mill
and the foundation ruins from the old Hwy 49 bridge are visible, lies
the “present” site of Melones. The place was originally known as
Robinsons Ferry; however, named after John W. Robinson who, with his
partner Stephen Meade, established a ferry here in the autumn of 1848.
The operation proved to be quite a gold mine. During 1849, when the rush
to the mines was at its peak, the ferry collected $10,000 in a six-week
period. A touring circus once found it necessary to cross here in order
to perform at nearby Columbia. The owners of the ferry refused to carry
old Lucy, the show’s one elephant, who was forced to swim across the
swift current. Sadly, Lucy was carried away and drowned, whereupon the
circus disbanded and commenced to mining.Speaking of elephants, a popular phrase during the Gold Rush was the
term, “Seeing the Elephant,” which conveyed the excitement of the lure
of California gold. It supposedly originated in a story about a farmer
who had never seen an elephant. So when a circus came to town, he loaded
up his wagon with eggs and vegetables and started for the market,
determined to see the circus elephant. On the way in, he met the circus
parade, led by the elephant itself. The farmer was entranced by the
sight, but his horses were terrified. Whinnying wildly, bucking and
pitching, they made a break for freedom, overturning the wagon in the
process and scattering eggs and produce all over the countryside. “I
don’t give a hang,” said the farmer, “I have seen the elephant.”Robinsons Ferry was renamed “Melones” by the Melones Mining Company,
around 1902. The site and its few remaining buildings were later
inundated by rising waters when the New Melones Dam was built farther
downstream to impound the Stanislaus River.