History of the Studhorse/Boulder Creek Gold

First discovered in 1863, the studhorse river, as it was originally named, was found to contain large amounts of placer gold and the discoveries on Boulder Creek would have been made just as soon as someone ventured up there. While there was no doubt there was some easy pickings, it soon became evident that lots of hand work and sacrifice were required to glean the precious metal from the gravel. Huge ditches were built, by hand, some many kilometers long to transport water along the valley sides. Nip & Tuck was the name of one of these water ditch systems, evidence of which can be clearly seen to day. Rocks piled ever so carefully to form a wall solid enough to contain water. Boulder Creek itself was dammed in numerous locations and the water flumed into these ditches. All of this work and time when rubber boots were a luxury it really makes you wonder? (More to come...)