mine tour julian ca

Eagle and High Peak Mine

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Eagle and High Peak Mine - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

• (0.28 mi) Orchard Hill
• (0.31 mi) Eaglenest Bed and Breakfast
• (0.32 mi) Julian Gold Rush Hotel
• (0.21 mi) Walk to Downtown Julian 2 Blocks from Main Street Sleeps Up to 10
• (0.61 mi) Wikiup Hummingbird Hotel
• (0.36 mi) Julian Pie Company
• (0.33 mi) Apple Alley Bakery
• (0.35 mi) Mom's Pie House
• (0.32 mi) Soups and Such Cafe
• (0.33 mi) Julian Cafe & Bakery

Eagle Mine & High Peak Mine

Hello everyone! This is a friendly reminder that any of these fun places we may visit, we are a guest at. Please treat both businesses and trails with the utmost respect. We here at Hidden San Diego follow the 'Leave no Trace' mantra, meaning whatever you bring with you comes back with you. If you see trash on a trail, please do your part to help remove it. Remember, we are not picking up trash from another person but instead cleaning up for Mother Nature. Happy adventures!

  2320 C St, Julian, CA 92036

33.081370, -116.597519

Dog-Friendly:  Yes    Kid-Friendly: Yes

Hours:  10am-4pm daily

Admission:  $10 Website

**Make sure to check out our list of all Hidden Gems in Julian !**

About the Eagle Mine & High Peak Mine:

For anyone interested in getting an authentic sense of what mining looked like in the 19th century, I highly recommend a visit to Julian to tour the Eagle Mine & High Peak Mine. Although they are now joined deep in the mountain behind the town, they were originally two different mines that were registered in 1870.

They merged after World War I when demand for gold stimulated a renaissance in mining and motivated mine owners to burrow ever deeper into the mountain.

In the 1960’s a couple, Ed and Ellen Sprague, purchased the property with aspirations of restoring it to how it looked and felt in the 1800’s. Today, their grandson proudly carries the tradition set forth.

While you’re in the area, make sure to hike Volcan Mountain nearby!

Per tradition, they keep admission at $10, just like it has been since 1968. Although there are dozens and dozens of mines in this vicinity, the Eagle Mine is said to be one of the most successful ones, producing a ton of gold in its heyday.

The mining days for the Eagle & High Peak mine are long gone, but tours are still available which last around an hour. A tour guide will take you inside, letting you view historical artifacts used during the mining period, telling you colorful tales and teaching you how the men used to mine for gold. It should be noted that only cash is accepted.

Make sure to investigate outside the mine too as there are plenty of old artifacts from the past, a pet cemetery and a hiking trail behind:

The tour lasted around 20 minutes.  If you are claustrophobic I would probably not recommend doing this tour:

After you are finished exploring the mines you will be shot out at a back entrance where there is more to explore outside:

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Wow ..what an awesome place, cant wait to visit.

January 14, 2019

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San Diego’s Hidden Treasure: Exploring Eagle Mine in Julian

One word sums up California in the last half of the 19th century – gold. As in, there’s gold in them thar hills.

The 1848 discovery of gold in the South Fork American River ignited the greatest adventure of the age: the California Gold Rush. As fortune-seekers flooded the Sierra Nevada foothills, a different kind of prospecting was taking shape in the Cuyamaca Mountains of Southern California.

It’s that SoCal mining history that we set out to explore when some friends visited us from Japan over the winter holidays. We met them in the historic mining town of Julian to take the Eagle Mine Tour of one the major early gold mining claims in Southern California’s Cuyamaca Mountains.

Eagle Mine Details

• Season: Year-round
• Location: Julian, California
• General GPS Coordinates: 33.081239, -116.597387
• Website: https://theeaglemining.com/

Eagle Mine Tour Overview

Located an hour and a half from our home in San Diego, Julian is best known for apples – apple pies, apple cider, apple shirts, apple trinkets, you name it. We often stop here for lunch on our way further east to Anza-Borrego Desert State. Julian gets crowded on fall and winter weekends and holidays, and that turned out to be the case on this visit.

After grabbing some pizza, BBQ, and beer at Julian Beer Company , we headed to Eagle Mine, which is located less than half a mile from Main Street and an easy walk from town. Before the mine tour, we panned for gold dust and visited the gift shop, which sells minerals, rocks and gems, in addition to other items.

Julian’s Gold Mining History

Julian’s gold prospecting history took off in 1870, when a man named H.C. Bickers was following bear tracks up a ravine near Julian and he discovered quartz rocks that contained gold.

The next day was George Washington’s birthday, and Bickers and his partners named the claim the Washington Mine in honor of the first president’s birthday.

While prospectors had panned small amounts of gold from local creeks, the mine was the first real gold strike in the Julian and the first of several mines that would be established during the period.

Unlike Northern California, where gold was found in nuggets, Julian’s gold was locked in underground veins of quartz. This required miners to remove the ore (rock) from the mine and then crush and process the rocks to extract the gold, backbreaking and toxic work that produced an ounce or two of gold on a good day.

Eagle Mine also started in 1870 and was next to High Peak Mine, a separate claim. The two are now connected through a labyrinth of tunnels deep underground. The mine was operational until 1937 and generated around $100,000 worth of gold during that time.

After being abandoned for many years, it was purchased in 1967 by Ed and Ellen Sprague, whose grandson is the current owner of the mine and tour operation. 

In the mine’s heyday, miners spent countless hours chiseling through rock with picks and shovels or blasting out sections of rock with dynamite, their candle lanterns casting the only light in the enveloping darkness.

Our guide told us the miners made around a dollar a day and had a short life expectancy. While only two deaths from a shaft collapse were recorded during its year of operation, no doubt many injuries went unreported in those more rugged times.

The tour brought us through two levels of the mine, and the guide did a nice job of explaining the geological history that deposited veins of gold-lined quartz in the mountains. Eagle Mine goes deep into the earth, below the level where the tour explores. The mine has 4000 feet of tunnels on 11 levels, some of which are over 400 feet under the surface.

Under Pressure

The presence of gold-bearing quartz veins in this area is a story millions of years in the making, a tale of immense heat, pressure, and fluid dynamics deep within the Earth’s crust.

The journey begins with the Earth’s tectonic activity. Millions of years ago, the movement of tectonic plates created immense pressure and heat, leading to the formation of magma deep within the Earth. This magma, rich in various minerals and fluids, began its ascent towards the Earth’s surface, carving its path through the surrounding rock.

As this hot, mineral-laden fluid made its way upwards, it encountered cooler temperatures, causing the minerals to crystallize and form veins. Among these minerals was quartz, a common vein-filling mineral due to its high melting point and resistance to chemical weathering.

The unique conditions of high temperature and pressure, combined with the presence of certain elements like silicon and oxygen, were perfect for the formation of these quartz veins.

But the story doesn’t end there. The same hydrothermal fluids that carried the quartz also contained dissolved gold. As the fluids cooled and solidified to form quartz, the gold, unable to remain in solution, precipitated out, depositing itself within the quartz veins.

Over millions of years, these gold-bearing quartz veins grew in size, eventually becoming the rich deposits that attracted miners to places like Eagle Mine.

Today, these quartz veins, visible as white or light-colored streaks running through the darker host rock, are not just a source of gold. They are also a geological diary, recording the incredible forces and processes that shaped our planet, offering us a glimpse into the dynamic and ever-changing world beneath our feet.

Tough Way to Make a Living

At one point, the guide blew out the candle the foreman used to keep his books to demonstrate what it was like to be deep underground without a trace of sunlight. He said miners would often navigate the tunnels without light to save money on candles. 

After exiting the mine, the guide brought us to the stamp mill, the machine where the quartz ore was crushed into dust so the gold could be extracted. 

What struck me was that it must have been a challenging life and to wonder what led people to take up such a difficult way to make a living – either through choice or necessity. 

Eagle Mining Co. keeps the rich mining history of San Diego’s mountains alive, and I highly recommend a visit.

Chris Emery is an outdoor adventure junkie who lives in San Diego, California. He is the editor of OutdoorSoCal.com, the guide to the Southern California outdoors.

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JULIAN MINING COMPANY Located at 4444 HWY 78 JULIAN on the creek where Fred Coleman discovered gold.  Open year around  

Things to do at Julian Mining Company: ​

Gem Sluicing  $15-$80

Gold Panning  $5  

Tomahawk Throwing  $5

D ig Pit  $ 5

Lil ' mine train ride  $3

Shop the general store

Book a weekday  gold rush field trip for your class  

JULIAN MINING CO. HOURS:   Sat. 10-4, Sun. 12-4  located at 4444 highway 78 Julian, C A 92036 951-313-0166 Attention! A few customers  were led by  their  map app to a similar  address  in Borrego desert!  Please  be sure your map address is for Julian or Wynola

4444 State Hwy 78 - Julian/Wynola CA 92036 - 951-313-0166     Hours:    Saturday 10-4 pm  -  Sunday 12-4 pm

In the underground tunnels of Julian’s Eagle Mine, all that glitters is gold

Come for the gold rush history lesson, stay for the apple pie

By Roadtrippers

In the winter of 1869, Fred Coleman was watering his horse in Julian, California, when he saw something glimmer in the creek. Coleman—a former slave—had struck gold, thus launching California’s third gold rush.

Present-day Julian is an idyllic mountain town famous for its apple pie, but remnants of its origins as a mining community still abound. One of them is the Eagle Mine , a gold mine established in 1870 by William Moran. For the past 50 years, the Eagle Mining Co. has been guiding visitors through 1,000 feet of underground tunnels.

“There were over 200 gold mines here and that’s how the settlers made their living, prospecting for gold,” says Paul Nelson, third-generation owner of the Eagle Mine. “If it wasn’t for the gold rush, we wouldn’t have the town today.”

A labyrinth of tunnels

From Julian’s Main Street, the Eagle Mine is a quick three-minute drive up a hill and down a dirt road—but it feels like a journey back in time. Antique mining equipment is strewn about, alongside buildings and vehicles reminiscent of the Old West.

At one edge of the property sits a bright red Californian five-stamp mill, manufactured in San Francisco in 1872. This massive piece of equipment was used to process ore from the mine and extract the gold. There is also a livery stable-turned-museum and a gold panning area.

But the star attraction here is the mine itself.

The Eagle Mine is made up of several levels, each consisting of an intricate series of tunnels. Our guide, Matthew—who speaks with a heavy Californian surfer accent, despite looking nothing like a surfer—mixes history and geology lessons with rapidly fired one-liners, and he effortlessly switches between languages to appease both the English- and Spanish-speakers on the tour.

We start at the adit—the mine entrance—and work our way deeper and deeper into the mountain, through ever-narrowing tunnels and creaky, wooden staircases.

At one point, Matthew switches off all the lights in the mine and everything goes black. I half-expect some of the smaller children on the tour to start crying, but instead everything is dead silent. It’s eerie, and definitely a bit terrifying. I’m not even afraid of the dark, or so I thought.  

Matthew lights a tiny candle, attached to a “sticking tommy”—an iron rod candle holder with a sharp end that can be wedged into the wall for hands-free usage—but points out that modern candles burn much brighter than the ones made from animal fat back in the day. Even with our “modern” candlelight, the mine suddenly feels both smaller and bigger than before. The walls are definitely closing in a bit, and the thought of finding our way back to the entrance through the labyrinth of tunnels and staircases feels almost impossible.

According to Matthew, mine workers would spend 12-hour days hacking away with pickaxes and shovels to get through just four feet of rock. And they would do it largely in the dark.

There is a trick to finding your way out though: Just follow the ore cart tracks.

Twenty-seven stories straight down

If you’re even the slightest bit claustrophobic, this tour is not for you. At 5-foot-9, I’m not able to walk or stand upright for parts of the tour, and instead have to hunch over and watch my head. The deeper we get into the mine, the narrower and lower the tunnels get.

To save money, miners would walk through these tunnels in the dark, not lighting their candles until they arrived at their work areas. This meant they had to keep their hands up in front of them to know when it was time to duck down to avoid hitting their heads on the hard rock.

The most uniquely chilling feature of the Eagle Mine, however, is the vertical shaft we encounter about halfway through the tour. At 425-foot deep, it’s the equivalent of a 27-story building going straight down. Mine workers—usually two at a time, with their legs hanging out on the sides for balance—would climb into an ore bucket and then get hoisted down the shaft.

In order to make this operation as safe as possible, a bell system was adopted to allow the bucket hoister to communicate with the workers in the shaft. This was standard procedure in mines across the country, and the Eagle Mine adhered to the State of California’s shaft bell signals. Ringing the bell seven times meant there had been an accident; ringing it twice meant the bucket was being lowered.

Come for the tour, stay for the pie

Once the gold rush ended, similar places fell into ghost town status. Julian, however, turned out to be an excellent place to grow apples—and today you can barely throw a rock on Main Street without hitting a pie shop. Since 1949, the town has hosted its annual Julian Apple Days Festival, and the entire township has been designated an official California Historical Landmark.

The Eagle Mine ceased operations in 1934, when the price of gold dropped. “It was no longer possible to pay your workers and still make a profit,” Nelson says.  

Following the death of William Moran, the mine’s original owner, the tunnels were buried to keep people out and protect the equipment. “My grandfather bought the land, opened the tunnels, and installed lights. He set it up to teach and educate the public about the gold rush of 1870,” Nelson says.

Admission to the mine is $10 for adults—the same price it was when Nelson’s grandparents, Ed and Ellen Sprague, started doing these tours in 1968. “It’s a discount rate,” Nelson says. “And it’s for sharing the history with the public and keeping this open so we can all enjoy it and share our history.”

The tour concludes with a learning demonstration of how to pan for gold—but you don’t get to keep what you find. “If I teach you how to pan for gold and I put it right in front of you, you’ll clean me out in two minutes. It costs me more to give you the tour,” Nelson says.

He encourages anyone who wants to know more about California’s gold rush to visit Julian: “Come on up and do a gold mine tour, learn about the history, and enjoy some apple pie.”

The Eagle Mining Co . opens at 10 a.m. seven days a week, and tours are given throughout the day. Just show up, pay your admission ($10 for adults, $5 for children), and wait for the next tour to start.

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Eagle Mine & High Point Gold Mine Tour in Julian

The town of Julian is a fun little hideaway that is often visited by people from San Diego and Temecula for the excellent pie. I have driven there on a few occasions just to get pie as well; it is that good. That being said, the town of Julian has a lot more to offer, such as hikes to summits and waterfalls, and a grand old gold mine that has a fun tour. I thought it was going to be pretty touristy when I was driving up to it, but what I found was one of the best mining tours I have ever been on. I recommend you check it out, and here is all the information.

• $10 for the tour
• Tour leaves pretty much whenever people want to go on it
• Open: 9 AM to 4 PM but can close early
• Location: 2320 C St, Julian, CA 92036
• This information was from my visit in 2017

Getting There

From the town of Julian, whose downtown area is only a few blocks, head south on Main Street and then take a left on C St. Follow signs for the mine as you wind around on the one lane road till you make it to the entrance. There is parking in the lot next to the mine and you can technically walk from the town to there, but I would just drive.

Upon parking, you will make your way into the company store, which has gems, gold flakes, and all sorts of other antiques. You will then pay your $10 and wait for the next tour.

We set out on our tour with Matthew, and I have to say he pretty much rules. He was hilarious, making jokes and telling stories during the entire hour long tour.

We started out by heading up to the stamp mill. They have two stamp mills here, one large one with five stamps and one small one with only one stamp.

From here, we headed over to the gold panning bins and were taught how to pan for gold (Chris from LastAdventurer.com is in the above photo). I had no idea this was a part of the tour, and it was a fun addition to the experience. There is actual gold that is put into the panning area, so that makes it even more exciting to find.

After panning for gold and putting it back, we headed over to the entrance of the mine.

The next hour was spent underground in the mine itself, which was awesome. We ducked low hanging walls, explored corridors, and learned about the town and the mine’s history all while underground. If you don’t like this kind of thing, do note that you will be underground for an extended period on this tour.

The mine is well lit, with hanging light bulbs all along the path you will be taking, and it is tall enough that it never felt claustrophobic to me.

This mine is actually two different mines, High Point Mine and Eagle Mine. The High Point Mine produced more gold then Eagle Mine, but they ended up forming an agreement and working together so that High Point could have access to the Eagle Point Mine’s stamp mill.

This is why the two mines connect, and you can walk entirely through them.

All along the tour, there are sections with antiques and artifacts found in the mine, including old helmets with candles, boxes of tools, and boxes that would have held dynamite.

In the middle of the two mines is a large vertical shaft that would have taken miners up to 400 feet down to the other mine levels.

There is also a corridor of the mine that has the tools they used to dig/explode pieces of the rock. It has one of the old machines on display for you to see.

This mine was operational from 1870 to 1934, and it took about $100,000 of gold out of the mountain. This would equal a few million in today’s money.

Before exiting the mine, we got to see a shaft that was created to drop ore down from other levels into the carts waiting below. I had never seen this in a mine before, and it was pretty cool.

After leaving the mine, it is about a tenth of a mile to walk back to where you parked your car.

Here is a vlog I made exploring this mine and a hike in the area.

This really is a fantastic experience that you should do with your family in Julian. I recommend asking for Matthew as he is great, but either way, just make sure you check it out. Let me know what you think in the comments.

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Come and visit the mines

Experience eagle and high peak mines, no reservation needed., open 7 days a week 10:00am to 5:00pm.

The Eagle Mining Co. welcomes you to tour the mother lode of southern california 760-765-0036

Our Mining Tours

In 1960, our owner's grandfather, Ed Sprague met his grandmother, Ellen. The couple arrived in Julian in 1967. They learned about our property through their various real estate transactions, and saw the abandoned claims that were on the property. Fortunately for us, they had the vision and knowledge to open the Old Hardrock Tunnels, restoring them to the way they were in the 1870s. They did this to share our state's history.

RoadsideAmerica.com Your Online Guide to Offbeat Tourist Attractions

Attraction:

Eagle Gold Mine Tour

Julian, California

California's second Gold Rush began here in 1870, only an hour's drive east of San Diego and many hundreds of miles south of the gold fields of Northern California. The precious metal was discovered in this unlikely spot by Fred Coleman, formerly enslaved, who, unfortunately for himself, was bad at keeping a secret. The Eagle Mine, one of Fred's many competitors, pulled gold out of the ground here for over 60 years.

Open as an attraction since the 1960s, the mine has an hour-long underground tour through its narrow tunnels and up and down occasional ladders. You can peer at exposed veins of gold ore and down shafts that descend hundreds of feet. Bare light bulbs hanging from the tunnel roof provide illumination, dusty mining tools line the passages.

Above ground the mine has thoughtfully created a fake Boot Hill, although Julian was not known to be especially lawless for a Gold Rush boomtown. Today, it's mostly known for its apple pies.

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Julian offers stunning scenery

Julian is located in the beautiful cuyamaca mountains of san diego., lake cuyamaca offers outdoor activities for the entire family..

The town was named Julian, in honor of Mike Julian, who later was elected San Diego County Assessor. The town was never big, at the most it boasted a population of about 600 — more than reside in the historic district today. Rumor has it that Julian almost became San Diego’s county seat.

A cattleman, Fred Coleman, found the first fleck of gold in a creek in early 1870. It was San Diego’s first and only gold rush. The gold rush was short lived, lasting from 1870 until around 1900, with some mining still later on. A local resident’s Grandfather is listed as a hoist operator at the Golden Chariot mine on his WWI enlistment papers. But the pioneers stayed and began farming the rich land.

While many crops were planted and animals pastured, Julian proved to be a fine place to grow apples. Julian apples, “Twenty-one varieties of well grown and carefully selected apples”, received the Bronze Wilder Medal, a top honor, from the American Pomological Society at the 1907 Tri-centennial Exposition held in Jamestown, Virginia. Apples continue to be produced in Julian. Their sweet, fresh flavor lures thousands to the mountains each fall, when visitors will find fruit stands overflowing with crisp fruit, homemade cider and other delicacies, and enjoy U-picking.

Many of the early pioneers are buried in the Julian Haven of Rest cemetery, located on the hill just North of town. The cemetery is open to the public.

ABOUT JULIAN

Julian is a historic gold mining town located approximately one hour east of San Diego. It is a quaint mountain retreat with four distinct seasons: Spring brings the blossoming of many flowers including daffodils and lilacs; Summer is perfect for hiking and star-gazing; Fall is famous for the apple harvest and fall colors; while Winter brings snowfall and bright, crisp days.

Although famous for its apples and superb apple pie, Julian has become the center for visitors who wish to stay in the mountains but take day trips to the nearby casinos, the Anza Borrego Desert State Park and the coast. It is known as the B&B capital of Southern California with its romantic atmosphere, and is also fast becoming a great destination for families, hikers, weddings and corporate retreats.

Specialty shops line the historic streets, and the attractions are unique, ranging from wineries to gold mines to a wolf preserve. With a year-round calendar of unique events, Julian offers plenty of old fashioned entertainment for couples, families and groups of all ages.

• Julian Town Hall
• F.A. DeLuca Store
• A.P. Frary, Jr. Residence
• Julian Jail
• F. L. Blanc Warehouse
• F. L. Blanc Rental
• Dr. Hildreth Office/Residence
• Hosking’s Rental Residences
• F.A. DeLuca Residence
• Hotel Robinson
• Wilcox Building
• Wheelbarrow Odometer Survey of 1894
• Levi-Marks Store
• Bailey-King House
• Drue Bailey House
• Pioneer Cemetery

Tour Eagle and High Peak Mines, two of Julian’s original gold mines. Guides lead you through the intricate path of tunnels in the hard rock mine and share tales of the life of early residents of Julian. Open: 10 am to 4 pm (Maybe later on weekends.) (760) 765-0036 End of C Street, P.O. Box 624, Julian, CA 92036 www.theeaglemining.com

Julian Pioneer Museum – The museum features, vintage clothing, photographs, household and mining equipment, and a renown lace collection. There are Victorian era pianos, an original Julian City buggy and sleigh, an extensive exhibit of Indian artifacts, and animal and bird mountings indigenous to the area. Built circa 1890 by Joseph Treshil as a blacksmith shop, it later served as a brewery for Peter Meyerhofer (760) 765-0227 2811 Washington Street, P.O. Box 511, Julian, CA 92036 Email:  [email protected] www.julianpioneermuseum.org

The Santa Ysabel School at Witch Creek was built in 1880, on land donated by the Sawday Family. Students in grades one through eight were taught by one teacher until 1952, this is when the seventh and eighth grade students were sent to Julian. For the next two years the first through sixth grade students were taught by the last teacher to teach at the Witch Creek School, Mrs. Rosemary Dewitt. In 1954 The school was closed and students living in the valley rode the bus to Julian.

The Lightner family bought the Witch Creek school property after it was closed and used it as a retreat for several years. They sold the property to the Starr family who planned on tearing the building down. The little building, in a state of severe disrepair was saved by the efforts of the Julian Historical Society. A dedicated group of volunteers’ spear headed a campaign to secure the funds to move the building to Julian.

In 1970 the county of San Diego made a location ready in Pioneer Park in Julian, a mover provided the manpower and equipment, and the building was moved was placed on two truck and slowly made its way up the mountain. The building was restored and became Julian’s second public library, opening in November 1971.

The Witch Creek school building ceased being a library in 2004, when a new, larger, and more up to date library was opened.

The charming school building is now the home of the Julian Historical Society. 2133 4th, Julian, CA 92036