Coleman City, also called Emily City, is a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

San Diego County San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwest corner of the U.S. state of California, north to its border with Mexico. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634; it is the second-most populous ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. It lies at an elevation of 3601 feet. It is located on State Highway 79 where it crosses Coleman Creek, about four miles west of Julian.

History

Coleman City was founded in the early months of 1870 by the first placer miners who rushed to Coleman Creek, following the news of the discovery of gold there by A. E. Coleman who first discovered gold there in January 1870. Coleman, with earlier experience in the gold camps in Northern California, subsequently formed the Coleman Mining District and was its recorder. He also established the Emily City mining town site. This mining camp, later renamed Coleman City in his honor, served the placer

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

miners along Coleman Creek in the Coleman Mining District. The San Diego Union reported on February 17, 1870 that the camp had 75 miners inhabiting it. On March 17, following the discovery of the Washington Mine, it reported Coleman City consisted of a dozen tents with a population of 150 men, many sleeping on the ground in the open. Richard F. Pourade, The Glory Years, Union-Tribune Publishing Comopany, San Diego, 1964, Chapter 4: The Mountain that Sprouted Gold
/ref> After the discovery of the

lode In geology, a lode is a deposit of metalliferous ore that fills or is embedded in a fracture (or crack) in a rock formation or a vein of ore that is deposited or embedded between layers of rock. The current meaning (ore vein) dates from th ...

gold deposits near Julian the Julian Mining District was formed and with the depletion of the placer deposits, Coleman City was abandoned.

References

{{authority control Former settlements in San Diego County, California Populated places established in 1870 Ghost towns in California History of San Diego 1870 establishments in California