The California State Mining and Mineral Museum exhibits and interprets the state's

mineral In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid substance with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2011): Mi ...

resources and

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

heritage. It is part of the California

state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "Federated state, state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on accou ...

system, and is located near Mariposa, a town in central California, on the premises of the

Mariposa County Mariposa County () is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 17,131. The county seat is Mariposa. It is located in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, north of Fresn ...

fairgrounds Fairground most typically refers to a permanent space that hosts fairs. Fairground, Fairgrounds, Fair Ground or Fair Grounds may also refer to: Places Canada * Fairground, Ontario, a community United States * Fairground, St. Louis, a neighbo ...

. The museum houses a collection that was created in 1880, with the establishment of the California State Mining Bureau. Henry G. Hanks was the first California State Mineralogist and was tasked with managing the collection. The collection was housed in the ''Ferry Building'' in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

until 1983. The collection was moved at the Mariposa County Fairgrounds in 1986. Responsibility for it was transferred from the California Department of Conservation to the California Department of Parks & Recreation in 1999. It is the only California State Park without associated land. The international collection holds over 13,000 minerals,

rocks In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks form the Earth's ...

gems A gemstone (also called a fine gem, jewel, precious stone, semiprecious stone, or simply gem) is a piece of mineral crystal which, when cut or polished, is used to make jewelry or other adornments. Certain rocks (such as lapis lazuli, opal, and ...

fossils A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

, and historic artifacts.

Popular exhibits

Exhibits include the

crystalline A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituents (such as atoms, molecules, or ions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions. In addition, macrosc ...

gold

Fricot Nugget The Fricot Nugget is a crystalline gold nugget found in El Dorado County, California in 1865 during the California Gold Rush by William Russell Davis. It is listed as the eleventh largest gold nugget ever found, and is the second largest gold nugge ...

, weighing 201

troy ounces Troy weight is a system of units of mass that originated in the Kingdom of England in the 15th century and is primarily used in the precious metals industry. The troy weight units are the grain, the pennyweight (24 grains), the troy ounce (20 ...

(6.25 kg), the largest found during the California Gold Rush; a working

scale model A scale model is a physical model that is geometrically similar to an object (known as the ''prototype''). Scale models are generally smaller than large prototypes such as vehicles, buildings, or people; but may be larger than small protot ...

of a

stamp mill A stamp mill (or stamp battery or stamping mill) is a type of Mill (grinding), mill machine that crushes material by pounding rather than Mill (grinding), grinding, either for further processing or for extraction of metallic ores. Breaking materia ...

over 100 years old, demonstrating the process of extracting gold from

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The Atom, atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen Tetrahedral molecular geometry, tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tet ...

rock; and a replica hard rock mine tunnel that allows visitors to better understand California's hard rock mines. The California State Mining and Mineral Museum has artifacts from the

Mother Lode Mother lode is a principal vein or zone of gold or silver ore. The term is also used colloquially to refer to the real or imaginary origin of something valuable or in great abundance. Term The term probably came from a literal translation of ...

, along with international gems, stones, and other artifacts.

Closure proposal

The California Mining and Mineral Museum was one of the 48

California state parks California State Parks is the state park system for the U.S. state of California. The system is administered by the California Department of Parks and Recreation, a department under the California Natural Resources Agency. The California State ...

proposed for closure in January 2008 during the

Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, businessman, former politician, and former professional bodybuilder, known for his roles in high-profile action films. Governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger, ...

Administration as part of a deficit reduction program.CBS5.com: List Of Calif. Parks To Close In Budget Proposal

References

External links

Official California State Mining and Mineral Museum website
{{Subject bar, California, Environment, United States State parks of California Mineralogy museums Mining museums in California California Gold Rush Museums in Mariposa County, California Geology museums in California Natural history museums in California Parks in Mariposa County, California Museums established in 1999 1999 establishments in California