Julian Historical Society

The first gold was discovered in what was to become Julian, in the winter of 1869. Flakes of gold spotted in a creek would soon spark a rush into the mountains around the high valleys above San Diego. The gold that was discovered was placer gold. It did not take long for the miners who worked the streams to conclude that the gold had to be washing into the streams from the hills and mountains higher up. This would be where the hard rock mines would soon be developed between 1870 and 1910.

The largest and highest producing mine in the mountains above San Diego was the Stonewall mine near Lake Cuyamaca. At it's peak it was a twenty stamp mill site. Gold in this area was found in rock known as Julian schist and quartzite.