California Gold Mining Claim, Tuolumne County, 20 Ac, S Fork Tuolumne River

PENNYWEIGHT PLACER 20-acre placer gold claim on the South Fork Tuolumne River, about half a mile from the Yosemite National Park boundary. Year-round water, photographed September 5, 2026.

As close to mining in Yosemite as you can legally get Mining is prohibited inside national parks. The South Fork Tuolumne leaves Yosemite and flows 4,059 feet, three quarters of a river mile, before entering this claim. Per BLM records there is no other mining claim between this one and the park (federal record checked September 5, 2026). This is the first claim on the river below Yosemite. The water in your pan came out of the park minutes earlier. Water in September Most "river claims" you'll see listed have water three months a year. September is the dry end of the Sierra year: the snowmelt is long gone and the first storms are usually two months off. That is when these photos were taken, on September 5, 2026, and the South Fork Tuolumne was running through the claim.

If it has water in September, it has water. Year-round, with gravel bars, exposed rock, and a canyon that stays green when the rest of the Mother Lode is brown. The claim

20 acres, unpatented placer claim, BLM serial CA101921861 (legacy CAMC 323586) Legal: S1/2 SW1/4 SE1/4, Section 27, T1S R19E MDM, Tuolumne County, California About 1,140 feet of the South Fork Tuolumne crosses the claim (USGS National Hydrography Dataset centerline, checked against the recorded location notice and the BLM survey plat), plus about 280 feet of a perennial tributary Elevation about 3,900 ft, mixed-conifer canyon on the Yosemite corridor An established camp flat with a stone fire ring sits inside the claim, GPS-verified on September 5, 2026, with the river about 20 meters away. Pull in and you are set up.

Access, as of September 5, 2026

The road: a signed turnout right off Highway 120 (the main Yosemite route), then a Forest Service dirt road down to the river. Maintenance level 2: high-clearance, not graded for passenger cars. About 1.8 miles of winding road from the highway to the claim.

Season: posted for highway-legal vehicles April 15 to December 15. No motor vehicles December 16 to April 14, gates closed and locked. The claim is reachable on foot year-round as far as snow allows.

Condition on September 5: two washouts, both marked with barricades, the second one narrow and steep. A stock 2WD F-150 made it to the road-end flat in dry conditions.

The last pitch from the road-end flat down to the camp needs 4WD. Most people will park at the top and walk the last stretch, about 300 feet, or camp at the flat.

Repairs: I have asked the Groveland Ranger District about repair plans and will post the answer here. The road number, the Forest Service map sheet, the turnout coordinates, and dated road-condition photos are in the sale packet, and I'll send them to anyone who asks.

Honest disclosures

Fire-killed snags stand along the bank, one of them being undercut by the river. Woody debris in the channel and a hand-stacked rock dam holding the main pool, both left by earlier users. Dead-and-down wood inside the claim is the owner's firewood.

Why this listing is different: the paperwork I'm a claim owner who documents everything. You are not buying a mystery. Every fact in this listing traces to a recorded document or a dated photograph that comes with the claim. The buyer receives the complete organized archive:

The original 2020 location notice and my notarized warranty deed Every annual county filing since 2022, and BLM receipts showing fees paid current The claim boundary verified in the field against the recorded notice and the official BLM digital plat A Google Earth file with the boundary, the water, and the September 2026 photo points Dated road-condition photos Step-by-step transfer instructions

Chain of title Located September 2020. Conveyed to me by notarized deed recorded April 2022 (Tuolumne County doc 2022005271); BLM transfer accepted on the federal record. Sole owner, 100% interest, no co-owners, no liens. BLM maintenance fee already paid through the 2027 assessment year: your first deadline as the new owner is September 1, 2027, a year out. What an unpatented claim is (honest version) You get the exclusive right to the locatable minerals and the right to work them on federal land: prospecting, mining, camping while you work. It is not deeded homesite land: no cabins, no living on it. Keeping it costs about $200 a year paid to BLM each September (or the small miner fee waiver if you qualify). I'll walk you through the transfer filings personally; you start with a claim in clean standing. The district (real history, cited in the packet) This is the historic Big Oak Flat mining district, where the placer camps at Big Oak Flat, Garrote (today's Groveland), and Deer Flat produced roughly $25 million in gold at period prices. The South Fork Tuolumne was so central to the district that in the 1850s miners spent over $150,000 building the Golden Rock Ditch, forty miles of ditch and a 265-foot flume, just to carry this river's water to the diggings. This claim has that river running through it. The federal minerals database (USGS MRDS) lists gold occurrences within a mile and a half of the claim; the full district write-up with sources is in the buyer packet. Gold I make no claims about gold values; anyone who guarantees you gold is selling you a story. What I can show you is documented placer district history, year-round water, and the gravel-and-bedrock river structure prospectors look for. The prospecting is yours. The neighborhood This is the Yosemite corridor, not a claim your family will refuse to visit. The park boundary is about half a mile from the claim (measured against the official NPS boundary data; the claim is entirely outside the park). Rainbow Pools swimming hole is on this same river downstream, and Carlon Falls is a 1.5-mile hike on this same river upstream inside the park. The South Fork holds rainbow and brown trout and is on the CDFW trout-planting list; a California fishing license and current regulations apply. Rush Creek Lodge is just up the highway; Buck Meadows has food and gas 5 minutes west; Groveland (25 minutes) has full services and the Iron Door Saloon, said to be California's oldest continuously operating saloon; Pine Mountain Lake has golf and its own airstrip. Yosemite Valley is about an hour.

Price and terms

$8,500 or best offer , cash: wire, cashier's check, personal check, or cash at my bank. Transfer by notarized mining claim deed recorded at Tuolumne County, plus the BLM transfer filing. I handle the paperwork with you. Questions welcome. I'd rather answer twenty questions than have one surprised buyer.

How closing works

The deed is signed, notarized, and recorded once your payment has settled. A wire or cash at the teller window settles the same day. A cashier's check or a personal check takes as long as my bank takes to confirm it. You do not have to wait to enjoy the claim: the day we agree on a price you get a signed permission letter from me, and you are welcome to go camp, pan, and get to know the place while the paperwork finishes.

Who you are dealing with Not a dealer flipping paper from another state. I live in Mariposa County, one county over, and I have camped and panned this claim myself. If you want to meet at the claim or in Groveland before you decide, say so.

Message me for GPS coordinates if you want to check it out or sample it before you make an offer.

Sold as-is. Buyer to verify all information independently. Unpatented mining claim: possessory mineral interest, not fee-simple real estate.