What remains of the town of Cherokee is located about 14 miles north of Oroville CA, about a mile and a half off CA 70 on Cherokee Road. The town is located in an area where the Maidu tribe once flourished. Spanish explorers found gold under Table Mountain which is located to the south of the town's site. A migrate bank of Cherokee Indians arrived in 1849 and panned for gold in the area. In 1853, Welsh miners arrived at the area from England and named the town they built for the miners who came before them.

At its height, the town of Cherokee had roughly 1000 people. The nearby mines were elecrified, allowing rough the clock operations. At one point, Cherokee had the largest hydraulic gold mine in the world. In 1880, the town was visited by President Rutherford B. Hayes and General William Tecumseh Sherman and others to tour its mining operation and water system which powered it. The town began its decline in the 1890s when the mine played out and became too expensive to continue operations.

Butte County
Population: 69 (2010 census)
Elevation: 1,306 ft.

Date visited: July 21, 2018 (before the Camp Fire of November 2018 devastated the area)

Wells Fargo and Assay Office

The Wells Fargo and Assay Office was burnt down in 1947.

[Picture of Wells Fargo and Assay Office]

Cherokee Museum

Once a coaching stop and boarding house.

[Picture of Cherokee Museum]

Post Office

The Cherokee Post Office operated from 1854 to 1912.

[Picture of Cherokee Post Office]

Unknown Ruin

Located next to the ruin Wells Fargo and Assay Office, this brick structure is all that remains of some building in Cherokee. There was nothing to indicated what it might be.

[Picture of Unknown ruin]

Effects of Hydraulic Mining

A number of mountainsides in the Sierras bear the scars of hydraulic mining. This slope seen from Cherokee Road is one of them.

[Picture of Slope of Table Mountain]

Cherokee Cemetery

Like many of the cemeteries in the forgotten boomtowns of California, the headstones found in the Cherokee cemetery provide a look into the type of people who came to live and die in Gold Rush California. Many came from Europe to seek a life in the rugged West. What was interesting is that the Freemasons had a presence in the boomtowns as did (to a seemingly lesser extent) the Oddfellows.

[Picture of Addie J Williams grave]