The Story
Gold prospecting began around Rockerville in 1876-77, and within a year the camp had several hundred residents. Its defining feature was the Rockerville Flume, built around 1879-80 by the New York-backed Black Hills Placer Mining Company to carry water roughly 20 miles from Spring Creek to the diggings. The company's local manager during this period was Ambrose Bierce, later famous for "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge"; he returned to San Francisco journalism after the venture failed around 1880-81. The flume route survives as the hikeable Flume Trail. A later Old West tourist town on the site declined so sharply after a 1990s highway rerouting that locals dubbed it "Rockerville Syndrome."
Surprising Facts
→ Ambrose Bierce managed the mining company's Rockerville operations in 1879-80, before it failed.
→ The flume carried water roughly 20 miles; gold-recovery estimates range wildly, up to $20 million.
→ Remnants of the original flume and two tunnels are still visible along the Flume Trail today.