A lode gold mine known as the Dailey and Bishop was located two miles south of Grizzly Flat. It was active around 1896 when a one and one-half to three-foot vein of gold bearing quartz in slate was developed by a 800-foot drift adit, crosscuts, and winze. The ore was treated on site in a ten-stamp mill.
Just east of the town of Kelsey was the Dalmatia (Kelly) Mine, a large lode gold mine. Numerous quartz seams and a quartz vein were found in a zone that varied in width from 20 to 50-feet, which were worked in the 1880’s, 1890-94 and again around 1935. A two-foot vein assayed at $16 per ton, a single pocket yielded $14,000 and the seams yielded around $2 to #3 per ton. The mine was originally worked in an open cut some 500 feet long and later was developed by a 200-foot inclined shaft and a 1200-foot adit. The ore was treated on site in a 10-stamp mill.
The Daniel McGee claim was 30 acres on the north side of the South Fork of the American River, just northwest of Lotus.
The Daniel R. Carson claim was on the North Fork of the Cosumnes River in Ladies Valley, about one and one-half miles downstream from Bucks Bar. It was 120 acres in size.
The Daniel T. Hall claim consisted of 50 acres on White Oak Creek, about two miles north of Shingle Springs
The Darling (Chanced Upon) mine was four miles northeast of Spanish Flat. A two-foot vein of gold bearing quartz in slate yielded $5 to $6 per ton in free gold. The deposit was developed by a 190-foot shaft. The ore was treated on site in a 10-stamp mill.
The Darlington mine was a soapstone mine three mines southeast of Placerville, near Weber Creek. It was active in the 1880’s when sawed slabs of soapstone were produced. The massive lens up to 25-feet wide and 130-feet long was developed by open cuts.
The Darrington (Gurney) mine was a chromite mine located seven miles southwest of Pilot Hill. Worked originally during WWI, when several hundred tons of ore were produced, it was reopened during WWII and worked in conjunction with the nearby Dobbas Mine. During this later period of operation, some 495 long tons (2240 pounds in a long ton) were removed, mostly from the Darrington workings. The ore is in two zones of disseminated chromite with a high iron content. The east ore zone is about 300 feet long and 70 feet wide, and estimated to contain some 100,000 tons of ore. The west zone has not be significantly worked. Development has been by open cuts, four adits totaling 900 feet and shafts and raises totalling 120 feet.
On the Mother Lode, one-half mile east of Garden Valley was the Davenport mine. A lode gold mine, it was originally active in 1934 and later worked jointly with the Black Oak mine. It was developed by a 280-foot crosscut adit and open cuts.
The Davey Quartz mine was on the Mother Lode, on the south side of Placerville.
The David mine was a manganese mine just to the west of Georgetown. Open cuts were used to remove the ore that averaged from five to ten percent manganese.
The David W. Cary placer mine was located one and one-half miles north of Georgetown and consisted of nearly 160 acres. It was so large it was in two different townships.
The Davison mine was a lode gold mine located two miles northwest of the townsite of El Dorado. Originally worked sometime prior to 1894, it was later owned by Jerome M. Strickland and was often referred to as the Strickland Mine, from which Strickland Mine Road gets its name. A two-foot vein of gold bearing quartz was developed by a 280-foot inclined shaft with 100 and 300-foot levels. The ore was treated in a 20-stamp mill, which was later replaced with a smaller, 5-stamp mill.
The Day and Taylor quartz mine was on 20 acres one and one-half miles north of Grizzly Flat.
The Deadhead placer mine consisted of 200 acres on a tributary of Clear Creek, about one mile northwest of Pleasant Valley.
The Deep Channel placer mine consisted of 100 acres one-half mile northwest of Indian Diggings.
The Defiance mine was a very small lode gold mine five miles northeast of Shingle Springs. Nothing much more is known about it. There was also a Defiance placer mine on 160 acres just west of Garden Valley.
The Del Ray mine was a lode mine just north of the South Fork of the American River, three miles southeast of Pilot Hill.
The Demuth mine was a lode gold mine on the Mother Lode one mile south of Garden Valley.
The Detert mine was a copper mine about one-half mile east of Pilot Hill.
The Diamond Hill placer mine was a part of a large ancient (Tertiary) gravel area to the north of the townsite of Diamond Springs, remnants of which can still be seen in open cuts along Highway 49 near Lime Kiln Road. Much of it was mined hydraulically, many years ago before mining by this method was outlawed by the State of California in response to siltation complaints from the agricultural interests in the valley, among other reasons.
The Diamond Springs Limestone mine is a large limestone quarry three miles to the east of Diamond Springs, on Quarry Road. Limestone has been mined at this location since at least the days of the Gold Rush, and probably even earlier. Within the structure of the Washington Monument, in Washington D.C. the Great State of California is represented by a block of limestone donated from this quarry over a hundred years ago.
When this limestone lens, some 2,500 feet long and as much as 500 feet wide was owned by the Diamond Springs Lime Company, the material was mined and shipped to their processing plant just north of the townsite (now the location of the refuse transfer station) by a unique (and unquestionably noisy) overhead tramway. The three mile long aerial tramway had 149 buckets of 800 pounds capacity each, that could supply the plant with as much as 30 tons per hour. Where the tramway passed over roads, the roads and vehicles were protected from falling rock by a steel mesh cover. The tramway was disassembled around 1954.
With the tramway gone, the Diamond Springs Lime Plant started getting most of its material from mines in Shingle Springs and Cool. When the federal government purchased the part of the mine in Cool from which their material came, the lime plant was unable to find another suitable source and closed.
The mine on Quarry Road, which is developed by a large open pit, continues to operate, providing high grade limestone for the road building, agriculture, and pharmaceutical industries, among others.
The Dick Canon (canyon in Spanish) Placer mine was located on 20 acres, about one mile south of Omo Ranch.
Three miles east of Clarksville was a chromite mine known as the Dickson mine. Here, ore was mined from a northwest-trending series of chromite pods by using an open cut.
The Dirty Flat mine was a placer mine about one mile east of Smith Flat.
The Dividend mine was on Pinchem Creek, some four miles northwest of Rescue. During the 1880’s, 1890’s and from 1912-15, an extensive deposit of gold bearing gravel one to three-feet thick on granite bedrock was worked by ground sluicing.
The Dobbas mine was located two miles north of Flagstaff Hill. During WWI, when the property was owned by the Placer Chrome Company and a portion leased to the Union Chrome Company, there was a substantial amount of work at this mine when a number of open pits, and several shafts and adits were developed. During WWII, the appropriately named Rustless Mining Company removed some ore from this property which, along with ore from other mines in the area (including the Darrington) was taken to the Volo Mill near Placerville where it was concentrated. The deposit consists of several ore bodies of talc-chlorite or talc-serpentine rock. Like the ore at the Darrington mine, it was also high in iron. Five principal ore bodies have been worked there by open pits and shallow shafts.
One-half mile east of Greenwood was the Donozo mine. At this location a small vein of gold bearing quartz was developed by 60-foot drift adits.
The Dormody Placer mine consisted of a series of claim totaling 166 acres on Green Springs Creek at Green Valley Road, about one and one-half miles north of Bass Lake Reservoir.
The Dorsey was a placer gold mine on 197 acres, one mile northeast of Indian Diggins on East Indian Creek.
The Drouillard Placer mine was near Indian Diggings. Nothing more seems to be known about it or any Mr. Drouillard.
The Double E mine was a manganese mine two miles southeast of the townsite of El Dorado. It was only a small, low-grade deposit and never significantly worked.
The Dr. Wren mine was a copper mine located three miles southeast of El Dorado, to the east of the Mother Lode. A six-foot vein of ore, containing 5 – 18 percent copper was developed by a 18-foot shaft.
The Duncan and Adams mine was one mile southeast of the townsite of El Dorado. A lode gold mine, it was only active in 1931 when 700 tons of ore was mined that yielded $10,266.
The Dyer mine was a lode gold mine about two miles due west of Grizzly Flat.
