Gold was found in 1851, and a wild mining town grew with a dance hall, feed store, livery, blacksmith, post office, grocery, rooming houses, and a hotel with solar heated showers. The canyon’s mines included the Sunnyside, Lucky Chance, White Lily, and Last Chance, and a 10 stamp mill pounded out the ore. One mine had 500 Chinese miners, each earning 10 cents a day in rice, and they had an opium den. The largest nugget found here was 42 ounces, worth $28,000 in 1942. The most famous spot was the Gin Mill, run by Marie Sabin, who moved here in 1934 with her husband Don, and Marie was known as the Guardian Angel of Seneca.