The Old Eureka Mine was first opened in 1852 and comprised the Amador, Maxwell, Alpha, and Railroad claims. At various times it was known as the Hayward, Eureka, Hetty Green, Badger and Wolverine, and Amador Consolidated mines. One ore shoot encountered a vein of metallic gold as large as 3/8” thick, which was also struck in the adjoining Badger Mine 1000 feet to the south; this was the only instance in California of a true vein of metallic gold, not disseminated gold, being found. Alvinza Hayward, for whom the city of Hayward is named, acquired control of both the Old Eureka and Badger mines in 1859 and consolidated them under the Old Eureka Mine. He incorporated the mine and sold shares of its stock, making the Eureka the first mine in California to be so incorporated. In 1866, 30,000 tons of ore reportedly yielded $27 per ton at a working cost of $5 per ton, but by 1875 the ore was declining in quality. In 1886, after the mine had reached a depth of about 2000 feet and had produced about $16,000,000, it was closed and remained idle for 30 years. Hetty Green, known as the “Witch of Wall Street,” assumed control of the Old Eureka in 1902 but refused to operate or sell the property until 1916, when she sold it to a reconstituted Consolidated Amador Mining Company for $500,000. Consolidated spent another $200,000 to reopen and rehabilitate the mine, deepened the shaft to 3500 feet, and ran drifts north and south, but this exploration failed to reveal paying ore. All mining shut down in 1942, resumed in 1946 after the war, and finally closed in the early 1950s because of increased costs. The Jackson-Plymouth district was the most productive mining district of the Mother Lode belt, with an estimated total production of about $180 million.