Founded in the early 1850s by Alvinza Hayward, owner of the Badger and Wolverine Mines, the Old Eureka Mine earned $65,000 a month, reached a depth of 2,250 in the late 1800s, and had its shaft sunk to 3,500 feet in 1916. In 1924 it was purchased by the Central Eureka Company, closed in 1942, and reopened from 1946 to 1954. Its combined production was $36,000,000, the largest total of any Amador County mine or consolidation.