About the same time the logging industry was taking off on the west end of the San Bernardino Mountains; a "gold rush" was started on the east end, near Big Bear Lake.
Credit for this "gold rush" is given to a man named Bill Holcomb. It was in the spring of 1860; Holcomb had been prospecting for gold in the Big Bear Valley. After a long winter he hiked up Van Dusen Canyon while hunting for bear. Upon crossing over the ridge he discovered "gold" in a lush green valley that would eventually bear his name. Within two months, work of Holcomb's discovery got out, and miners from all over invaded "Holcomb's" valley. By September, a small settlement called "Belleville" with over 1,000 men literally popped into existance. At the same time in other parts of Holcomb Valley, "Clapboard Town" & "Union Town" went up almost over night. The population grew so fast that the Holcomb Valley residents soon outnumbered the rest of San Bernardino County. In fact, during the 1860 elections, to determine the new county seat would be located, the city of San Bernardino barely won the honor; beating out "Belleville" by only two votes. But, within the first year, excitement began to subside with the realization that placer mining was not producing gold in profitable amounts. By the end of the 2nd year, most miners had given up and gone elsewhere.
Fifteen years later, San Francisco multimillionaire, Elias J. "Lucky" Baldwin started another "gold rush" when he constructed a large 40 stamp mill at the base of "Gold Mountain" in 1874. By the time his stamp mill roared to life in March of 1875, a new mining town called Bairdstown, with 2 saloons, a butcher shop, and 2 boarding houses had sprung into existance at the northeast end of Baldwin Lake. However, the amount of gold recovered from Gold Mountain fell way below expectations, and a disappointed "Lucky" Baldwin shut the mill down after only seven months of operation. Bairdstown quickly became a ghost town. The stamp mill sat idle until August of 1876, when it mysteriously caught fire and burned to the ground.
In 1899, Baldwin struck a deal with a man named "Captain" J.R. DeLaMar to build a new 40 stamp on the hill above the original Baldwin mill. DeLaMar wanted to use a new cyanide process that would dramatically increase the amount of gold recovered from the low grade ore. By September of 1900, the new stamp mill was running at full capacity, and recovering over $4,000 a week in modest profit. In 1903, DeLaMar shut down the mill.
The real "pay dirt" in the San Bernardino mountains was found in a place called Round Valley, just east of Big Bear Valley. Originally filed as the "Homestake Mine" in 1887, it eventually became known as the "Rose Mine". Betwen 1898 and 1906, its operators consistently recovered as much as 100 times more gold per ton of ore mined than Lucky Baldwin's much publicized "Gold Mountain".
On to The Rock Dam at Big Bear Lake