{"nrhp_refnum":"08001347","name":"Kennedy Mine Historic District","other_names":["Kennedy Mining nad Milling Company","Kennedy Mining Company","Humbug Hill","Kennedy Quartz Mining Claim","THe Gate"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"12594 Kennedy Mine Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Jackson","county":"Amador County","state":"CA","lat":38.362943584500044,"lon":-120.77707755842536,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2009-01-22","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Exploration/Settlement","Industry","Law","Other","Engineering","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A seven-area historic mining district about a mile north of Jackson in Amador County, California, centered on the Kennedy gold mine, which began with an 1860 claim. It includes the East Shaft headframe, mine buildings, Humbug Hill, The Gate outcrop, the Kennedy Tailing Wheels and the Oro de Amador site.","why_significant":"The nomination presents the Kennedy as a late-arriving but important hard rock gold mine on the Mother Lode. Its East Shaft, begun in 1898, helped make it the deepest mine in North America when gold mines were closed in 1942. The district also preserves evidence of earlier placer, hydraulic and ground sluicing activity, and a 135-foot steel headframe, the tallest on the Mother Lode.","narrative":"Just north of Jackson, in the Sierra foothills of Amador County, the Kennedy Mine Historic District covers a former gold mining complex divided into seven areas. Mining began in 1860 on a 480-foot claim, and a company formed in 1869 sank successive shafts through the 1870s and 1880s. The East Shaft, begun in November 1898, intercepted the sloping ore-bearing fissure and eventually reached about 5,912 vertical feet, making the Kennedy the deepest mine in North America when the federal government closed gold mines in 1942. Its 135-foot steel headframe is the tallest on the Mother Lode. The district also includes The Gate, a mineralized rock outcrop that drew early prospectors, Humbug Hill, where placer and hydraulic mining left pits and ditches, and the Kennedy Tailing Wheels. Some non-mining historic resources, such as a church, are counted because they lie on the property. Today the site is used for mine tours, a museum, a theater and outdoor recreation.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Other: No Style","criteria":[],"status_note":"Most of the property is held by a nonprofit foundation, which runs above-ground mine tours. The district has museum, theater and outdoor recreation uses, and the East Shaft remains open.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:29.696682-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/08001347.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/08001347/6881334c7f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/08001347/6881334c7f-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"KarenTeague","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kennedy_Mine--Gold_Mine%27s_old_machinery_closeup.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">KarenTeague</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kennedy_Mine--Gold_Mine%27s_old_machinery_closeup.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123858402","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q141631993"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/amador-county/kennedy-mine-historic-district-08001347/"}