Drue Bailey was born at Dalton, Georgia, May 31, 1844. At the outbreak of the Civil War he enlisted at Rome, Georgia, in the Confederate States Army as a private in Company H, 3rd Regiment, Georgia Cavalry, on May 13, 1862. He served with honor under General Joseph Wheeler until May 3, 1865. Elsewhere in this history are Drury's wanderings until the time he settled in Julian, laying out the Townsite and giving free lots to all who would build on them; here let us say these were 100' x 25' and the Townsite is today as he laid [...]

Twenty some odd years after the great California gold rush of 1849, another gold rush occurred. Men flocked to this place just as they had done in 1849. There was a period of great excitement and like the rush of 1849, there were great expectations. Not all of those expectations were met. Unlike many gold rush towns, Julian City survived when the mines no longer were prosperous. It all began this way. On November 1st, 1869, five men from Georgia arrived at the place that would soon become Julian City. They had survived the great tragedy of the American [...]

PRESENTED BY MR. JOHN GEIGER FOR THE JULIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY at the Centennial observance of the discovery of the WASHINGTON MINE ON FEBRUARY 22, 1970. JULIAN GOLD Julian has an alluring past--a story of Gold discovery that set off a stampede diminutive in comparison to that of 1849 in the "Mother Lode" country but still a rush for the precious metal. In late 1869 Fred Coleman who had lived for some time around the Northern California gold fields came to herd cattle in this area. He lived with an Indian family named Nejo at Spencer Valley now known as [...]

The first quartz strike of importance in the Julian district was the Washington. Several conflicting stories are told of its discovery. One tells that Billy Gorman, 14-year-old son of the Gorman family from Texas who lived near Julian, was sent to look for a runaway mule —picked up a rock to throw at the beast and found the rock shot full of gold. Another version of Billy's find is that he found the gold-bearing rock where a tree had been uprooted. Still a third story is that he was out gathering firewood, noticed the gold-flecked rock, and picked it [...]

The George Washington Mine. On page 6, Book A, of The Julian Mining Records appears this entry registering the George Washington claim on February 26, 1870: Notice is hereby given that the undersigned claim forty four hundred feet on this Lead Known as the George Washington Ledge. We run and claim Eight Hundred feet Easterly and Thirty six hundred feet Westerly with all its dips spurs and angles and one hundred feet on each Side of Said Ledge for Mining purposes and forewarn all persons from trespassing Hereon. Following this typical entry in the Julian Mining Records is a [...]

Fred Coleman was a former slave credited with discovering gold in Julian, California and thus launching a [gold rush] in that area. Coleman was one of several African Americans who made significant contributions to early "gold rush" Julian. Other pioneering African Americans from the area include Albert and Margaret Robinson, founders of the Robinson Hotel, and America Newton. Coleman, a Black rancher and experienced miner (he had previously worked in the gold fields of Northern California), living in the Julian area with his Kumeyaay wife Maria and their children plus a number of adopted children, discovered gold in the [...]