Civil War veteran named Charles Tom Vincent, born Charles Vincent Dougherty, discovered Big Horn Mine in 1888.[2] Tall tales surrounded Vincent's origins, including that he confessed on his deathbed to having killed three men in Arizona who he and a mining partner had caught ransacking their home.[2]
The mine first opened in 1895 and remained in use until 1985.[1] F.V. Layton served as general manager of the Big Horn Mining Company.[3] The mine was developed to 300 feet in length and was crosscut to a depth of 1200 feet in length. It was discovered that the solid gold ore inside was 50 feet in width, weighing in at two million tons and worth $8 million.[3] The mill and machinery used to extract the gold was initially run by waterpower, per an 1895 report.[3] Despite its net worth, the mine yielded only $200,000 in gold under the Lowell and California Company from 1902 to 1910.[2] In 1985, it was determined that the cost of gold was not worth the extensive exploration and drilling, and the mine was finally abandoned.[3]
It was reported by the Los Angeles Times in 2025 that the mine had burned down in the Bridge Fire.[4]
