What's in a name?

The Bright Hope Lode (Lode: A rich source or supply) was discovered in the late 1870's by a prospector by the name of J. M. Lineham while exploring an area known as the Eureka Mining Zone west of Kelsey’s Diggings California. The lode and the resulting Bright Hope Mine offered its discoverer a “Bright Hope” for his and his family’s future.

The lode was believed to be an extension of gold discoverer James Marshal’s Gray Eagle and Big Sandy mines, which were just south of town. The town of Kelsey or Kelsey’s Diggings (also known as Winterville, later Slatington, and now Kelsey) was the site of Marshal’s blacksmith shop and was considered in its heyday one of the rowdiest mining camps in California’s Mother Lode.

The mine may have been purchased in 1886 by the publisher of the Georgetown Gazette (considered by some to be California's oldest newspaper) Horace Hulbert, who, like many of his day in the gold country, was also a prospector and miner. An interesting note was that in the late 1800’s the use of templates printed by major newspapers was common among small town papers. The templates (containing state and national news) were shipped to the local paper, which filled around the borders and in specific places with local ads, news and items of interest and then sold them as their own. Horace Hulbert, like Bright Hope Designs, did not use templates for his papers.

Additional facts: The area around Kelsey was the site of the 5th gold strike in the Mother Lode. Kelsey experienced several gold rushes, 1850’s, 1880’s, 1910, and the last in 1930. The Eureka Slate Mine, one time the world’s largest producer of blackboard and roofing slate, opened in 1898.

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