Oronoco Gold Rush

Oronoco Gold Rush. . During the summer of 1858 gold was discovered in the bed of the Zumbro River at Rochester and near Oronoco. The news created a local sensation. On July 1, 1858, the Rochester Democrat reported: "The excitement in reference to the gold discoveries in and near Rochester and near Oronoco is unabated. The diggings at Oronoco are yielding two to six dollars a day, per man. . . . Some ninety to one hundred men are at work in the diggins." While little came of the boom in Rochester, the Oronoco Mining Company invested over $1,000 in sluices and a water wheel erected about five miles below Oronoco. The following spring, floods unceremoniously carried away the miners' handiwork. Driven on by a frenzied desire to "get rich quick," the prospectors rebuilt the installations and extracted enough gold to keep their appetites whetted. A few months later, in July, 1859, another flood demolished their works a second time. This catastrophe and the hard times lingering from the great panic of 1857 exhausted the men's determination and resources, and the boom died overnight. Perhaps someday gold will again be discovered in the river here, and Oronoco will relive its all too short moment of glory.