According to local legend, Sailor Bar was named for sailors who abandoned their ship during the Gold Rush to seek their fortune along the American River.
Early prospectors planned for gold by hand and later used cradles, rockers and long-toms Remnants of what have been historically been called, “Chinese Diggings” can still be seen today cut into the Bluffs at Sailor Bar.
These formations appear as narrow trenches. During the 1890s and early 1900s water was used to hydraulically separate gold from the sand and gravel. Later large bucket-line dredges would be used along the river’s flood plain to mine for gold. The massive machines would dig deep into the flood plain of the river, churning up river sediments, and leaving behind the distinctive piles of rounded rock tailings still visible throughout the park today.
Estimated value of gold recovered by the dredges in the Folsom area alone, was at least $125 million in gold. In today’s dollars, that equals $15 billion.