COLUMBIA - View this location on map - Columbia, the 'Gem of the Southern Mines,' became a town of 4,000 to 5,000 in the 1850s, following the discovery of gold here by the Hildreth party March 27, 1850. Gold shipments, estimated at $87,000,000, declined rapidly after 1858, but Columbia never became a ghost town. Columbia State Historic Park was created in 1945 to preserve its historic buildings and sites. Washington St and Broadway St, Columbia, California Historical

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