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Shasta Miners and Prospectors Association

Redding-area gold club with nine claims in Shasta and Trinity Counties

Meets
Third Thursday of each month, 7 PM, open to the public
Where
Anderson Grange Hall, 8085 Airport Road
Claims
Nine, at four locations in Shasta and Trinity Counties, on BLM and Forest Service land
Camping
On the claims, up to 14 days
Outings
Monthly group gold mining and metal detecting trips
Organization
Nonprofit, 501(c)(7)
Join
Application by mail; family membership covers a spouse and children under 18
Membership email
smpamembers@gmail.com

Club with mining claims for members

Based in Anderson, California.

The club's claims are for members only: contact the club to join.

shastaminersandprospectors.org ↗

Email:

Prospect on your own near Anderson

307 gold spots on open public land with no claim on record, within 50 miles.

There are more on the map, some of them with a possible mining claim.

Open the gold map around Anderson →

Prospecting and collecting rules in California →

About Shasta Miners and Prospectors Association

The Shasta Miners and Prospectors Association, SMPA for short, is a gold prospecting club for the Redding area, and its claims are the heart of it. The club says it owns nine mining claims at four locations in Shasta and Trinity Counties. All of them are on land run by the Bureau of Land Management or the Forest Service, members can reach them at any hour of any day, and since the land is public they may camp right on site for up to 14 days, so a claim works for a day trip or for several nights by the creek.

The club pitches itself to everyone from the beginner to the miner by trade, young and old, and its about page calls it a community of treasure hunters in Northern California. Once a month it runs a group outing for gold mining and metal detecting, either on one of its claims or elsewhere in the area. The 2026 application form lists what comes with membership: a monthly newsletter, the monthly outings, club events, use of the club's gold-bearing claims and hands-on teaching about prospecting and metal detecting from experienced members. A family membership covers a spouse and children under 18, and there is a senior rate for members 70 and over.

General meetings are open to anyone curious: the third Thursday of every month at 7 PM, at the Anderson Grange Hall on Airport Road. To join, you download the application from the club's website and mail it to the club's post office box in Anderson; cash, check and credit card are all accepted, and membership questions go to the email of the membership chair. On the Eureka map the pin sits on Anderson, because the Grange hall's address could not be placed precisely.

The claims page describes the four sites. Trinity Placer is on Rush Creek, 7 miles north of Lewiston in Trinity County, with water running all year, shade, and room for tents and travel trailers beside the creek. Can Do lies next to Highway 299, also in Trinity County, five minutes from the old downtown of Weaverville; the ground is flat, members like to pitch a tent right where they work, and the spot is behind a locked gate that members can open. Bull Dog & Chicks Place is in Shasta County, with stretches of creek only feet from a dirt road and French Gulch just down the road for a meal and a cold drink after a day of digging. The newest, Whiskey Nine, is about 14 miles from downtown Redding, and the club notes that a 56-ounce nugget, the second largest gold nugget in Shasta County, came out of that creek in 1851.

Other clubs and places nearby

Where to buy gear nearby

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