Great Sierra Mine Historic Site

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. 10 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1901.

From the record

“The Great Sierra Mine Historic Site, also known as Dana Village, preserves the site of the largest mining operation in what would later become Yosemite National Park in California. The Great Sierra Mining Company established Dana Village as the support facility for the operations of the Sheepherder Lode, reputed for a rich silver vein.”
Wikipedia article Great Sierra Mine Historic Site, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 32 National Register listings published here for Tuolumne County · listed in 1978 · category: District.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 7 sitess as contributing to the listing.
Address. W of Lee Vining in Yosemite National Park, Lee Vining
When was it listed? May 1978
Category. district
Census division. Twain Harte-Tuolumne City
National Register reference number. 78000382 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

33 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 33 fires within 5 miles of Great Sierra Mine Historic Site between 1992 and 2020, burning about 8 acres in total. 14 started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Natural	14
Recreation and ceremony	11
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	5
Equipment and vehicle use	2
Smoking	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
9 September 2018	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	Inyo National Forest	LAKE
9 September 1992	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Inyo National Forest	not named
8 September 1999	Natural	under an acre	Inyo National Forest	FANTAIL
20 September 1996	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	Yosemite National Park	DANA
2 September 1997	Natural	under an acre	Inyo National Forest	PLATEAU
19 September 2002	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Inyo National Forest	FORK FIRE
15 September 1992	Smoking	under an acre	Inyo National Forest	not named
1 September 2002	Natural	under an acre	Inyo National Forest	ROOT

Every fire recorded in Tuolumne County

Mines and quarries near this property

10 of 14 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 14 workings within 5 miles of Great Sierra Mine Historic Site: 7 occurrences, 4 prospects, 2 past producers, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Gold, Tungsten, Molybdenum, Tungsten, Molybdenum. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
Great Sierra Mine	Gold, Silver	Past Producer
Old Glory Prospect	Lead, Zinc	Prospect
Saddlebag Lake Prospect	Gold, Silver, Tungsten	Occurrence
September Claims	Molybdenum	Occurrence	Ferrimolybdite, Molybdenite, Powellite, Scheelite
September Claims	Uranium	Occurrence
Tioga	Lead, Zinc, Copper	Past Producer	Vein
Claims September Holding & Hillen	Tungsten	Occurrence
Mono Tungsten Group	Tungsten	Occurrence	Scheelite
September Claims	Molybdenum, Tungsten	Occurrence	Contact Metamorphic
September Claims	Molybdenum, Tungsten	Occurrence

Every working recorded in Tuolumne County

Maps showing this location

10 surveys

United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the coordinate the National Park Service records for this property, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.

1901 USGS Mt. Lyell quadrangle1:125000 - 12 printings
1947 USGS Mariposa quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
1948 USGS Mariposa quadrangle1:250000
1956 USGS Tuolumne Meadows quadrangle1:62500 - 5 printings
1957 USGS Mariposa quadrangle1:250000 - 4 printings
1963 USGS Mariposa quadrangle1:250000
1976 USGS Yosemite Valley quadrangle1:100000 - 2 printings
1990 USGS Tioga Pass quadrangle1:24000
1992 USGS Tioga Pass quadrangle1:24000
1994 USGS Tioga Pass quadrangle1:24000 - 3 printings

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Property	Distance	Listed
Tioga Pass Entrance Station	1.3 miles	1978
Tuolumne Meadows High Sierra Camp	4.9 miles	2014
Tuolumne Meadows Ranger Stations and Comfort Stations	6.0 miles	1978
Soda Springs Cabin	6.3 miles	1979
Parsons Memorial Lodge	6.3 miles	1979
McCauley Cabin	6.4 miles	1977

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 78000382 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Tuolumne County	All 32 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.