Julian Mining Company

Nice people who run the farm but not worth the $ if you are looking for an educational field trip for students. No group rates. disorganized admin and content is full of fluff.

Came here for a field trip that was planned in advanced, when we got to the place, the sign said they were closed! They said they had no idea we were coming even though we had an e-​mail confirmation and sent in a deposit! To make things worse, they tried to blame it on us saying that they were talking to two of our teachers and that we were unorganized and needed to talk to one another, when the other teacher only emailed them for information. She never even heard back from them. How can you be talking to two people when you never even contacted the other?? Nice way to treat your paying customers, blame them for you not being organized. For teachers looking to plan a field trip here, look elsewhere. This place was not worth the money.

We had lots planned that day so we just bought the smaller bucket of rocks for about $ 25 and let the kids sift through it. They had a great time picking out all of the different rocks and then trying to identify them on the poster. The bucket was seeded with tons of interesting rocks in many different sizes. This was definitely the way to go for little ones with short attention spans. It was a big pay off in just the right amount of time. The ones who needed more time were able to get the leftovers from the bottom of the sluice? and sift through that as well. The whole place provides a great backdrop and a super fun time. There was lots more to do, but we were pressed for time and had a blast with the gem bucket.
I loved that you could come and do as much or as little as you wanted and that is why we opted for this over another «tour» at a different establishment seemed great but we just couldn’t fit in our action packed schedule.

Fun place for families with children. The little one panned for gold and sluiced for gems for at least an hour or more. Trust me, panning for gold is hard work if you’re doing it correctly. It’s a real workout. And, for the record, I’m not comfortable with the term «sluicing,» but that’s what they call it.
The gem bags/​buckets come in different sizes. We went cheap and got the $ 11 bag which was just fine for us.
You’ll find two goats on site plus a few friendly donkeys, all of which love to be fed hay by hand. There are also a few very large teepees on site, too, and they are a hit with the kids.
There are plenty of picnic tables in the shade, too. You could easily spend 2 or maybe even 3 hours here if you take your time and bring a lunch.
This is the backcountry. It’s quieter out here and slower. Take your time and enjoy it.

All in all we had a good time here, ultimately I wish it was a bit more organized.
I tried to get some more details since the website is a bit wishy-​washy, and they are hard to get a hold of. The phone number says that they don’t typically answer the phone but that you can text them. I texted, and did not hear back. I did send them a message through Unilocal,only to find out that my message would be answered within two weeks.
We ended up sluicing for gemstones and apple picking. We had to DIY a lot of the gemstone instructions since there weren’t very many employees around, and the apple picking was fine, but I wish there was a bit more magic to it. Last year we were at another orchard, and had a much better experience.
But for the package situation, the fun the kids had, and the location, I do believe we would return. Especially since we’ve been once already, know what to expect, and could navigate next time much easier on our own.

I take my boys here every summerr and they love it! It’s $ 12-​$ 14 for a large bag of gems. You can also buy buckets too! The small one is $ 25, lasts a while, and has a ton of beautiful pieces in them.
The owners are the sweetest people ever. The wife, Gina, is so precious and her husband is adorable as well.
They are closed on the weekdays but you can call during the week and they’ll open for you! It’s awesome. My sons and I had the whole place to ourselves today!
They also have livestock on the property too. You need to see «Bubba»…he’s a huge pig! :)
Great place, great staff, great for kids AND adults!

Loved this place! Stopped here with my 3 girls and we did the $ 25 bucket for gems it was really fun and the kids were so happy. The staff was all super friendly and helpful! The store inside has a bunch of cute things as well. Definitely worth the stop if you are heading to Julian.

Very fun experience for history buffs like me. The kids got to pan for gold, but were bummed that they couldn’t keep it. We’d definitely go back for the friendly staff, knowledgeable tour guys and cool caves.

We have been here several times and always have a blast! Thanks again Ryan, Gina, and Jesse for taking such good care of us.

Awesome place, great time with the family! As everyone else has said, the staff is outstanding! I don’t think there is much more to say that hasn’t been said already. We will be back for sure. Thank you for a fun day.

Family owned business. Really great customer service by Ryan, Jesse, Sarah. The owners, Gina and Ryan took the time to tell us about the area and its historical landmark. Would highly recommend stopping by whenever you are inJulian. Perfect for the whole family

This place was so fun to go to. My girls wanted to go up here for the day so we turned here as our first stop. We bought the bag that they flush in the water and the girls «discovered» the beautiful gems. Outside there store they have beautiful raw crystal pieces that you can buy. Perfect day and very old fashioned feeling

Family owned and full of charm! This is not your usual tourist trap. I love that they charge an entrance fee (which includes: cider pressing, pumpkin patch, and a hayride). This proved to make the experience an unhurried, uncrowded, pleasant experience to enjoy.
Upon arriving later in the afternoon the owner opened up a second register in the charming General Store. We received individualized attention: gave us a tour of the grounds, instruction and tools for gem sluicing, and was incredibly sweet to our older kids answering all their questions.
We bought the $ 25 bucket for gem sluicing. It was easily an hour of fun for our entire family of four. We’ve done similar activities (our kids love it) this was hands down the best value! Situated up on a rock a rushing stream comes down the line in spurts to rock the screens and once the water subsides you move your gems and fossils into your bag.
We visited the pumpkin patch and petting zoo. The kids fell in love with all the animals. There was a baby got and a rogue chicken running around the kids quickly wrangled and named: Billy (baby goat), and One Eyed Willy (chicken). This area of the property had large mature trees providing cool shade, old charming barn, haystacks, hand painted signs. Definitely not your seasonal mass in/​out tourist trap we visited 10 miles earlier. We lost track of time enjoying the property we didn’t get a chance to cider press or go on the hayride. We saw the owner on the way out while purchasing our perfect pumpkin. In conversation when she discovered we hadn’t had the full experience she insisted on refunding us. We were shocked. Totally unexpected! We will absolutely be back and make this our first stop!
They do school assemblies for 4^th grade California studies –all over California and are fantastic with kids and seem to sincerely love what they do!

This was our second stop on our family day, and really made our day,
The staff was so warm and welcoming.
Very busy day opened up a separate Register just to make the line go faster,
Had several ticket options depending on how long we wanted to spend on the ranch.
We purchased the bucket of rocks minerals and sand which is plenty for family of four and the reaction of my kids while panning was amazing.
Very large gems, Foolsgold as well as small pieces of gold mixed in with some copper and lots of other shiny rocks.
The four of us left there with a very nice large bag full of gems and rocks.
And continued through the ranch to the petting zoo and enjoying the beautiful scenery on the hayride.
Lots of areas for great family pictures.
Thanks again to all the staff.

We really enjoyed our Day at Julian Mining Co.
we picked berries, visited with the animals and Loved the lil general store!
relaxed atmosphere very low key. Its lots of fun to go back in time.

We had so much fun doing the gem bucket mining today! I know the gem stones were mixed into dirt and may not be «authentic» for some serious miners. However, it is so fun to spend an hour or two with kids here. The process was very easy and there are lots of gem stones in one single bucket (I think we paid twenty something dollars for it and it’s enough for a family of 3). Sure, you may be able to buy more gem stones with the same amount of money, but you don’t have the fun on sifting and finding the gem stones.
On the other hand, I do not recommend the gold panning here, especially for kids. My son (10-​year-​old) had a pan for $ 15, but found it very hard to find the gold, he was only able to get a small nugget out of the whole pan.
Over all, it was a very fun activity for the whole family. The staffs are all very friendly (there are 3 of them today). We really enjoyed our stay here today.

Nice people and a wonderful setting. Great for small kids who will love easily finding the gems and minerals. We found the gem bucket contained some large common minerals like quartz, rose quartz, crystals, pyrite, etc that appear to be ‘planted’ in the buckets for the kids. We also found rocks painted gold and pieces of tumbled glass. Fun but not authentic, disappointing because we were not forewarned the expensive bucket of ore was really just an expensive way to o buy some pretty minerals.

It was fun to spend an hour there but that’s about it. Went with the family (2 adults and 3 kids) spent approx $ 80 for a 3 small bags of dirt and the right to pan the dirt. Not much gold to be found. Only three or four really small nuggets the size of a sugar grain was found by us in total.
They have only one guy there to help around 25 persons trying to pan the gold. The process is actually quite hard and I would not recommend for small kids. So if you require some help it takes a long time for the «help guy» to give you a minute of his time.
Overall experience was just ok.

Took the kids up to Julian to get some pie. Pie was great but the kids were bored. Headed out of Julian I decided to pull over and check out the Julian Mining Company as my daughter loves gems and fossils.
What I thought was going to be a quick in and out turned in to a few hours with my wife and I sifting through the sand looking for treasures. Daughter and son had a blast finding all sorts of stones.
We bought one of the $ 15 gem bags. The bags were very generous with big stones that did not sift through the screen making it easy for our kids to get instant gratification.
The blonde kid that helped us out was very nice and the service was excellent.
The whole ride home was talk about returning with more time to try some of the other things they have to do.

I took the family here and they had such a blast for several hours. My kids really enjoyed the aspect of actually digging for buried treasure. There is so much to do here and the prices are very reasonable. They have a petting zoo, digging for buried treasure (rocks, fossils, shark teeth, etc.), panning for gold, hatchet throwing, and a few other activities.
They also have a very affordable gift shop that I was very surprised at the prices. Not those Disneyland prices you find in these small poedunk towns!
Also, a husband and wife run the place and they are super nice people!