Motherlode

Biography & Overview

Mother lode is a principal vein or zone of gold or silver ore. The term probably derives from a literal translation of the Spanish veta madre, a phrase common in old Mexican mining. It is also used colloquially to refer to the real or imaginary origin of something valuable or in great abundance. In the United States, the California Mother Lode is a 190-kilometre-long (120 mi), 1.5-to-6-kilometre-wide (0.93 to 3.73 mi) alignment of hard-rock gold deposits in the Sierra Nevada of California, bounded on the east by the Melones Fault Zone.