Mother lode

Mother lode is a principal vein or zone of veins of gold or silver ore. The term is also used metaphorically to refer to the origin of something valuable or in great abundance.

Term

The term probably came from a literal translation of the Spanish veta madre, a term common in old Mexican mining. Veta madre, for instance, is the name given to an 11-kilometre-long (6.8 mi) silver vein discovered in 1548 in Guanajuato, New Spain (modern-day Mexico).

California Mother Lode

In the United States, Mother Lode is most famously the name given to a long alignment of hard-rock gold deposits stretching northwest to southeast in the Sierra Nevada of California. It was discovered in the early 1850s, during the California gold rush. The California Mother Lode is a zone from 1.5 to 6 kilometres (0.93 to 3.73 mi) wide and 190 kilometres (120 mi) long, extending from Georgetown in El Dorado County on the north, through Amador, Calaveras, and Tuolumne counties, south to Mormon Bar in Mariposa County.

Mother lode (disambiguation)

Mother lode may refer to:

Mother Lode (album)

Mother Lode is the fourth studio album (fifth release overall) by singer/songwriter duo Loggins and Messina, released in late 1974. It was their final album with their original backing band, because multireedist and violinist Al Garth would soon leave the band, but multireedist Jon Clarke, bassist Larry Sims and drummer Merel Bregante remained, and saxophonist Don Roberts made his debut on this record. Future Toto keyboardist David Paich plays keyboards on this album while percussionist Milt Holland is augmented by Victor Feldman and the album was recorded on location at Jim Messina's California ranch. The Jim Messina composition "Keep Me in Mind" was sung by bassist Sims, whom Messina praised for having a phenomenal voice in a 2009 interview with Loggins for KCTS-TV.

Track listing

Side one