 In 1901 the Engels Copper Mining Company was founded.In 1911 the company built a smelter at China Gulch but was soon prohibited by the U.S. Forest Service which had stewardship over the land that was within the Plumas National Forest.Prior to the IV, copper ore was hauled over road to Keddie where the ore was loaded into Western Pacific Railroad freight cars and transported to a smelter at Garfield, Utah.