Empire Village was incorporated in 1989 by Powell Development.  A total of 63 single family homes have been built in this fully built-out association. Front yard maintenance,  exterior painting including outside fences,  and private street maintenance are included in the monthly dues.  The annual membership meeting is the fourth Wednesday in September in the Gold River Community Center.  The five members of the Board of Directors are elected for a two year term and have monthly meetings held on the second Monday of the month, 6:15 P.M. at the Gold River Community Center Annex.  Members of this village may search or download their documents by CC&R Search. 

The Empire Mine in Grass Valley was the richest Hard-Rock Mine in the State of California, producing 5.8 million onces of gold in its operating history of 106 years (1850-1956).  In 1850 a gold-bearing ledge named "Orphir Hill" was discovered by George Roberts.  He sold his rights to the land the next year for $350, not realizing he was literally standing on a gold mine.  Within 13 years, it had produced one million dollars worth of gold.  It extracted more gold from the ground than any other mine of the Gold Rush era.

Empire Mine has over 367 miles of undergound workings and a vertical depth of over 5,000 feet.  Gold extraction was by Hard Rock Mining.  90% of the 400 miners employed at the Empire Mine were Cornish immigrants from southwest England where they had mined tin and copper.  Miners were lowered down the incline shaft in skip loader ore cars 20 at a time and dropped down into the mine at a speed of over 800 feet per minute to a collective depth of over 11,000 feet.  Much of the Mine is now under water.

Deep in the mines, over 44 mules lived their lives pulling ore cars, never to see the light of day.  The mules were often tempermental.  Miners kept handfuls of oats, a shot of whiskey, and the mule's favorite - a snuff of tobacco to gain their cooperation.  If a miner tried to fool a mule into pulling 8 tons of ore cars, instead of 7, the mule knew.  He refused to move until the extra ore car was unhitched and the mule compensated with a quid of tobacco.  Then, the mule would diligently pull the 7 ore cars with all his might.

The miners fed and took good care of rats because, much like the canaries carried into Appalachian mines, a dead rat gave quick warning of the buildup of deadly methane gas.  Mining ceased in 1956 when costs of operation outweighed the cost of extracting the ore.