Factory tours, hatcheries, and open studios in California
Factory tours, hatcheries, and open studios in California, each compiled from its own sources: tour times, fees, and what you can watch. No ratings; every entry carries its status.
Point at a dot to see the place.Tap a dot to see the place. Road map of California.
- American River HatcheryGold River · Fish hatcheryA state fish hatchery on the American River below Nimbus Dam in Gold River, California, rearing trout and kokanee on Lake Natoma water that arrives by gravity.
- Bale Grist Mill State Historic ParkSaint Helena · State historic parkAn 1846 water-powered grist mill three miles north of St. Helena, California, where weekend millers still grind corn and wheat beside a wooden wheel 36 feet across.
- barrio glassworksCarlsbad · Public glassblowing studio and retail galleryA family-run public glassblowing studio, gallery and shop on Roosevelt Street in Carlsbad's Barrio, where anyone may walk in to watch the hot shop or shape a paperweight.
- Black Rock Trout HatcheryIndependence · Trout hatcheryA state trout hatchery east of US 395 near Independence, California, that grew from rearing ponds below a 1941 Los Angeles diversion dam at Black Rock Springs.
- Bodie State Historic ParkBridgeport · Historic ghost town and once thriving mining camp preserved in a state of "arrested decay"A genuine California gold-mining ghost town; visitors walk the deserted streets of a town that once had around 2,000 structures and roughly 8,000 people.
- Coleman National Fish HatcheryAnderson · Fish hatchery and parkWorking federal hatchery releasing approximately 12,000,000 fall Chinook Salmon, 1,000,000 late-fall Chinook Salmon, and 600,000 steelhead trout each year.
- Columbia State Historic ParkColumbia · State historic parkColumbia State Historic Park, three miles north of Sonora, California, keeps a gold-rush town in daily use, where the City Hotel's cherrywood bar came around the Horn in 1856.
- Coyote Valley Fish FacilityUkiah · Egg taking station and an imprinting facilityCoyote Valley Fish Facility operates as an egg taking station and an imprinting facility. The sorting of adult return steelhead occurs daily at 10:00 a.m. near the fish ladder January - mid-April.
- Crystal Lake HatcheryCassel · Fish hatcheryA state trout hatchery on Baum Lake at Cassel in eastern Shasta County, built in 1947 on Frank Baum's old ranch with the first Wildlife Conservation Board money.
- Darrah Springs Trout HatcheryManton · Trout hatcheryA state trout hatchery off Wildcat Road near Manton, California, whose spring water grows trout fast but runs too warm for their eggs.
- Empire Mine State Historic ParkGrass Valley · State historic parkA state historic park in Grass Valley, California, keeps the surface works of a gold mine worked from 1850 to 1956, whose 367 miles of flooded tunnels survive in a once-secret scale model.
- Feather River Fish HatcheryOroville · Fish hatcheryA state salmon and steelhead hatchery on the Feather River below Oroville Dam, where Chinook climb a fish ladder past an underwater window from mid-September on.
- Fillmore Trout HatcheryFillmore · Trout hatcheryA state trout hatchery on a former citrus grove beside the Santa Clara River near Fillmore, California, where visitors walk four 1,000-foot raceways under a net strung against herons.
- Fish Springs Trout HatcheryBig Pine · Trout hatcheryA state trout hatchery three miles south of Big Pine in the Owens Valley, built in 1952 on spring water that stopped flowing once wells were switched on.
- Folsom Powerhouse State Historic ParkFolsom · State historic parkA state historic park in Folsom, California, keeps the 1895 brick powerhouse whose General Electric generators, still in place, sent 11,000 volts 22 miles to Sacramento.
- Gold Bug Park / MinePlacerville · Historic mine and parkA city-owned hard rock gold mine on Big Canyon Creek in Placerville, California, where visitors walk a lit 352-foot drift dug mostly in the 1920s and 1930s.
- Harley FarmsPescadero · Small-scale farmstead goat dairyA farmstead goat dairy in a derelict 1910 cow dairy at Pescadero, California, now the only working dairy left in San Mateo County.
- Jelly Belly FactoryFairfield · Factory tourThe Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield, California, where an elevated quarter-mile tour lane runs above a candy plant the company says makes 1,680 jelly beans a second.
- MazAmar Art PotteryPioneertown · Open production, ceramics studioAn open production pottery studio on Pioneertown's Mane Street, where a crew throws and fires the Joshua tree mugs in the rooms behind the shop.
- Merced River HatcherySnelling · Chinook salmon facilityA state Chinook salmon hatchery at the foot of Crocker-Huffman Dam near Snelling, California, reached by a gravel canal road and begun in 1970 as a spawning channel.
- Michael Anthony, BootmakerSebastopol · One-man custom boot shopA one-man custom boot shop on North Main Street in Sebastopol, California, where Michael Anthony Carnacchi does all 372 steps himself and once measured Abraham Lincoln's boots.
- Moccasin Creek HatcheryMoccasin · Trout hatcheryA state trout hatchery at the Highway 49 and 120 junction in Moccasin, fed by Hetch Hetchy water, that hatches California golden trout for planting by airplane.
- Mojave River HatcheryVictorville · State fish hatcheryA California state trout hatchery on the lower campus of Victor Valley College in Victorville, where desert well water raises rainbow trout and a quarter buys a handful of feed.
- Mokelumne River HatcheryClements · HatcheryA state-operated salmon and steelhead hatchery at the foot of Camanche Dam near Clements, California, where visitors watch fall-run Chinook spawned through a viewing window.
- Mount Shasta Fish HatcheryMount Shasta · Trout hatcheryA state trout hatchery in Mount Shasta, California, raising fish since 1888 where an innkeeper once kept trout for his guests; its 1909 building now holds a town museum.
- Pennyroyal FarmBoonville · WineryRegenerative farm with vineyard and farmstead creamery, featuring wines, goat and sheep milk cheese, and farm fare from the estate kitchen.
- San Joaquin HatcheryFriant · Fish hatcheryA major producer of trout and inland salmon, San Joaquin Hatchery is also a great place to visit. Along the San Joaquin River, just downstream of the Friant dam, San Joaquin Hatchery has picnic grounds among the garden of California native vegetation. Take a photo with the enormous wood-carved rainbow trout!
- Shasta Dam and Powerplant TourShasta Lake · Guided dam tourA free Bureau of Reclamation tour of Shasta Dam near Redding, California, that walks the crest, rides an elevator 400 feet down, and looks out at the spillway from inside.
- Silverado Fisheries BaseNapa · HatcheryKnown as "the hatchery tucked between the grapes," Silverado Fisheries Base is located within the world famous wine producing Napa Valley, and is the main fish distribution facility for the San Francisco and Bay Area region.
- Trinity River HatcheryLewiston · HatcheryA state-run salmon and steelhead hatchery at the foot of Lewiston Dam on the Trinity River, where an underwater window shows migrating fish and the ladder opens after Labor Day.
- Warm Springs Fish HatcheryGeyserville · Fish hatcheryA Corps-built salmon and steelhead hatchery below Warm Springs Dam in Sonoma County, made to replace spawning grounds the dam cut off, where fish climb a seven-step ladder.
Factory Tours in all eleven states; next door in Oregon and Arizona.