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Author: Admin | 2025-04-27
For hauling ore trains. A smaller intervolcanic channel crossed the Orono Channel near the mouth of the Weske Tunnel and was drifted about one mile northward in the Manhattan Tunnel. Locally called the Manhattan Channel, it was filled with heavy volcanic gravel. No detailed records of the workings or production are available. Comment (Identification): The Michigan Bluff Mining District is located 5 miles east of the town of Foresthill in south central Placer County, California. The district includes all placer and quartz gold mines in the Byrds Valley and Chicken Hawk Ridge areas from Baker Ranch on the west to approximately 2 miles east of Michigan Bluff, and between the Middle Fork of the American River on the south and the Gas Hill Mine on the north. The Gas Hill Mine (Sec. 2, T14N, R11E) marks the southern limit of the adjacent Damascus Mining District to the north. The Forest Hill and Last Chance mining districts lie to the west and northeast, respectively. The district trends northeast-southwest along the crest and southeast flank of the Forest Hill Divide, a northeast-southwest trending drainage divide separating the North and Middle Forks of the American River. The district is primarily a placer-gold district, the majority of production having come from drift and hydraulic mining of Tertiary gravel deposits. Very little was produced from gold-quartz lode mines within the bedrock complex. Comment (Location): The Michigan Bluff District includes a number of individual mines distributed throughout an area encompassing approximately 18-20 square miles. Since the majority of mines and claims were located around the community of Michigan Bluff, the community itself was chosen to represent the district?s location. The location latitude and longitude identify the intersection of Michigan Bluff Road and Gorman Ranch Road near the center of town on the USGS Michigan Bluff 7.5-minute quadrangle (within the W/2 W/2, Sec. 22, T14N, R11E, MDBM). Michigan Bluff is reached by taking the paved Foresthill Road from Auburn, California, for a distance of about 25 miles, then turning south on the paved Michigan Bluff Road and continuing on for an additional 3 miles. Comment (Economic Factors): In the Michigan Bluff District, it has been estimated that hydraulic mining of Sage Hill and Michigan Bluff worked approximately 6 million cubic yards of gravel and yielded $5 million; the Big Gun Mine alone reportedly produced $1 million by 1882 (Logan, 1936). At the Big Gun, it has been
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