Michigan Bar - Landmark 468
The bronze plaque has been stolen and the granite rock which held the plaque in place has been vandalized with paint and carvings. In the spring of 2002, a new monument has been built and moved a few hundred yards northwest of where it once stood. This was due to construction on the highway near the old monument. So far, there has been no new plaque to replace the old one though once in place the new Landmark will be beautiful!
The following text is taken from "The State Department of Natural Resources and The State Park Commission" registration document for Michigan Bar dated October 6, 1950. (*Many thanks to contributor H. Day for looking up this document).
"Report No. 38"
October 6, 1950
Number 468
Michigan Bar
August 30, 1950
County Sacramento
History and Description:
"Michigan bar was named from the fact that the first settlers were from Michigan. One of those was a man by the name of Prothro, who brought with him his family of four sons and two daughters. Gold was discovered her by the two men from Michigan in the latter part of 1849, or a least that was when the first discovery was made public. The following spring, some of their friends and acquaintances, formerly of Michigan, who had been mining at Placerville, and others direct from that state joined them and commenced mining on the bar, and in this vicinity the town began to grow. It is noted that Larkin Lam and his wife settled here in January, 1852. This became the largest mining camp in the township.
The first claims were small, each man being allowed only sixteen feet. They were enlarged by several men uniting their claims. When hydraulic mining began the rule was changed and the miners made their own laws on the subject of claims.
In the fall of 1851, the miners began to work the gulches, hauling the dirt in carts to the river. This was the first dry mining doing in the vicinity. In the summer the mining was nearly all on the rivers and bars; in the winter the miners worked gulches with sluices, running from six to eight inches to a sluice. The Knightsomer Ditch was the first ditch built in 1851, followed by the Davidson Ditch in 1854, both on the north side of the river. A small ditch was built on the south side of the river by O'Brien, Dayton, and others in 1853. Hydraulic mining began in the 1858 and the gulch mining gradually decreased until 1862, it was practically abandoned. More recently, in about 1915, dredger activity developed in this area; in fact, there are two companies active there now.
In 1864 and 1865 the daily receipts by Booth and Co. in Sacramento averaged $5000. One-fifth of this amount alone came from a merchant and gold buyer in the town...town of Michigan Bar.
Michigan Bar at one time had a population of from one thousand to fifteen hundred, and by some it was estimated to have been over two thousand, of which several hundred were Chinese. The town has a Wells Fargo and Company's Express station, a post office and John Heath, Postmaster, also owned a store.
In 1863 a toll bridge was built by Sam Putman but was washed out in the 1862 flood, a new bridge was rebuilt above the original site, on higher ground; it was bought by the County in 1870 and made free. A three-hundred and sixty foot iron bridge was built by the county in 1887 at the expense of 3,300. This structure was replaced in 1948 by another span.
It was probably due to the action of the hydraulic mining that caused a pottery manufactory to be built her in 1865 by David Addington. It had two down-draft kilns one for stoneware; the other for sewer pipe. The former had capacity for twenty-one to twenty-two hundred gallons daily; the latter was fifteen feet in diameter and seven feet high. The building also contained a machine for pressing pipe. In 1864 this property was leased by J. E. Williams who sent some silicous sand to be tested in England and it was found to be the best for the purpose. (Stoneware, firebrick, sewer pipes, white and yellow ware). The Michigan Bar Pottery Works was thought to be the best in the State.
Today, the once-busy townsite is a quite pastoral area. It boasts a population of three, and has but the three building remaining from the gold seeking period. The nearby river bank continues to produce clay for pottery making. The gulches and cuts caused by hydraulic mining still give mute evidence to the forcefulness with which man would change the contour of the land in his search for gold." (Register of Historic Landmarks - 1948/51)