Last Thursday seven of us from the Sierra Canyon Hiking Group went to Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park in California and hiked the humbug trial down Humbug Creek to the Yuba River. It took us about two hours to get to the park from Reno.
From the park brochure I learned that Malakoff Diggins was the largest and richest hydraulic gold mine in the world. Gold was discovered there in 1851 and hydraulic mining began in 1853. Millions of dollars worth of gold were recovered and 41 million cubic yards of earth were excavated leaving an open pit over a mile long and up to 600 feet deep.
The hike was beautiful. We went down about 1000 feet and 2.5 miles to the Yuba River, had lunch by the river, and then climbed back up again. Afterward we stopped for a few minutes at the park headquarters where they have rebuilt the old gold mining town of North Bloomfield.
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