North Bloomfield (previously, Bloomfield, Humbug, and Humbug City) is a small

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

located in Nevada County,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. It is in the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...

, northeast of Nevada City.

History

Settled in 1852 as a

mining town A mining community, also known as a mining town or a mining camp, is a community that houses miners. Mining communities are usually created around a mine or a quarry. Historical mining communities Australia * Ballarat, Victoria * Bendig ...

of the

California Gold Rush The California gold rush (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the U ...

, it was originally named Humbug after the creek of the same name. As the settlement grew, it was renamed Humbug City, and then the more dignified Bloomfield. The settlement thrived during Malakoff Diggins mining days. When a post office was established on June 1, 1857, residents selected the current name to differentiate the town from

Bloomfield, California Bloomfield is a census-designated place in Sonoma County, California, Sonoma County, California, United States, U.S. It is located in a rural area about southwest of Santa Rosa, California, Santa Rosa at the junction of Bloomfield Road and Val ...

. In 1857, the population was approximately 500. Three years later, the

North Bloomfield Mining and Gravel Company The North Bloomfield Mining and Gravel Company of North Bloomfield, California, was established in 1866 and operated a hydraulic gold-mining operation at the Malakoff Mine subsequent to the California Gold Rush. In its day, no other company's oper ...

arrived and began

hydraulic mining Hydraulic mining is a form of mining that uses high-pressure jets of water to dislodge rock material or move sediment.Paul W. Thrush, ''A Dictionary of Mining, Mineral, and Related Terms'', US Bureau of Mines, 1968, p.560. In the placer mining of ...

operations. By 1876, the population swelled to 2,000. But in 1884, when hydraulic mining ended because of '' Woodruff v. North Bloomfield Gravel Mining Company,'' a

lawsuit A lawsuit is a proceeding by one or more parties (the plaintiff or claimant) against one or more parties (the defendant) in a civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today ...

Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...

area farmers, North Bloomfield became an uninhabited San Juan Ridge

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

. In the present day, the town of North Bloomfield is contained within the

Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park is a state park unit preserving Malakoff Diggins, the largest hydraulic mining site in California, United States. The mine was one of several hydraulic mining sites at the center of the 1882 landmark case ' ...

. Some of the town's original buildings remain and a few have been reconstructed: * Skidmore House *

E Clampus Vitus The Ancient and Honorable Order of E Clampus Vitus (ECV) is a fraternal organization dedicated to the preservation of the heritage of the Western United States, especially the history of the Mother Lode#California Mother Lode, Mother Lode and gold ...

Building * McKillicam & Mobley General Store * St. Columncille’s Catholic Church The post office was open from 1857 to 1942, moving once in 1875.

References

External links

Ghosttownexplorers.org: Photos of Bloomfield

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Nevada County, California Mining communities of the California Gold Rush Populated places in the Sierra Nevada (United States) Populated places established in 1852 1852 establishments in California Unincorporated communities in California

History

See also

References

External links