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Above and below are two views of the Malakoff Diggins, North Bloomfield, California.
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AMONG THE many interesting and
Lold mining towns and camps in
the northern mines area of California,
a spectacular scenic standout, interesting
to camera fans and others, is the aweinspiring
pit of the great Malakoff
hydraulic mine, now the Malakoff Diggins
Historic Park. It is located at the old
townsite of North Bloomfield in Nevada
County.
Operator of this immense project, over
a period of some 20 years, was the North
Bloomfield Gravel Mining Company. The
name "Malakoff," applied to the vast enterprise,
was thought to have originated
with French miners of the region in honor
of the capture of Fort Malakoff in the
Crimea by French forces in 1855.
From this great basin was washed the
enormous mass of 40,000,000 cubic yards
of gold-bearing sand and gravel yielding
close to $4,000,000 in one of the largest
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