Middle Bar, California
| Middle Bar | |
|---|---|
| Location | 2.8 miles (4.5 km) south of State Route 49, on Middle Bar Road at the Mokelumne River |
| Built | 1850 |
| Reference no. | 36 |
Middle Bar is a former gold rush town in Amador County, California. It is a California Historical Landmark.[1]
History
Middle Bar was founded in 1850 by English miners.[2] A mine in the area produced gold quartz.[3] In 1851, the Middle Bar Bridge was built over the Mokelumne River to handle the large amount of gold seekers coming through the area. The following years, 1852, a flood washed the bridge away. Another bridge was built with claims stating it was high enough it would not get washed away. It was finished in November, 1852, and cost $25,000 to build. It stood for approximately ten years until another flood dislocated the bridge.[4] After the first gold rush, the area experienced a second round of increased population in the 1920s during a smaller mining rush. Eventually, the homes of Middle Bar were purchased by the East Bay Municipal Utility District. The company had built the Pardee Dam, six miles away.[5]
Today
Today, a truss bridge stands over the river, stretching from Amador County to Calaveras County, California.[6]
References
- ↑ "Middle Bar". Office of Historic Preservation, California State Parks. Retrieved September 3, 2012.
- ↑ "Middle Bar". Ghost Towns. Retrieved September 3, 2012.
- ↑ California State Mining Bureau (1899). Catalogue of the State Museum of California ...: being the collections made by the State Mining Bureau ... p. 170. Retrieved September 3, 2012.
- ↑ "Middle Bar, Amador County". Amador Gold. Retrieved September 3, 2012.
- ↑ Kyle, Douglas; Rensch, Ethel (September 6, 2002). Historic Spots in California (Fifth ed.). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. p. 30. ISBN 978-0-8047-4482-9. Retrieved September 3, 2012.
- ↑ "Middle Bar Bridge". Bridge Hunter. Self-published. Retrieved September 3, 2012.
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