At mile 55.7 of the Western States Endurance Run course you enter the quaint little town of Michigan Bluff, California. As many towns in the foothills of the Sierra, their rich history began after gold was discovered in 1848 at nearby Sutter’s Mill in Coloma. These towns boomed with activity as thousands of miners chased the riches that could be found in the rocks and rivers. Many towns, like Deadwood, which was just on the other side of El Dorado Creek, disappeared, while others, such as Michigan Bluff remained.
Entering Michigan Bluff
Here are ten questions about the town of Michigan Bluff. Answer each question in a comment (or many comments) to this post. The first person to answer a question correctly gets five points. Only your first answer is counted. Depending on the responses, I’ll give out one or two Conduct The Juices t-shirts. If you already have a shirt or hoodie please give others a chance to win one. Contest closes on May 19, noon PDT.
1. What was the original name of Michigan Bluff?
2. When and why was the town moved to it’s current location?
3. How many cemeteries are there in town?
4. In the early years you could buy pukes & physics. What are they?
5. What’s the name of the dirt road you run on as you enter the town in the WSER?
6. What’s the name of the dirt road you run on as you leave the pavement of town in the WSER?
7. What’s the approximate current full-time population of Michigan Bluff?
8. What was the population in the booming years of the mid 1850’s?
9. Aside from gold, what other mineral was mined at Michigan Bluff?
10. What founder of a major California University purportedly made his start here? And what years did he live there?
Bonus: Aside from minerals, what else was mined at Michigan Bluff?
Having seen those fine Conduct the Juices Hoodies in person, I want one bad, but alas my Michigan Bluff knowledge is poor so I’ll answer only the questions I feel (semi)confident on answering without resorting to the google.
2. I have heard that part of the town was slipping into the river and had to be abandoned. The buildings remaining on the unstable slope were dynamited and allowed to fall down the hill. this became a scene in the movie Paint Your Wagon. Of course, this could all be bullshit.
6. Gorman Ranch Road
7. about 300 (the canine population = 1.5-2x human population)
8. 1850’s right? About 10,000
9. I know that many of the rocks are rich in arsenic. Maybe this was mind here also. I’ll leave it to others to fill in the other precious metals, I’d only be guessing.
10. Leland Stanford made his fortune here
Cheers, PC
@Paul Charteris – #8, yeah I meant 1850s. It’s been corrected in the post.
Always wanted to try one of your contests, so here goes.
1. What was the original name of Michigan Bluff?
The original name was Michigan City, it was changed in the late 1800’s.
2. When and why was the town moved to it’s current location?
The hydo mining in the area undermined the land and the town began to slide, the town was moved in 1859 to it’s current resting place.
3. How many cemeteries are there in town?
Only one that I know of, but I’m sure I’m wrong.
4. In the early years you could buy pukes & physics. What are they?
No idea, but I would like to know.
5. What’s the name of the dirt road you run on as you enter the town in the WSER?
Turkey Hill Rd., I love that road it means I’m close to food.
6. What’s the name of the dirt road you run on as you leave the pavement of town in the WSER?
Gorman Ranch Rd., hot and dry out there till Volcano Creek.
7. What’s the approximate current full-time population of Michigan Bluff?
A census site I found stated 7,292, I don’t think so, but it’s all I could locate while goofing off at work.
8. What was the population in the booming years of the mid 1950’s?
No idea no wait, maybe 7,292?
9. Aside from gold, what other mineral was mined at Michigan Bluff?
Chrome Ore.
10. What founder of a major California University purportedly made his start here? And what years did he live there?
The only answer I knew before the contest, Leland Stanford, he was there in 1850’s, 1853-1855 (ok I had to look that up).
Thanks for a great contest.
AB
@Anthony Brantley – this is gonna be a close contest. No guess for the extra credit?
I know lumber logged out of the area.
Otherwise all I found were other mineral:
Auriferous Gravel (rocks)
Crystalized Gold
Quartz
And
Asbestos
The boss is watching me now so thats i can come up with.
AB
All I hope is that no-one tells Soderlund about this contest for a few days, he’s already proven himself to be an encyclopedia at this sort of thing.
On #9, I meant to say asbestos. Thanks for the correction AB. Carl showed me the green-tinged asbestos containing rocks on their property, there’s a ton of it still out there.
Here is an interesting webpage I found during my information checking:
http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/placer/history/1861/director/statisti30gms.txt
It’s scary how much productivity was going on in 1860 in Placer County.
AB
note: liberally cut-n-pasted from above:
1. Michigan City
2. After surviving a fire, the tunnels and hydro mining under the buildings caused them to begin sliding down the hill.
3. Two people cemeteries and one for horses & dogs.
4. A puke is an emetic – it makes you puke. A physic may also make you puke, but was more often intended to “cure what ails you”.
5.Turkey Hill
6. Gorman Ranch
7. 69
8. 3,000
9. asbestos
10. Leland Stanford
OD, proud to have custody of a Hoodie, but never a trivia winner.
#9 explains the cough I picked up recently. I think I got mesothelioma from my day at Camp two weeks ago.
If I call it by it’s real name- “Serpentine” can I get 5 points to compensate for my illness?
@white trash – Who says the answer is asbestos? And, no, you don’t get 5 extra points for calling it serpentine.
I can’t believe nobody has answered the extra credit. I will give you the hint that a local (Gary) came up with the question, not me.
I’ll bite on the Extra Credit, was it women?
the answer to the bonus question reside inside LB’s mouth. No, it’s not his gold fillings. Though the number of fillings are equal to the number of cemetaries in Michigan Bluff. The chinese, the Masonic and the “other” for normal folks and non-masonics. Do we count the pet cemetary? In at case, do we count the cemetary that is in ann and carl’s yard?
jizzle. oh boy. anywhere but LB’s blog and i have a field day with “mining” women…consider yourself warned.
@AJW – Yeah, something like that but the other way around.
@MonkeyBoy – I’m collecting gold crowns in my mouth not fillings but you got the count right.
Since I don’t have the questions in front of me…..the answers may not be aligned in the proper order.
Michigan City
They undermined their town (paint your wagon fiasco)
3 human cemeteries – lots of horse, cattle, dog, etc. cemeteries
Weights and Measures
Turkey Hill
Gorman
the current population of Michigan Bluff proper is 20 unless someone moved in or out last weekend. Are we counting those camped out in my yard? Back in the heyday there were about 10,000 Chinese, a few ladies of the town, a couple thousand miners and all the morphine and alcohol you could possibly want.
Aside from gold, silicon, lumber, quartz, trees – I’m looking for tequila!
Leland Stanford was said to have lived there from 1853-55 with the local store on my property; however, he didn’t spend much time there.
By the way – the shoes on the sign are mine!~
I was in Auburn today and spent some time in the bookstore with the Placer County Directory of 1861.
In Michigan Bluff … “Two druggists sell pukes and physics, pains and perfumes; also sarsparilla which cures all the diseases flesh is heir to, except coughs colds and consumption, and they are abundantly provided for with their Cherry Pectoral.”
The steam-powered Volcano Mill near Michigan Bluff had a capacity of 1,000,000 feet of timber annually.
BTW, I am sure I saw some Cherry Pectoral outside Carol with out the E’s house at training camp last year.
@E-less – It almost seems like you know what you’re talking about. Although I don’t understand how you can comment on this post and not have the answers in front of you. Many of these questions came from your scrapbook about Michigan Bluff.
@Paul Charteris – Cherry Pectoral? My dirty mind could have fun with that 🙂