Middle Bar, California

Historic site in south of State Route , on Middle Bar Road at the Mokelumne River

Middle Bar

Location| 2.8 miles (4.5 km) south of State Route 49, on Middle Bar Road at the Mokelumne River
Built| 1850

California Historical Landmark

Reference no.| 36

Middle Bar is a former mining town on the Mokelumne River in Amador County, California. It is a California Historical Landmark.[1]

## History

[edit]

Middle Bar was founded in 1850 by English miners during the California Gold Rush.[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 (~$720,932 in 2023) 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]

## Present day

[edit]

In the present day a truss bridge built by the Clinton Bridge and Iron Works bearing the date 1912 crosses the Mokelumne River at the town site, connecting the river banks in Amador County and Calaveras County, California.[6][unreliable source?]

## See also

[edit]

* California Historical Landmarks in Amador County, California
* Mining communities of the California Gold Rush

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Middle Bar". Office of Historic Preservation, California State Parks. Retrieved September 3, 2012.
2. ^ "Middle Bar". Ghost Towns. Retrieved September 3, 2012.
3. ^ 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.
4. ^ "Middle Bar, Amador County". Amador Gold. Retrieved September 3, 2012.
5. ^ 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.
6. ^ "Middle Bar Bridge". Bridge Hunter. Self-published. Retrieved September 3, 2012.

* v
* t
* e

Municipalities and communities of Amador County, California, United States

County seat: Jackson

Cities|

* Amador City
* Ione
* Jackson
* Plymouth
* Sutter Creek

Amador County map

CDPs|

* Amador Pines
* Buckhorn
* Buena Vista
* Camanche North Shore
* Camanche Village
* Drytown
* Fiddletown
* Kirkwood‡
* Lockwood
* Martell
* Pine Grove
* Pioneer
* Red Corral
* River Pines
* Volcano

Other unincorporated
communities|

* Clinton
* New Chicago
* Pine Acres
* Sutter Hill

Ghost towns|

* Butte City
* Camp O'pera
* Carbondale
* Enterprise
* Forest Home
* Fort Ann
* Fort John
* Irishtown
* Lancha Plana
* Lower Rancheria
* May
* Middle Bar
* Pokerville
* Yeomet

Footnotes|

‡This CDP also has portions in an adjacent county or counties

* California portal
* United States portal

* v
* t
* e

California Gold Rush

Geology|

* Gold in California

People|

* List of people associated with the California Gold Rush
* Californios
* Chinese Americans
* Five Joaquins Gang
* Women

Culture|

* Oh My Darling, Clementine
* Mursheen Durkin

Key California Gold sites|

* Sutter's Mill
* Reading's Bar
* Empire Mine

Early US mining|

* Comstock Lode
* Copper mining in Michigan

Part of a series on Gold mining

38°17′51″N 120°45′00″W﻿ / ﻿38.2976°N 120.75°W﻿ / 38.2976; -120.75
*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template