Moore's Flat was a historic mining town located on the San Juan Ridge about 19 miles northeast of Nevada City, California and about 5 miles northeast of North Bloomfield, California. The town was about 1 mile south of the Middle Yuba at an elevation of about 4200 ft. On either side of it, lay the mining towns of Orleans Flat and Woolsey's Flat, each about I mile apart. All three were settled around 1851 and their histories frequently intertwine. Collectively, they are sometimes referred to as "The Flats."Bean, Edwin F., (1867) History and Directory of Nevada County, (hereafter Bean ), p. 402. Thompson, Thomas H. and West, Albert A. (1970 ed.) History of Nevada County -1880, (hereafter Thompson and West) p. 54. All three were part of Eureka Township.
An early pioneer describes the physical relation of The Flats as follows: "Moore's Flat, Orleans Flat and Woolsey's Flat are all similarly situated on different points of the mountain, on the north side of the ridge between the South and Middle Yuba River, and all at about the same altitude. A very deep canyon lies between each of them, but a good mountain road was built around the head of each canyon, connecting the towns."Manly, William L., (1894) Death Valley in '49, quoted in Reidt, Theo, History of Moore's, Orleans and Woolsey's Flats, Part Two, (hereafter Reidt 2) Nevada County Historical Society Bulletin, Vol. 35, No.3 (July 1981) p. 2.
Early history The town was named after H. M. Moore, who settled here in 1851 and built a house and store.Thompson and West, p. 63. Moore was either the first settler, or the first married settler.Manly, William L., (1894) Death Valley in '49, quoted in Reidt, Theo, History of Moore's, Orleans and Woolsey's Flats, Part One, (hereafter Reidt 1) Nevada County Historical Society Bulletin, Vol. 35, No.2 (April 1981) p.15. Not long afterward, an effort was made to change the name to Clinton. That name never took and by 1857, the name Clinton was dropped in favor of Moore's Flat. By 1852, the town reportedly had about 500 residents, several stores, three hotels and "a large number of saloons."Thompson and West, p. 63. Initially, it was overshadowed by the other Flats, but as they declined in the late 1850s, and their residents moved to Moore's Flat, it became the leading town in that area.
Its heyday was in the 1860s and 70s. By the 1870s, it was considered the most important mining town in Eureka Township.Thompson and West, p. 63. The town was served by Langton's Express and by Gregory and English's stages, which connected to many of the towns on the Ridge, as well as to Marysville, Downieville and Nevada City.Young America, Sept. 28, 1953; Marysville Daily Appeal, Nov. 21. 1867. There was also a line which ran stages between the Flats every 15 minutes.Nevada Journal, June 18, 1858. Toll roads provided improved access to Nevada City and the Ridge communities.Nevada Democrat, Oct. 28, 1857, May 7, 1858; Nevada Transcript, Feb. 8, 1865. An enterprising stable owner established a branch in Nevada City and offered customers the option of renting a horse, dropping it off at the Nevada City branch while visiting there for a few days and then bringing the horse back to Moore's Flat, all for three dollars.Morning Transcript, May 23, 1861.
Mining As with the other Flats, mining was initially surface mining. As that became exhausted, mining using the hydraulic process commenced.Thompson and West, p. 186. At first, that was somewhat seasonal due to the lack of water during the summer. That changed with the arrival of water from the Poorman's Creek Ditch in 1854.Nevada Journal, May 4, 1854. Other ditches soon followed.
By all accounts, gold mining in the area was very successful. In 1867, Bean noted that “immense quantities of gold have been taken from the flats.Bean, p. 402. In 1872, U.S. Commissioner of Mining Statistics Rossiter Raymond described Moore's Flat as a “thriving“ town, one of whose mines had produced $65,000 in gold during one year.Raymond, Rossiter W., Statistics of Mines and Mining in the States and Territories West of the Rocky Mountains (1872) p. 78. In the early 1870s, the Marks & Co. bank alone bought an average of over $500,000 in gold dust annually.Daily Alta California, Oct, 4, 1875. In 1900, it was estimated that 26,000,000 yards of gravel has been washed away in the area and 15,000,000 yards remained.Lindgren, Waldemar (1911) The Tertiary Gravels of the Sierra Nevada of California, p. 148; MacBoyle, Errol (1918) Mines and Mineral Resources of Nevada County, p. 48.
Despite the overall prosperity of the mines in the area, there was periodic mining strife over two issues: the price of water and the price of labor. The price of water was of immense importance to the smaller mines that were not owned by a water company. Hence, in 1874, mining was interrupted by a price dispute. Miners wanted to pay 8 cents an inch, not 12.5.Marysville Daily Appeal, May 24, 1874. Mining resumed when the Milton Mining and Water Company brought a new ditch to the area, lowering the price of water.Union, May 23, 1874, Aug. 9, 1874, Oct. 13, 1874.
Miners unions Labor-management strife centered around miners' wages, and, to some extent, the related issue of use of Chinese miners, who often were paid less than other miners. In early 1865, reacting to an attempt by mine owners to reduce the wages of $3.50 or $4 a day by 50 cents, the miners organized the Moore's Flat Working-men's Protective Society. A Constitution and By-laws were adopted, and about fifty men joined.Nevada Transcript, Feb. 15,16, 1865. In late March, the miners struck the Illinois Company which had reduced wages. A miner who tried to return to work at the lower wage was assaulted.
In early 1877, a new Miners Union was formed in Moore's Flat. Its formative resolution announced in socialist-sounding terms that: "We hold this truth to be self evident, that the laborer is worthy of his hire; and ... it is only by unity of action on the part of the laboring masses, as against aggregated capital, that labor can hope, comparatively to hold its own..."Union, Mar. 15, 1877.
Mining was often dangerous, especially around the Flats. One newspaper observed that: "There have been at Moore’s and Woolsey’s Flats a great many accidents, recently, among miners and most of them have proved fatal."Nevada Transcript, July 16, 1865. In part, this was because the gold lay under very deep gravel causing the miners to cut steep banks which produced frequent cave-ins.Bean, p. 402. One consequence of the cave-ins caused by hydraulic mining was that the town was sliding away. Wrote an observer: "If any one wants to see a town sliding down hill, they can do so by going to Moore's Flat. The mines in the vicinity have washed close up to the town, and the banks are continually caving. Many of the houses have been moved to a place this side of the old town, which the residents call Jerico."Union, Oct. 2, 1875.
Sawyer decision Hydraulic mining produced a lot of debris in the form of gravel and dirt that washed into the Yuba River. Eventually, this debris and the sludge that came with, called slickens, interfered with farming in the Sacramento Valley. The farmers responded by filing lawsuits. 1881, the Miners Union announced a boycott of Marysville and any other town trying to stop hydraulic mining. They explained: "This Union is made up of 203 intelligent, industrious and sober men, most of them having large families to support. They recognize that the permanent stoppage of hydraulic mining means nothing more nor less than the ruination of a large portion of Nevada county that is now thickly populated and prosperous,..."Union. June 12, 1881. Finally, in 1884, Judge Lorenzo Sawyer ruled that the mines were creating a nuisance and ordered them to stop discharging their debris into the Yuba River or its tributaries.The Sawyer decision is reported as Woodruff v. North Bloomfield Gravel Mining Co., 18 F. 753 (CCD Cal. 1884). This effectively ended much hydraulic mining in Nevada County. As the Miners Union had predicted, it led to the decline of many mining communities.
Following the Sawyer decision, mining gradually returned to Moore's Flat. Some miners continued to hydraulic and discharge their debris illegally while others tried to contain their debris in tailing ponds. Yuba County even offered a $500 reward for detecting a violation of the injunction.Union, Nov. 15, 1887. But most continued drifting, which produced less debris. In 1896, a paper reported that: "Moore's Flat, although dead for a number of years, has at last come to the front. There has been quite a boom in mining."Union, July 22, 1896.
Post office A post office was established In 1854, with the name of the town as Clinton. Josiah Cook was the first postmaster.Daily Alta California, June 22, 1854. As mentioned above, the name Clinton was never popular with the residents and in 1857, the name of the post office was changed to Moore's Flat. During the winter months, there were times when the town was so snowbound that mail had to be delivered by sled or by snowshoes.Union, Jan. 18, 1913. The post office was discontinued briefly in 1903 because “no one could be found to accept it."Union, June 10, 1913. it was finally closed in 1914, after which residents got their mail in North Bloomfield.Janicot, Michel (1994) A History of Nevada County Post Offices, pp. 25-6.
Major fires While fires were common in mining towns, Moore's Flat seems to have had more than its fair share.
In January 1863, a fire which originated in the Franco American Restaurant, burned the Eagle Brewery, Justice (of the Peace) Stanley's office, and two adjoining buildings. Damage was estimated at $5,000.Nevada Transcript, Jan. 21, 1863.
On May 19, 1865, On May 19, 1865, a fire destroyed about a third of the town, including Moore's Hotel, Zellerbach's bank, several shops and saloons, the drugstore, the furniture store, the express office and the post office. The loss was estimated at $30,000. Arson was suspected.Nevada Gazette, May 20, 1865.
In September 1868, the Moore's Flat Brewery burned down, a $2000 loss.
On July 31, 1869, another fire destroyed much of the town. The fire began in a Chinese store on Washington Street, and burned much of the Chinese quarter. In all, about 40 buildings were destroyed including several hotels, the Masonic Hall, many homes and about 15 stores and businesses, including a shoe shop, barber shop, drugstore, bank, blacksmith shop and two stables.Union, Aug. 1, 1869. Total loss was estimated at $100,000 of which about a third was covered by insurance. After this fire, there was little rebuilding at the site. Instead, residents moved about a half mile south and built essentially a new town.Thompson and West, p. 63.
In October 1870, a fire destroyed much of the rebuilt town, including the Masonic Hall and Marks & Co's bank. Loss was estimated at $130,000.Marysville Daily Appeal, Nov. 3, 1870.
In February 1883, a fire destroyed many buildings, including a saloon, Brigham's bank, a drugstore and post office, a brewery and other buildings.Union, Feb. 22, 1883. The next year, a fire destroyed 2 hotels, a brewery and a butcher shop.Daily Alta California, May 4, 1884.
Daily life