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1902 Map of Colfax

Name: 1902 Topographic Map of Colfax
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1905
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1905

About this map

Gold mining operations and mountain transportation networks dominate this 1902 study of the Sierra Nevada foothills. The landscape is defined by the hydraulic mining history near North Bloomfield, where the massive Malakoff Mine is documented alongside the Derbec Mine and Delhi Mine. The drainage basins of the Middle Fork Yuba River and South Fork Yuba River are shown in high detail, revealing the complex infrastructure of flumes and reservoirs required for industrial mining, including Bowman Lake and Faucherie Lake.

Regional transit follows the ridges and canyon floors, featuring the Southern Pacific Railroad as it climbs toward Emigrant Gap and Cisco. Early roadhouses and stopping points like Kennebec House and Bear Valley House appear alongside numerous toll bridges and mountain settlements such as Alleghany and Dutch Flat, illustrating the late nineteenth-century evolution from mining camps to established mountain communities.