2022 Map of Michigan Bluff

About this map

Michigan Bluff and the isolated settlement of Last Chance occupy high ridges above the deeply incised canyons of the American River system in Placer County. This terrain is defined by the historic hydraulic and placer mining legacy of the California Gold Country, evidenced by features like the Breece and Wheeler Ditch and numerous river bars including Stoney Bar, Alabama Bar, and Oxbow Bar along the Middle Fork American River. The map traces the rugged divide between the Tahoe National Forest and Eldorado National Forest, where the Western States Trl follows ancient paths through Mosquito Narrows and across the Forest Hill Divide. Genealogists will find the Michigan Bluff Cem and the remote Deadwood Cem near Deadwood Ridge, markers of the 19th-century communities that once thrived in these high-altitude mining districts.