North San Juan, California
North San Juan was a gold rush town founded in the 1850s. It prospered with the rise of nearby hydraulic mines from the 1860s to 1880s. The town served as headquarters for several companies that built flumes and supplied water for the area's hydraulic mines. After the 1884 Sawyer decision which forced mine operators to contain the silt and debris created by hydraulic mining, North San Juan declined. North San Juan has a number of surviving brick 19th century buildings. It is a quiet community that doesn't nearly the amount of tourist traffic that other gold rush towns have. I've written a lengthy description of hydraulic mining on a page about nearby Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park.
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