Blue Tent, California

Blue Tent is a historic mining community located about 6 miles northeast of Nevada City, approximately at the intersection of N. Bloomfield Road and Blue Tent School Road. Politically, it was part of Nevada Township. It lies on a gold-bearing channel of an ancient river bed. The channel runs from the San Juan Ridge through Scott's Flat, Hunt's Hill, and You Bet to Dutch Flat and Placer County.^[1]

Blue Tent was established in 1850 and named after its first dwelling, a tent made of blue denim.^[2] The community thrived, becoming a center for hydraulic mining. Before long, it had its own store, dance hall, blacksmith shop, boarding house and other buildings.^[3] A non-denominational Union Church was erected in 1861.^[4]

Blue Tent also served as a supply base for the more remote mines in that part of Nevada County. The firm of Lindsay & Dick distributed supplies from Blue Tent by pack train.^[5] This was followed by the arrival in 1853 of a stagecoach line that connected Blue Tent with Nevada City and Downieville.^[6]

No accurate population figures are readily available. However, in the 1860 presidential election, 60 votes were cast in Blue Tent for Lincoln, 15 for Douglas and 33 for Breckenridge.^[7] This suggests a total population at that time in the range of 3-500.

A school was established in 1868.^[8] In 1879, the Blue Tent school district had 37 students, of whom 20 were boys, and one female teacher.^[9] The schoolhouse was originally close to the N. Bloomfield Road. In 1892, it was moved to its present location on what is now Blue Tent School Road.^[10] The school continued to serve the community until 1961,^[11] though there were times when the school was closed due to lack of a teacher.^[12]

Though known as a center for hydraulic mining, there was also drift mining around Blue Tent.^[13] In one reported instance, Weston, Holmes and Co set off a blast of 304 kegs of powder inside a tunnel that ran 65 feet into a hill. ^[14]

Hydraulic mining required water, lots of it. A ditch bringing water from Rock Creek was built by the South Yuba Canal Company in 1857 and significantly enlarged in 1860 to accommodate the growing mines.^[15] Mining also required lumber. J. N. Turner erected a sawmill in 1857.^[16] Other sawmills were built by the Cooper brothers,^[17] Roberts and Brewer.^[18] In addition, near Brewer's sawmill, was Prosper's charcoal pit, charcoal being often used as a coal substitute.^[19]

The ditch, and the reservoir it created, gave rise to another interesting local industry, ice mining. In 1867, the Nevada Ice Co. began harvesting blocks of ice and shipping them throughout the California.^[20] Ice was harvested as late as 1910.^[21] Blue Tent also had its own lime kiln, producing a kind of mortar used in construction.^[22]

Ice Harvesting on Rock Creek near Blue Tent

Hydraulic mining reached its heyday in the 1870s. The principal mine was the Blue Tent Gold Mining Company, which produced $780,00 in gold in 1873 alone.^[23] Between 1874 and 1876, the Blue Tent Mining and Water Company spent $160,000 constructing a ditch to bring water from far up the South Yuba.^[24] At the head of the ditch was a 4 1/2 mile flume, below which was a 1000 foot long tunnel.^[25] By 1880, the ditch was 30 miles long.^[26]

Blue Tent had a Chinatown, located near the lime kiln about 2 miles south of the Yuba River. Its population was estimated to exceed 500, most of whom mined.^[27] However, they were eventually discharged under pressure from white miners and the local community.^[28]

Blue Tent was connected to the world's first long distance telephone line which was established in 1878 to link the mining communities around the San Juan Ridge.^[29] A post office was established in 1878. David Hughes, Superintendent of the Blue Tent Mining Company, was the first postmaster. The post office closed in 1889.^[30]

Life could be pleasant in Blue Tent. Residents enjoyed ice skating when the reservoir above the town froze,^[31] horse racing,^[32] and balls at the St. Louis House.^[33] They could also take the water cure from Mrs. Stone, described as "a lady of rare capability… thoroughly versed" in the art of hydropathy.^[34] At the same time, Blue Tent had Its share of robberies,^[35] and arson.^[36]

Like many communities that depended on hydraulic mining, Blue Tent began to decline following the 1884 Sawyer decision, forbidding the discharge of mining debris into the Yuba River.^[37]By the early 1890s, the Blue Tent mine was closed. ^[38] Subsequently, it was operated until 1906 as a drift mine. ^[39] In 1907, the Blue Tent mine, renamed the Channel mine, was reopened to resume hydraulicing.^[40] Soon thereafter, the miners went on strike seeking an eight hour day.^[41] The mine closed in 1916 and about a year later a fire destroyed its 20 stamp mill. The uninsured loss was estimated at $15,000.^[42]

There were other efforts to resume mining. To help, in 1914, the road between Nevada City and Blue Tent was improved, cutting the distance by a mile. ^[43]In 1909, there was what one newspaper described as an "extremely rich" ore discovery at the Native Son mine.^[44] Efforts were also made to resume hydraulic mining, in 1914 by D. A. Campbell,^[45] and in 1918 by Eleanor Hoeft, who sought a permit to contain the debris so it would not enter the Yuba River,^[46] but these do not appear to have succeeded.

As mining declined, agriculture began to predominate. Two prominent families in the Blue Tent area were the Arbogasts and the Brindejohns. Jacob Arbogast came to Nevada County around 1860 and mined around Blue Tent. He bought 160 acres of land, which he first mined and later farmed. His son John Peter took over the family ranch, expanded to 360 acres, and became a successful farmer.^[47] The Brindejohns, natives of Brittany in France, arrived in Blue Tent around 1864. Louis Brindejohn acquired 400 acres of land, which he farmed. His three sons, Louis, Eugene and Paul attended the Blue Tent school and jointly managed the family farm.^[48]

Today, the Blue Tent district is a pleasant, rural, largely residential area. Not much evidence remains of the mining district, except the Blue Tent school, which remains at the site to which it was moved in 1892. It has been converted to a private residence, and is painted a vivid blue.

Blue Tent School

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References

Municipalities and communities of Nevada County, California, United States
County seat: Nevada City
Cities and towns	Grass Valley Nevada City Truckee
CDPs	Alta Sierra Floriston Graniteville Kingvale‡ Lake of the Pines Lake Wildwood North San Juan Penn Valley Rough and Ready Soda Springs Washington
Unincorporated communities	Alta Hill Bitney Corner Carpenter Valley Casey Corner Cedar Ridge Chicago Park Coleman Crystal Lake Dew Drop French Corral Forest Knolls Gaston Gateway Gold Flat Higgins Corner Hills Flat Hinton Hirschdale Junction House Kres Lake City Marsh Mill Mooney Flat Mystic Newtown Norden North Bloomfield North Columbia Peardale Pinecrest Polaris Relief Scotts Flat Sebastopol Spring Hill The Oaks Town Talk Union Mills Willow Valley Wolf You Bet Yuba Pass
Ghost towns	Alpha Badger Hill Balaklava Bald Eagle Baltimore Town Bear River Pines Bear Valley Beckmans Flat Birchville Blue Tent Boca Boston Ravine Brass Wire Bar Bridgeport Brighton House Bronco Buena Vista Burckhalter Burks Bar Camp Spaulding Cascade Diggings Cedar Kress Chalk Bluff Champion Cherokee Coyoteville Crystal Springs Democrat Diamond Creek Diggers Bar Dillon Drum Eagle Bird Elida Eureka Farad Fernley Flood Forest Spring French Lake Frenchmans Bar Gelatt Glenbrook Gold Hill Hacketville Hobart Mills Hunt's Hill Iceland Indian Springs Jericho Jones Bar Kentucky Flat La Barr Meadows Lafayette Hill Langs Little York Louisa Lowell Hill Malakoff Maybert Meadow Lake Melburn Hill Missouri Flat Moores Flat Mount Zion Mountain Well Mountain View Negro Flat Ohm Omega Orleans Flat Pittsburg Pleasant Flat Prosser Prosser Creek Providence Randolph House Rays Flat Red Diamond Red Dog Remington Hill Rose's Corral Shands Shelby Flat Shellback Six Mile House Snow Point Snow Tent Spenceville Spiritsville Stockings Flat Sunset View Sweetland Tsekankan Union Hill Ustoma Virginia House Waloupa White Cloud Wickes Wilsonville Wokodot Woolsey Flat Yamako Zinc House
Footnotes	‡This CDP also has portions in an adjacent county or counties