D E E R
C R E E K
T R A I L S
FROM BARREN TO BEAUTIFUL:
THE BLACK SWAN PRESERVE TRAIL
By Hank Meals
Getting There: The trailhead is located off of Mooney Flat Road just east
of Smartsville, CA. From the intersection of Hwy 49 and Hwy 20 near Grass Valley,
drive 13 miles toward Smartsville, turn right (North) on Mooney Flat Road. If you see the Yuba
County sign on Highway 20, you have gone too far. Once you are on Mooney Flat Road, drive
approximately ¼ mile and turn left into small signed parking area.
If you are coming from the Yuba City/Marysville area, head east on Highway 20 and cross the Yuba
River. Immediately after passing Smartsville, turn left onto Mooney Flat Road.
Note: Gates keep cattle in and vehicles out – please keep them closed. Keep dogs leashed and mind
your children. No smoking, littering or motorized vehicles allowed. Please stay on the trails. Poison
oak thrives all year while ticks and rattlesnakes are active in the warmer months.
PHOTOS BY HANK MEALS
O
N NEVADA COUNTY’S WESTERN BORDER nature is reclaiming what was once a stark industrial site. Enjoy the spectacle, any time of year, on this scenic, low-elevation two-mile
loop trail circling a pond and wetland that was once part of the
Black Swan Mine. Northeast of the pond there is an option to continue north on a half-mile spur trail to a rugged part of Deer Creek.
(I recommend hiking the whole three miles and re-visiting it in different seasons. Elevations range from 900’ on the edge of the hydraulic
pit to 760’ at the pond and 600’ on Deer Creek.)
This trail was made possible by a partnership between the BearYuba Land Trust and California Fish and Wildlife. It is the first trail in
what will eventually become a larger network of trails accessing
more diverse ecosystems.
After passing through a gated fence, follow the trail upslope on a
series of gradual switchbacks. As you climb you’ll notice rounded
gravel in the bank cuts. That’s because 60 million years ago this was
part of a gold bearing stream system. When this rich mining ground
was discovered in 1853 it was mined intensively for the next
thirty-one years.
Before long you will stop climbing and the trail begins to follow a
ditch which once delivered water to the nearby hydraulic mines.
Pressurized water was directed by large nozzles at compacted gravel
from ancient rivers, which was then “washed’ in sluices. Selling
water to miners was a lucrative business. Most of the original water
companies consolidated into a few powerful corporations who
bought most of the existing claims from their clients.
Suddenly you will be looking down into a huge excavation where
you can clearly see the effectiveness of hydraulic mining. From here
the trail slowly descends to the lake at the base of spectacular manmade cliffs where I can assure you there will be birds and amphibians. Indigenous people have lived in this area for thousands of
years. In 1849, when gold was discovered at nearby Rose Bar on the
Yuba River, Nisenan people were gathering clover there. There were
important villages at Empire Ranch, Sucker Flat, Deer Creek and
many other places in the vicinity.
Mooney Flat was first mined for gold in 1850. A small community
is still here adjacent to Slack’s Ravine, a tributary of Deer Creek,
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which is a tributary of the Yuba River. In the late 19th century the
nearby town of Smartsville and the former towns of Timbuctoo and
Sucker Flat were adjacent to some of the most productive hydraulic
mines in the state.
A ditch to the Mooney Flat hydraulic mines was completed in
1860 and by 1875 all the smaller operations were absorbed by the
Deer Creek Mine. As hydraulic mines prospered, gravel and mud produced by their activities began covering agricultural land in the
Sacramento Valley. After numerous attempts, infuriated farmers finally stopped the practice of dumping “debris” into streams with the
Sawyer Decision of 1884. This injunction essentially ended large-scale
hydraulic mining.
By 1904, the Black Swan Company owned the former Deer Creek
Mine. Within a four-month period they recovered $100,000 by sinking shafts and tunneling beneath the 40-foot deep lake which eventually caved-in on the workings. According to the Grass Valley Union,
“The fourteen men working underground raced for the surface and
life.” No one was hurt but the last man out saw his hat blown
ahead of him by the blast of air from the cave-in.
Between 1933 and 1935 the value of gold rose dramatically but it
also cost more to mine it. James B. Moffatt tried to reopen the Black
Swan in 1938 but “when misfortune overtook his grubstaker” he
was forced to suspend operations.
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