Michigan Bluff, California
33 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1891 and the latest in 2000. It stands in the Foresthill-Back Country census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95631. It lies near Sugar Loaf. The Survey maps it on the Michigan Bluff quadrangle. It stands 3,510 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1891 to 2000The same ground, surveyed 109 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1891 against another survey:
On record in Michigan Bluff
Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.
On the National Register 1 record
- Michigan Bluff-Last Chance Traillisted 1992
Topographic sheets covering this place
13 surveys from 33 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1891 USGS Colfax quadrangle1:125000
- 1892 USGS Colfax quadrangle1:125000
- 1894 USGS Colfax quadrangle1:125000
- 1898 USGS Colfax quadrangle1:125000
- 1900 USGS Colfax quadrangle1:125000
- 1902 USGS Colfax quadrangle1:125000, 7 printings
- 1938 USGS Colfax quadrangle1:125000, 3 printings
- 1952 USGS Duncan Peak quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1952 USGS Michigan Bluff quadrangle1:24000, 7 printings
- 1958 USGS Chico quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1960 USGS Chico quadrangle1:250000
- 1977 USGS Truckee quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 2000 USGS Michigan Bluff quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
143 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 143 fires within 5 miles of Michigan Bluff between 1992 and 2020, burning about 13,400 acres in total. 23 started naturally. 10 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 46 |
| Debris and open burning | 29 |
| Natural | 23 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 14 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 11 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 10 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 4 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 3 |
| Smoking | 1 |
| Firearms and explosives use | 1 |
| Fireworks | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2012 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Tahoe National Forest | SQUIRREL |
| 6 September 1998 | Natural | under an acre | Tahoe National Forest | HAWK |
| 5 September 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,422 acres | Tahoe National Forest | RALSTON |
| 5 September 1998 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Central California District | PARK |
| 4 September 2002 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Eldorado National Forest | DUSTY |
| 3 September 2018 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,120 acres | Tahoe National Forest | NORTH |
| 28 September 1994 | Natural | under an acre | Tahoe National Forest | LADY |
| 25 September 2000 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Tahoe National Forest | LITTLE OAK |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 334 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 334 workings within 5 miles of Michigan Bluff: 113 unknowns, 112 past producers, 70 occurrences, 37 producers. 37 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Chromium, Silver, Chromium, Iron. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boiler Pit Mine | Iron, Chromium | Past Producer | 1916 | |
| Buckeye | Tungsten | Producer | ||
| Hills Armstrong Graphite Deposit | Graphite | Prospect | ||
| Hills Armstrong Yellow Ocher | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Unnamed Location | Sulfur | Occurrence | ||
| Yankee Jim Deposit | Manganese | Occurrence | ||
| American Bar | Gold, Lead | Past Producer | Galena, Gold, Pyrite | |
| Forest Hill District | Gold, Platinum, Silver, Lead, Iron, Zinc, Copper, Indium | Past Producer | 1850 | |
| Michigan Bluff | Nickel | Occurrence | 1850 | |
| Michigan Bluff District | Gold, Platinum, Silver, Lead, Iron, Zinc, Copper, Indium | Past Producer | 1850 |
Storms near this place
1 since 2017Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Michigan Bluff in 1 storm report in 2017: 1 heavy rain. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 2017 | Heavy Rain | Michigan Bluff | - | There was 5.88 of rain reported at Greek Store over 24 hours. |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bath (historical) | 2.8 miles | 33 | |
| Four Acres | 3.5 miles | 33 | |
| Hughes Mill | 3.9 miles | 33 | |
| Mayflower (historical) | 4.1 miles | 33 | |
| Ralston (historical) | 4.3 miles | 33 | |
| Foresthill | 4.4 miles | 33 | |
| Baltimore (historical) | 5.1 miles | 33 | |
| Yankee Jims | 6.4 miles | 33 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Michigan Bluff | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q6837464 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1659121. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.












