| Woodruff v. North Bloomfield Gravel Mining Company | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Court | United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit |
| Decided | January 7, 1884 |
| Court membership | |
| Judge sitting | Lorenzo Sawyer |
| Keywords | |
| California, Gold Rush, Mining | |
The case of Woodruff v. North Bloomfield Gravel Mining Company was a lawsuit brought to California courts in 1882 where a group of local farmers sued North Bloomfield Mining and Gravel Company over damages caused to farmland in the Central Valley.[1] The farmers who brought the suit claimed that the company's hydraulic mining operations (which were used to mine gold in the years following the California Gold Rush) resulted in the disposal of excess sediment, debris, and chemicals in local rivers. Prosecutors argued that the debris raised river beds and restricted flow in the rivers leading to heavy man-made flooding. In the years prior, flooding of debris and chemicals had destroyed a large portion of the valley's agriculture.[2]
After two years of deliberation, the judge presiding over the case, Lorenzo Sawyer, ultimately ruled in favor of the farmers.[2] Based on testimony and evidence reviewed, Sawyer decided that mining debris posed dangers to private land, particularly private lands in the agricultural sector. Ultimately, Sawyer's decision limited hydraulic mining operations in California and was considered to be the first major environmental law in California.[1] The site of North Bloomfield Mining and Gravel Company's largest mine, Malakoff Diggins, is now a California State Historic Park located near Nevada City, California.[3]