Alpha and Omega Hydraulic Diggings

One bronze does the work of two landmarks here, and the towns it names are not visible because they were washed away by the mines that made them. Alpha and Omega stood a mile north until hydraulic monitors cut the ground out from under them. The plaque records that Omega kept mining until 1949 and that Alpha produced the soprano Emma Nevada, who took her stage name from the county. It does not record that both townsites are inside the pit.

What the plaque says

One mile north of here were the towns of Alpha and Omega, named by gold miners in the early 1850's. The tremendous hydraulic diggings, visible from near this point, engulfed most of the original townsites. Alpha was the birthplace of famed opera singer Emma Nevada. Mining at Omega continued until 1949; and lumbering operations are carried on there today.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park — 9.7 mi
  A canyon washed out of a mountain by water cannon, and the lawsuit that ended hydraulic mining.
• Nevada City — 15 mi
  Gaslamps, brick storefronts, and the Nisenan who are still fighting to be recognized on their own ground.
• Empire Mine State Historic Park — 18 mi
  The oldest, deepest, richest hard-rock gold mine in California, with 367 miles of flooded tunnels underneath.
• Donner Summit Tunnels — 23 mi
  Granite bored by hand at fourteen inches a day, by Chinese crews the country spent a century forgetting.

More markers nearby

• North Bloomfield Mining and Gravel Company — 9.4 mi
• South Yuba Canal Office — 15 mi
• National Hotel — 15 mi
• First Manufacturing Site of the Pelton Wheel — 15 mi