Big Flat and Big Bar were between two sites first mined in ’49. The rush came in 1850, when John Weaver & Co. ditched water from Lil’ Weaver Creek, now Big Bar Creek, and took out $100,000 in gold at Big Flat. Elizabeth Walton mined here with her husband in 1850. Wm. Warrener built the Yankee Sawmill in 1854, all of wood except for the saw. At Big Bar Creek in 1855, Warrener built a bridge across the river to connect the Trinity & Humboldt Trails. Miners using 45’ water wheels worked Big Flat until the great flood of 1861-62, when water 47’ above high water marks swept the river clean of bridges, dams, and wheels.