ABSTRACT
The ‘toxic’ is understood in opposition to purity. Its negative valence comes from a modern view of nature as pure and untouched. Toxic signals infiltration, disturbance, boundary-crossing. Toxic appears as a problem to be solved; a deviance to be corrected. This chapter argues, to the contrary, that toxic can be generative, disruptive and productive and therefore might be re-deployed in a broader politics of environmental justice through heritage. To that end, this chapter relays a biography of mercury-laced hydraulic mining debris that featured in the landmark ruling Woodruff v The North Bloomfield Gravel Mining Company 1884 and continues to cause trouble as dangerous mobile heritage contaminant affecting indigenous groups in particular. The chapter draws on historical reports about the debris alongside contemporary resource management guidelines and site-specific historical interpretation to highlight how productive the ‘toxic’ might be in reshaping our engagement with the heritage of California Gold Mining.
