diff --git a/core/blockchain.go b/core/blockchain.go
index a5f146a2d3..1fbcdfc6f7 100644
--- a/core/blockchain.go
+++ b/core/blockchain.go
@@ -357,7 +357,12 @@ func (self *BlockChain) AuxValidator() pow.PoW { return self.pow }
 
 // State returns a new mutable state based on the current HEAD block.
 func (self *BlockChain) State() (*state.StateDB, error) {
-	return state.New(self.CurrentBlock().Root(), self.chainDb)
+	return self.StateAt(self.CurrentBlock().Root())
+}
+
+// StateAt returns a new mutable state based on a particular point in time.
+func (self *BlockChain) StateAt(root common.Hash) (*state.StateDB, error) {
+	return self.stateCache.New(root)
 }
 
 // Reset purges the entire blockchain, restoring it to its genesis state.
diff --git a/core/state/statedb.go b/core/state/statedb.go
index 802f37ba09..2942b69e96 100644
--- a/core/state/statedb.go
+++ b/core/state/statedb.go
@@ -86,6 +86,25 @@ func New(root common.Hash, db ethdb.Database) (*StateDB, error) {
 	}, nil
 }
 
+// New creates a new statedb by reusing any journalled tries to avoid costly
+// disk io.
+func (self *StateDB) New(root common.Hash) (*StateDB, error) {
+	tr, err := self.openTrie(root)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	csc, _ := lru.New(codeSizeCacheSize)
+	return &StateDB{
+		db:                self.db,
+		trie:              tr,
+		codeSizeCache:     csc,
+		stateObjects:      make(map[common.Address]*StateObject),
+		stateObjectsDirty: make(map[common.Address]struct{}),
+		refund:            new(big.Int),
+		logs:              make(map[common.Hash]vm.Logs),
+	}, nil
+}
+
 // Reset clears out all emphemeral state objects from the state db, but keeps
 // the underlying state trie to avoid reloading data for the next operations.
 func (self *StateDB) Reset(root common.Hash) error {
@@ -110,7 +129,8 @@ func (self *StateDB) Reset(root common.Hash) error {
 // from the journal if available.
 func (self *StateDB) openTrie(root common.Hash) (*trie.SecureTrie, error) {
 	if self.trie != nil && self.trie.Hash() == root {
-		return self.trie, nil
+		cpy := *self.trie
+		return &cpy, nil
 	}
 	for i := len(self.pastTries) - 1; i >= 0; i-- {
 		if self.pastTries[i].Hash() == root {
diff --git a/miner/worker.go b/miner/worker.go
index 1676036d87..ac1ef5ba3d 100644
--- a/miner/worker.go
+++ b/miner/worker.go
@@ -361,7 +361,7 @@ func (self *worker) push(work *Work) {
 
 // makeCurrent creates a new environment for the current cycle.
 func (self *worker) makeCurrent(parent *types.Block, header *types.Header) error {
-	state, err := state.New(parent.Root(), self.eth.ChainDb())
+	state, err := self.chain.StateAt(parent.Root())
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}