History of Placer County, California

History of Placer County, California

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 1882

Total Pages: 544

ISBN-13:

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Topics include the organization of the county, its political, financial, and mining history; mining laws, agriculture, public schools, railroads and wagon roads, journalism, social institutions, crime, military, towns and localities, and obituaries for famous pioneers.


Pioneer Photographers of the Far West

Pioneer Photographers of the Far West

Author: Peter E. Palmquist

Publisher: Stanford University Press

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 716

ISBN-13: 9780804738835

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This extraordinarily comprehensive, well-documented, biographical dictionary of some 1,500 photographers (and workers engaged in photographically related pursuits) active in western North America before 1865 is enriched by some 250 illustrations. Far from being simply a reference tool, the book provides a rich trove of fascinating narratives that cover both the professional and personal lives of a colorful cast of characters.


The Ditches of Nevada City

The Ditches of Nevada City

Author: Dom Lindars

Publisher: Nevada City History

Published: 2023-04-07

Total Pages: 884

ISBN-13:

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This book tells the history of Nevada City, California, through the eyes of the men that built it. For its first 100 years, everything in Nevada City revolved around gold. But this is not another book about finding gold. To get gold, you needed water — to pan for it, to wash it in a sluice, to blast away a hillside with an immense water cannon, or to turn the water wheel of a quartz-ore stamp mill. This book instead asks: How did they get the water? It reveals the engineering marvels that brought water to Nevada City’s dry hills from tens of miles away. But what if all the water in every ravine, creek and valley around Nevada City was controlled by just three men? Well, for three decades, every miner, farmer or business could only buy water from the powerful South Yuba Canal Company. What would happen if you got into an argument with them? Or couldn’t afford to pay their water bill? Or even dared to compete with them? The book traces the ingenuity and hard work of the town’s miners and ditch builders, highlighting in detail the history and origins of various local neighborhoods, including Nevada City itself, Hirschman's Pond, Sugar Loaf Mountain, Deer Creek, Scotts Flat, Manzanita Diggings, Gold Flat and various mining camps along Washington Ridge. This vivid portrayal follows the area’s evolution from the chaos of thousands of miners scratching out a living in clusters of muddy tents to a genteel town with hotels, stores, banks, theaters and libraries. What began as a search to uncover a sprawling network of old ditches, turned into a collection of never-before-told stories of the gold miners, the ruthless and greedy ditch company, and the rivals that it crushed. The domineering ditch company later enabled the next generation of monopoly to provide electrical power. The story of PG&E also started in Nevada City. This, in turn, led to the now more forward-looking stewardship of the Nevada Irrigation District. The unique format of this book blends beautiful archival images with more than 35 in-depth biographies of key figures in Nevada City. This 884 page hardcover book includes over 600 photos and illustrations, including 200 historic photographs and 75 hand-crafted maps based on modern lidar technology that reveal the locations of the old mining ditches, flumes, mines and tunnels.


Placer Gold Deposits of Nevada (Classic Reprint)

Placer Gold Deposits of Nevada (Classic Reprint)

Author: Maureen G. Johnson

Publisher: Forgotten Books

Published: 2017-11-18

Total Pages: 146

ISBN-13: 9780331313765

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Excerpt from Placer Gold Deposits of Nevada Following the discovery of placers at Gold Canyon, placer discoveries in Nevada were broadly in three periods: the 1860's to 1880's, when many small deposits throughout the State were discovered and sporadically worked and several large placers were discovered and extensively worked; the short period between 1906 and 1910, when very rich placers were dis covered at Lynn, Battle Mountain, Manhattan, and Round Mountain; the early 1930's, when economic conditions created by the depression caused a renewed interest in placer mining, and many individuals sought, and a few discovered, new placer areas throughout the State. The location of the placers described in this report is shown on plate 1. Very little factual information can be found about the early periods of placer mining in Nevada. For many placers, the only reports available are hearsay estimates of production and speculations about the extent of the placer ground based on remnants of placer pits, shafts, and other workings. Many of the placers said to have had a high production between 1860 and 1890 were worked by Chinese miners who came to Nevada dur ing the building of the railroads and stayed on to work at mining and other activities. The Chinese were reputed to be secretive with their earnings from the placers and did not ship the gold to the mint by Wells Fargo or other shippers. They worked the gravels very thoroughly in areas where American miners did not wish to expend great labor to win the gold. The placers in the Sierra and Spring Valley districts, Pershing County, were worked by Chinese miners; they have a very high estimated production before 1900 and a comparatively low known production since that time. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.


Railroads of Nevada County

Railroads of Nevada County

Author: Andrew Brandon

Publisher: Arcadia Publishing

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 128

ISBN-13: 1467128457

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The Central Pacific Railroad was the first railroad to enter Nevada County as it constructed eastward in 1865. At the base of the eastern slope of Donner Pass, the railroad established a construction camp, now known as Truckee, before following the Truckee River to the Nevada state line. Truckee became home to expansive locomotive facilities for helper locomotives on trains westbound over Donner Pass after the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad. Through the end of the 19th century, additional railroads were constructed, bringing the outside world closer to the remote corners of the county. Railroads like the Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad and Nevada County Traction Company served the gold rush-era boomtowns of Grass Valley and Nevada City. Lumber companies like the Towle Brothers and the Sierra Nevada Wood & Lumber Company brought rail into the forests and filled the demand for lumber throughout the region.