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Thaddeus Ransom Brooks surveying notebooks
SFH 737
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Table of contents
Title: Thaddeus Ransom Brooks surveying notebooks
Dates: 1863-1876
Collection Number: SFH 737
Creator/Collector:
Brooks, Thaddeus Ransom, 1819-1876
Extent: 1 document box
Repository:
San Francisco Public Library. San Francisco History Center
San Francisco, California 94102
Abstract: Surveys, computations and notes of a California civil engineer working in San Francisco and Colusa County, California
Language of Material: English
The collection is available for use during San Francisco History Center hours, with photographs available during Photo Desk
hours. Collections that are stored offsite should be requested 48 hours in advance.
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the City Archivist. Permission
for publication is given on behalf of the San Francisco Public Library as the owner of the physical items.
[Identification of item]. Thaddeus Ransom Brooks surveying notebooks. Collection Number: SFH 737. San Francisco Public Library.
San Francisco History Center
Biography/Administrative History
Thaddeus Ransom Brooks was born in Orange County, New York in 1819, and at 16 was accepted as a cadet at West Point Military
Academy. By 1855 he was working as a civil engineer in Little Falls, Herkimer County, NY. He came to San Francisco, and
became secretary of the Board of City Engineers, that Board having been created by an Act of the Legislature April 25, 1862,
for a resurvey of the City. He married Caroline Denison in 1863, and they had two children, Carolina (1865) and Thaddeus
R., Jr. (1867.) Brooks was cartographer for the Map of the City of San Francisco, published by the Board of City Engineers
in 1865. He authored a Report regarding soundings along the waterfront (1866) which preceded the construction of the seawall.
Associated with Henry Casebolt in the project to construct a street railroad (1866), he was chief engineer for the Mission
and North Beach Street Railroad, the Potrero and Bay View Railroad, and the Oregon Central Railroad. In early 1875 he opened
a civil engineering and surveying business in Colusa, California, and later in that year ran unsuccessfully for the office
of state surveyor on the Independent ticket. His wife divorced him in spring 1876. Brooks died of injuries from an accident
in Colusa in 1876.
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection includes seven volumes, six of which are Brooks' notes and one of which is a published text with a few notes
by Brooks and a hand-drawn diagram. The earliest material is Brooks' recording of San Francisco street grades, 1863, and possibly
the last entry is dated May 31, 1876 for work done in Colusa County. There appears to be a gap in the collection for the years
1868-1870. The Laguna Survey volume is significant, as it is reflects the history of early survey work in San Francisco and
particularly, Jasper O'Farrell's. This small collection documents the work of a civil engineer and surveyor who worked both
as a public official and as a professional for hire.
Surveyors--California.
Engineers--California--San Francisco--Archives.
Surveyors--California--San Francisco--Archives.
Surveyors--California--Colusa County--Archives.
Surveys--California--Colusa County.
Real property--California--San Francisco--Maps.
Street-railroads--California--San Francisco.
Pioneers--California--Colusa County.
Ogden, William, d. 1886
Casebolt, Henry, 1816-1892
San Francisco de Asís Mission (San Francisco, Calif.)--History--Sources.
Miller & Lux.
Potrero and Bay View Railroad Company, San Francisco.
Oregon and California Railroad Company.
San Francisco (Calif.)--History--19th century--Sources.
Colusa County (Calif.)--History--19th century--Sources.
Grand Island (Calif.)--Surveys.