Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Yuba Consolidated Industries Records
MSS.322
MSS.322
No online items
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Title: Yuba Consolidated Industries Records
Identifier/Call Number: MSS.322
Contributing Institution:
California State University, Chico, Special Collections, Meriam Library
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
16.0 Linear feet
43 Boxes and 1 Oversize Folder
Date (inclusive): 1912-1956
Abstract: This collection includes photographs, photo albums, negatives, and blueprints pertaining to the operations of Wendall P. Hammon,
Yuba Construction Company and Yuba Consolidated Gold Fields. Photographs, albums, negatives and blueprints relate to the dredging,
manufacturing, and mining activities of the Hammon enterprises.
creator:
Hammon, Wendell P., 1854-1939
creator:
Yuba Consolidated Industries. Yuba Mining Division.
The collection is arranged into two series
Series 1: Photographs Series 2: Blueprints
Photographs and negatives are arranged according to dredger number, location, and operations. All negatives are nitrate based
and for staff use only. Scanned copies are available.
In order to better serve the researcher, blueprints have been arranged by dredger number, blueprint manufacturers, dredger
company name, or a type of dredger part. Yuba Consolidated Industries originally organized the blueprints by dredger part,
such as ladders, tumblers, or buckets.
*Please note: Many of the dredgers have been rebuilt and/or relocated, so they may have more than one number or name associated
with them.
Gold dredging in California began in 1850 when a small river boat was fitted out as a dredge and gravel mining was attempted
above Marysville, California on the Yuba River. The first successful gold dredge in California was built in 1898 by Biggs,
Butte County resident Wendell P. Hammon, the "Dredger King," and his partner, Thomas Couch, a Montana mining businessman.
This first model and those that followed consisted of a floating hull, a digging ladder, an endless chain of buckets, screening
apparatus, gold-saving devices, pumps, and a stacker. The California dredge was developed from models used earlier in New
Zealand and in Montana, proving to be much more efficient than earlier one-bucket attempts.
Hammon was instrumental in founding the Yuba Construction Company in 1906, by purchasing the Western Engineering Company and
merging it with his own steel from a casting foundry in Marysville. Four large machine shops were built near Oroville to maintain
and build the dredgers. Hammon founded the Yuba Consolidated Gold Fields on the Yuba River in 1904. This company became a
large, profitable placer operation, a proving ground for new dredge designs and a training ground for dredge operators and
others in this global industry. As many as 50 dredgers worked in the Feather River/Yuba River drainage at one time.
The Yuba Construction Company changed its name to the Yuba Manufacturing Company and later became a subsidiary of the Yuba
Consolidated Gold Fields. In 1957 these companies merged into Yuba Consolidated Industries. The Yuba Consolidated Gold Fields
was later incorporated into the Western Water Company. Yuba dredges have been built and shipped from California to worldwide
markets during the first half of the 20th century. These "gold boats" were shipped in pieces and assembled where the mining
would take place.
Collection is open for research without restriction.
No restrictions.
Yuba Consolidated Industries Records, MSS 322, Special Collections, Meriam Library, California State University, Chico.
Related Archival Materials note
A preliminary report on Scott Bar and Quartz Hill mining properties: Siskiyou County, California / For W. P. Hammon, San Francisco
Gassaway, A. D. MSS 043, Special Collections, Meriam Library, California State University, Chico.
Abstract of title to that certain real property, known as "Nickerson Orchard" Butte County Title Abstract Company 1914, MSS
063 Special Collections, Meriam Library, California State University, Chico.
Report on Bald Mountain Consolidated Gold Mining Company placer mines and Plumas Development Company placer mines. Gassaway,
A. D. , MSS 089 Special Collections, Meriam Library, California State University, Chico.
Yuba Manufacturing Company Records 1898-1958, MSS 157, Special Collections, Meriam Library, California State University, Chico.
Yuba River Diversion Project for Yuba Consolidated Gold Fields Report, MSS 197, Special Collections, Meriam Library, California
State University, Chico.
W. P. Hammon Prospecting Log Books, MSS 305, Special Collections, Meriam Library, California State University, Chico.
Wendell P. Hammon (1918-2006) Typescript: Gold Dredger as an Instrument of Conservation, 1955, MSS 306, Special Collections,
Meriam Library, California State University, Chico.
Yuba River Diversion Project for Yuba Consolidated Gold Fields Report, MSS 197, Special Collections, Meriam Library, California
State University, Chico.
Yuba Consolidated Gold Fields Records, MSS 315, Special Collections, Meriam Library, California State University, Chico.
This collection includes photographs, photo albums, negatives, and blueprints pertaining to the operations of Wendall P. Hammon,
and his various companies, including Yuba Construction Company and Yuba Consolidated Industries. Photographs, albums, negatives,
and blueprints relate to the dredging, manufacturing, and mining activities of the Hammon enterprises. The blueprints contain
specifications for various dredger sizes and types of dredgers, including 3, 3 ½, 4 5, 6, 10, 11, and 12 cu. ft., as well
as gold, tin, and close connection dredgers. The photographs and albums feature various dredger operations, manufacture, parts,
and equipment. Some photographs depict foreign dredger and mining operations. Dredgers were operated in many locations both
domestic and abroad. Domestic locations include Northern California, Alaska, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and Florida. The locations
of foreign operations included the Philippines, Bolivia, China, Russia, Germany, Dutch Guiana, Guatemala, Malaysia, Brazil,
and South Korea.
The various blueprints relate to the following companies: Boston & Oroville Mining Company, Boston and California Dredging
Company, Yuba Construction Company, Yuba Consolidated Industries, Asnazu Gold Dredging Company, Lancha Plana Gold Dredging
Company, Natomas Consolidated, Oroville Gold Dredging Company, Panob Gold Dredging Company, Yreka Gold Dredging Company, Yuba
Consolidated Gold Fields, Supia Gold Dredging Company, Thurman Gold Dredging Company, Boston Machine Shop, Tuolumne Gold Dredge
Company, Bucyrus-Erie Company, South Patte Dredging Company, Snelling Gold Dredging Company, American Manganese Steel Company
Comanche Gold Dredging Company, Bulolo Gold Dredging Company, Gold Hill Dredging Company, Colorado-Pacific Dredging Company,
Pato Consolidated Gold Dredging, Ltd., Mitsui Company, La Grange Gold Dredging Company, Yukon Pacific Gold Mining Company,
Yuba Associated Engineers, Ltd., and the Yukon Gold Company.
Blueprint manufactures include, Walter W. Johnson Company, H. G. Peake Engineering Company, Lancaster Iron Works, Placer Management
Limited, Placer Development Limited, Joshua Hendy Iron Works, Columbia Steel Casting Company, Union Iron Works Company, Bethlehem
Shipbuilding Corporations, Ltd., and Taylor-Wharton Iron Steel Company
Processing of the Yuba Consolidated Industries Records was generously funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and administered
by the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR). The [ABC repository] was awarded a Cataloging Hidden Special Collections
and Archives grant from 2010-2012, "Uncovering California's Environmental Collections," in collaboration with eight additional
special collections and archival repositories throughout the state and the California Digital Library (CDL). Grant objectives
included processing of over 33 hidden collections related to the state's environment and environmental history. The collections
document an array of important sub-topics such as irrigation, mining, forestry, agriculture, industry, land use, activism,
and research. Together they form a multifaceted picture of the natural world and the way it was probed, altered, exploited
and protected in California over the twentieth century. Finding aids are made available through the Online Archive of California
(OAC).
Immediate Source of Acquisition note
Source unknown.
The library can only claim physical ownership of the collection. Users are responsible for satisfying any claimants of literary
property.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Hammon Engineering Company.
Yuba Consolidated Gold Fields.
Yuba Consolidated Industries. Yuba Mining Division.
Yuba Construction Company.
Yuba Manufacturing Company, San Francisco.
Yuba River Diversion Project.
Dredges.
Gold dredging
Gold dredging -- California -- History.
Gold mines and mining -- California -- History.
Uncovering California's Environmental Collections Project