Finding aid of the Patterson Mining Collection- Maps,1848-1936
Nicole Fredro
The Society of California Pioneers
© 2009
300 Fourth Street
San Francisco, CA 94107-1272
Phone: (415) 957-1849
Fax: (415) 957-9858
Email: shaas@californiapioneers.org
URL: http://www.californiapioneers.org
The Society of California Pioneers. All rights reserved.
Finding aid of the Patterson Mining Collection- Maps,1848-1936
Collection number:
The Society of California PioneersSan Francisco, California
- Processed by:
- Nicole Fredro
- Date Completed:
- December 18, 2009
- Encoded by:
- Nicole Fredro
© 2009 The Society of California Pioneers. All rights reserved.
Title: Patterson Mining Collection- Maps, 1848-1936
Dates: 1848-1936
Collection Size:
1 box
Repository: The
Society of California Pioneers.
San Francisco, California 94107-1272
Abstract: : The collection, spanning 1848-1936, consists of manuscript mine maps including; surveys, claims, assays, with annotated
manuscript annotations. The collection is housed in 1 box containing 153 m.s. maps. The bulk of the collection covers the
period after the California Gold Rush (1848-1855) Numerous Nevada County mining maps are featured but there are a few other
northern California counties also featured: Sierra County, Yuba County, Placer County, People that are prominently featured
in the collection are Waldo Wade Waggoner (hydraulic mining engineer), W.F. Englebright ( mining engineer, Harry L. Englebright
(mining engineer), F. L. Sizer ( surveyor) C. Hesse (mining engineer), C.H. Seymour (U.S. Developer), James J. Ott ( metallurgist,
assayer)
Major companies present in the collection are Milton Mining and Water company, California Power Works, South Yuba Mining
Co, Henry Lund and Co.
Physical location: Stored on-site at The Society Of California Pioneers
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English
Collection is open by appointment for research.
Property rights reside with The Society of California Pioneers. All requests for permission to reproduce or publish must be
submitted in writing to the Librarian.
Patterson Mining Collection- Maps, 1848-1936. The Society of California Pioneers.
Patterson Mining Collection and Mining Maps- donated by Donald Patterson
Williams Fellows Englebright
William Fellows Englebright, born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, November 23, 1855. After completing his engineering studies
with the U.S Navy, Englebright settles in Nevada City, California, as a mining engineer where he worked with W.W. Waggoner
surveying mines and was latter appointed U.S. Deputy Mineral Surveyor. A Republican Englebright was elected to Congress. He
represented the California 1st District 1906-1911 and owned the Berlin Consolidated Mine, Nevada City and was secretary of
the Blue Consolidated Gravel Mining Company. After running unsuccessfully for reelection in 1910, he resumed his mining engineer
career. He died in 1915.
James J. Ott
Chemist and Metallurgist James J. Ott, born in Schaffenhausen, Switzerland, February 29, 1826, was Nevada City�s (California)
principal assayer, whose work was considered by many trustworthy. The first cousin of John Sutter, owner of Sutter�s Mill,
Ott settled in Sierra County during the Gold Rush, opening a store where he sold mining equipment and melted gold dust. In
1852 he moved to Nevada City, California, where in collaboration with metallurgist Fredrick Blesseten created and perfected
the Chlorination Process, which retrieves gold from quartz without losing much gold. His assay of Nevada ore in 1859 resulted
in the discovery of the Comstock Lode, which set off the silver rush. People throughout the world consulted Ott before buying
mines.
Waldo Wade Waggoner ( W.W. Waggoner)
Born in Illinois June 14, 1860, W.W. Waggoner played a key role in the expansion of the gold mining industry. Those who guided
important mining operations in Nevada County and other adjoining countries considered Waggoner a trustworthy associate. Graduating
from the University of Illinois with a mining degree, he was best known for being a hydraulic mining engineer and U.S. Deputy
Mineral Surveyor in Nevada City, California. In his youth he traveled to Persia and Central America settling in Nevada City
in the 1890s. He surveyed mines with William F. Englebright. Waggoner was State Debris Commissioner and in 1906 W.B. Bourne
of Eureka Lake and River Canal Company and the Northern Water and Power Company hired Waggoner as chief engineer. He was a
member of the American Society of Civil engineers and president of the local chamber of commerce. Waggoner died in 1939.
Milton Bloomfield Mining and Gravel Company
Milton Mine and Water Company was founded in 1872 as an offshoot of the Northern Bloomfield Gravel Mining Company. It conducted
hydraulic gold-mining in French Corral, Nevada County. It owned one of the state�s main water ditches which provided water
for its hydraulic ventures and three dams which formed the English reservoir. The Milton Mining and Water Company operated
the world�s first long-distance telephone line (sixty miles), which was built in 1877 by the Ridge Telephone Company for the
mining company and two others in the area, North Bloomfield Mining Company and eureka Lake and Yuba Canal Company. The communication
provided by this phone helped these mining companies control water flowing from reservoirs to their hydraulic mining activities.
This type of mining was outlawed in 1884. The company�s former building site in Nevada County is California landmark No. 247
Grass Valley Mining County
Grass Valley was the richest and most famous gold-mining district in California. The value of the total output of the lode
mines is estimated to have been at least $300 million, and the placer mines yielded a few million dollars more worth of gold.
The two largest operations, the Empire-Star and Idaho-Maryland groups, had total outputs of $130 million and $70 million,
respectively. Many famous mining engineers and geologists worked in the Grass Valley district. A number of important inventions
and improvements were made in mining and milling equipment in the Grass Valley gold mines. Many of the miners were of Cornish
descent and were often known as "Cousin jacks". For many years the town and the mines were served by the Nevada County Narrow
Gauge Railroad, which extended north from Colfax. Grass Valley is the location of the Empire Mine, one of the richest mines
in California. Many of those who came to settle in Grass Valley were tin miners from Cornwall. They were attracted to the
California gold fields because the same skills needed for deep tin mining were needed for hard rock (deep) gold mining. Many
of them specialized in pumping the water out of very deep mining shafts. This coincided with a glut in Cornish tin mining.
| 1848-1936 | Patterson Mining Collection - Maps |
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection, spanning 1848-1936, consists of manuscript mine maps including; surveys, claims, assays, with annotated manuscript
annotations. The collection is housed in 1 box containing 153 m.s. maps. The bulk of the collection covers the period after
the California Gold Rush (1848-1855) Numerous Nevada County mining maps are featured but there are a few other northern California
counties also featured: Sierra County, Yuba County, Placer County, People that are prominently featured in the collection
are Waldo Wade Waggoner (hydraulic mining engineer), W.F. Englebright ( mining engineer, Harry L. Englebright (mining engineer),
F. L. Sizer ( surveyor) C. Hesse (mining engineer), C.H. Seymour (U.S. Developer), James J.Ott ( metallurgist, assayer)
Major companies present in the collection are Milton Mining and Water company, California Power Works, South Yuba Mining Co,
Henry Lund and Co.
Please contact the institution to see container list.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
Mine Maps
Mining -California-Sierra- 19th century
Mining -California- Yuba - 19th century
Mining -California-Placer - 19th century
Sizer, F.L
Jones, Stephen J M.E.
Hesse, C. M.E
Englebright, William Fellows
Seymour, C.H. U.S. Del
Waggoner, W.W. (Waldo Wade)
Milton Bloomfield Mine and Water Company
Grass Valley Mining Country
Milller, Fred M.E.
Cherokee, Driseod
Browne, Ross M.E.
Olson, P
Patterson Mining Collection
Milton Mining Company
Box B002150,3-23a,C012421
Box B000267,3-22a,C012400
Box B002151,3-23a,C055909
Box B000273,3-21e,C056750
Harry L.Englebright
Box B000266,3-22a,C012428
Box B001330,3-15e,C012316
James Ott
Box B001187,3-15g,C004814
There is a collection of manuscripts accompanying the Patterson Mining Collection.
Please inquire separately concerning this collection.