Yuba Consolidated Gold Fields Records, 1901-1929

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Summary

Creators:
Hammon, Wendell P., 1854-1939, Western Water Company., and Yuba Consolidated Gold Fields.
Abstract:
The records in this collection were discovered in the offices of the Western Water Company in 2003, and pertain to Yuba Consolidated Gold Fields. The records dated 1901-1929, include legal documents, deeds, business records, correspondence, reports, acknowledgements, proposals, agreements, financial statements, estimates, propositions, resolutions, and a mining claim patent.
Extent:
1.0 Linear feet 2 Boxes: Box 1; 56 Folders, Box 2; 4 Folders
Language:
and English
Preferred citation:

Yuba Consolidated Gold Fields Records, MSS 315, Special Collections, Meriam Library, California State University, Chico.

Background

Scope and content:

The records in this collection were discovered in the offices of the Western Water Company in 2003, and pertain to the Yuba Consolidated Gold Fields. The records dated 1901-1929, include legal documents, deeds, business records, correspondence, reports, acknowledgements, proposals, agreements, financial statements, estimates, propositions, resolutions, and a mining claim patent. There are reports and estimates for development of water power on the middle fork of the Feather River, which include a blueprint and maps. Some records include materials related to the following companies: Boston & Oroville Mining Company, Boston and California Dredging Company, Marysville Dredging Company, Marigold Dredging Company, Keystone Dredging Company, Yuba Construction Company, and the Yukon Gold Company.

Biographical / historical:

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.

Acquisition information:
Western Water Company, July 2003
Processing information:

Processing of the Yuba Consolidated Gold Fields 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).

Arrangement:

Arrangement of materials kept in original order.

Box 1: Organizational Records

Box 2: Reports

Material specific details:
No other forms of material.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research without restriction.

Terms of access:

No restrictions.

Preferred citation:

Yuba Consolidated Gold Fields Records, MSS 315, Special Collections, Meriam Library, California State University, Chico.

Location of this collection:
California State University, Chico, Special Collections Meriam Library
400 West First Street
Chico, CA 95929-0295, US
Contact:
(530) 898-6603
SpecialCollections@csuchico.edu
Website