Guide to the George P. Hurst Collection of Risdon & Union Iron Works Records M0358
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
2024
Green Library
557 Escondido Mall
Stanford 94305-6064
Fax Number: (650) 723-8690
specialcollections@stanford.edu
Contributing Institution:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Title: George P. Hurst collection of Risdon & Union Iron Works records
source:
Hurst, George L.
Identifier/Call Number: M0358
Physical Description:
12 Linear Feet
(22 boxes, oversize folders, tube)
Date (inclusive): circa 1890-1980
Abstract: Collection of photographs, catalogs, notebooks, blueprints and other material from the Risdon Iron Works and Union Iron Works
in San Francisco, California, particularly concerning the manufacture of dredges.
Language of Material:
English
.
Conditions Governing Access
Open for research. Note that material must be requested at least 36 hours in advance of intended use. Audiovisual materials
are not available in original format, and must be reformatted to a digital use copy.
Conditions Governing Use
While Special Collections is the owner of the physical and digital items, permission to examine collection materials is not
an authorization to publish. These materials are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study. Any transmission
or reproduction beyond that allowed by fair use requires permission from the owners of rights, heir(s) or assigns. Most of
these materials are believed to be in the public domain. There are no restrictions on use of public domain materials.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of George P. Hurst, 1982 and 1989.
Biographical / Historical
"In 1897 the Risdon Iron Works, adjoining the Union Iron Works and soon to merge with it, built the first successful gold
dredge in America. It was called the Archimedes and was designed by and built for R. H. Postlethwaite, chief dredging engineer
for the Risdon Iron Works, who operated it in the Yuba River east of Marysville, Calif. The dredge was a success during its
first year of operation. Then disaster struck. The Yuba River flooded and the Archimedes was lost. A year later the Risdon
Works also built a second successful gold dredge. This was known as the Couch No. 1 and was built for Captain Couch and W.
P. Hammon, founder of the Yuba Consolidated Gold Fields. It operated for many years in the Oroville Gold Fields and set the
pattern for gold-dredging operations in California.
From 1897 to 1911 the Risdon Iron Works designed and built 63 gold dredges, many of which were shipped to mining fields in
other parts of the world. During one year of this period Risdon was competing with Union Iron Works, right next door, in the
construction of gold dredges. Union Iron Works turned out its first dredge in 1910, and in 1911 the two concerns merged. From
that year up until 1929 Union Iron Works built 20 dredges, including a single order for five for the U. S. Smelting, Refining
& Mining Company at Fairbanks, Alaska. These latter five were built during the two-year period 1927 to 1929.
In 1929 the San Francisco Yard, successor to Union Iron Works and then a part of Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, Ltd.,
built its last hydraulic suction dredge, the Captain Chadwick Thompson, now the Papoose. In World War Il this dredge saw service
in the Pacific for the U.S. Army Engineers. All told, Bethlehem has constructed five dredges of this type, which are used
primarily for harbor work.
Reverting to Union Iron Works and its history, by 1900 the yard had 1,785 feet of waterfront space and among its facilities
were a machine shop, iron foundry, boiler shop, two blacksmith shops, joiner shop, copper shop, four building slips with overhead
cranes and a hydraulic-lift drydock. On August 25, 1902, the Union Iron Works was sold to the United States Shipbuilding Company,
but this company failed and two years later the Union Works was sold to a reorganization committee, from which it was acquired
January 19, 1905 by Bethlehem Steel Corporation. Charles M. Schwab made the purchase for $1,000,000 at a public sale by the
referee in bankruptcy, conducted from the steps of the office building at Georgia and 20th Streets in San Francisco."
--from Bethlehem Steel anniversary booklet 1949
Scope and Contents
Collection of photographs, catalogs, notebooks, blueprints, and other records from the Risdon Iron Works and Union Iron Works
in San Francisco, California, particularly concerning the manufacture of dredges and mining machinery.
This material was given to Stanford by George P. Hurst, who is probably the son of George L. Hurst, a mechanical engineer
for the Risdon Iron Works who became head of the Dredging Division of Union Iron Works when that company acquired Risdon.
Both companies were later absorbed into Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation and there is also a little Bethlehem material in
the collection.
Preferred Citation
[identification of item], George P. Hurst Collection of Risdon & Union Iron Works Records (M0358). Dept. of Special Collections
and University Archives, Stanford Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
Related Materials
Blueprints of dredges and Union Iron Works can be found in Hopkins transportation collection (M0200):
https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf2z09n5zf/
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Gold mining -- History -- U.S.
Dredging
Gold dredging
Iron-works
Union Iron Works
Risdon Iron Works
Hurst, George L.
Box 1
Risdon Iron Works photo albums of equipment (two volumes)
Scope and Contents
One volume contains an index. Some photographs credited to R.J. Waters.
Box 2, volume 1
George L. Hurst's Snapshots album
Scope and Contents
Circa 1909-1913. American River, Oroville, Redding, Folsom, Sonora, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Alaska
Box 2, volume 2
Hurst Snapshots of Building of Marigold No.5 Dredge, Marysville (Largest Dredge Built by Union Iron Works - 16 cu. ft. Buckets)
1916
Box 2, volume 3
Valdor Dredging Co. Dredge by Union Iron Works (Bethlehem)
1916
Scope and Contents
The dredge was erected and operated at Junction City, Trinity County, California
Box 2, folder 5-6
Negatives - Construction of Couch No. 1 Dredge
Box 3, volume 1
Photographs of Work Done at Union Iron Works
Scope and Contents
Binding in poor condition. Circa 1895-1905.
Box 3, volume 2
Photographs - Marschutz & Cantrell
Scope and Contents
Equipment catalog/portfolio circa 1895-1905 (inscribed 1919), Marshutz and Cantrell / National Iron Works (also spelled Marschutz)
Box 3, volume 3
Risdon Iron Works Photo Album
Box 4
Albums of Machinery and Potrero Works (4 volumes)
Scope and Contents
Removed from four deteriorating leather binders
Box 5
Albums of Machinery and Potrero Works (2 volumes)
Scope and Contents
One volume labeled "Stamp Mills" ; other unlabeled volume divided into two folders
Box 6
Photo album of dredging projects - California, Montana, Alaska, etc.
Scope and Contents
Mounted albumen prints with captions.
Box 7
Peter C. Jurs Snapshots - Union Iron Works & Bethlehem
Scope and Contents
Circa 1909-1938, mostly on-site but some factory shots.
Box 8
Risdon Iron Works Photos
Scope and Contents
Mounted prints, dredging
Box 9, folder 1
Large prints, most mounted
Box 9, folder 2
Large prints - Natomas, Merced
Box 9, folder 3
Large prints - Shasta Butte Dredging Co. working near Feather River South of Oroville
Box 9, folder 4
Large prints - Gold Hill Dredging Co. working near Biggs, California
1938
Box 9, folder 5
Large prints - Gold dredge for Ira D. McCoy in Butte Creek Canyon East of Chico
1936
Box 10, volume 1
Stamp Mills - Rand binder of articles
Box 10, volume 2
Concentration - Tube Mills binder of articles
Box 11, volume 1
Amalgamation - Cars - Cages - Hoists - Gallows Frame binder of articles
Box 11, volume 2
Smelting - Reverbatory Furnaces - Cyanide Plants binder of articles
Box 12, volume 1
Miscellaneous Mining - Dredging - Copper, Lead, Zinc Smelting binder of articles
Box 12, volume 2
Miscellaneous Maps, Tables, Specifications, Sketches binder of articles
Box 13, volume 1
Risdon Iron Works - Agents' & Salesmen's Price Book
circa 1904-1911
Box 13, volume 2
Risdon Iron Works - Victor M. Braschi & Hermanos Price Book
Box 13, volume 3
Unlabeled notebook of plans, sketches, notes
Box 14, volume 1
Union Iron Works Price Book 2
Box 14, volume 2
Union Iron Works Price Book 3
Box 14, volume 3
Union Iron Works Price Book 10
Box 14, volume 4-5
Dredging plans and specifications (2 notebooks "property of George L. Hurst")
Box 14, volume 6
Union Construction Company Field Log ( notebook "property of George L. Hurst, 544 Market Street")
1922
Box 14, Item 7
Brass name plate - Risdon Iron Works
Scope and Contents
"Discovered in a warehouse that had originally been part of the Risdon yard in San Francisco. It Was found in 1963."
Box 15, volume 2
Hurst notebook containing list of dredges, costs & miscellaneous information
Box 15, volume 3
Chas. McGinn[?] Union Iron Works notebook
1892-1900
Box 15, volume 4
Peter C. Jurs Union Iron Works notebook
Box 15, volume 5
Jas. C.H. Ferguson Union Iron Works notebook, "Shipping Weights etc."
1892
Scope and Contents
"Summarized specifications with shipping weights of gold mills built at Union Iron Works branch."
Box 15, volume 6
Notebook of mining equipment costs by project
circa 1900
Box 15, volume 7
Risdon Iron Works catalog/price list with annotations (Frank E. McCormick)
Box 15, volume 9
Risdon Iron & Locomotive Works Price Book
Box 15, volume 10
Elevator Calculation notebook
Box 15, volume 11
Union Iron Works Company Standard Sub-Division of Costs - Marine Departments
1916
Box 15, volume 12
Supplementary Contract For the Construction of Torpedo-Boat Destroyer (Mr. P.C. Jurs, Union Plant, Bethlehem Shipbuilding
Co.")
1916-1917
Box 15, volume 13
Union Iron Works Company Card of Accounts
1917
Box 15, volume 14
Heine Safety Boiler Co., Price Book, St. Louis, Mo.
Box 15, volume 15
American Iron And Steel Institute - Maximum Prices For Iron & Steel Products
Box 16, volume 1
Prentice-Hall Federal Tax Service Volume 1
1922
Box 16, volume 2-5
Four notebooks listing dredging projects and tools
circa 1913-1930
Box 17, volume 1
Risdon catalogs (bound by Mining Association of the University of California)
circa 1897-1910
Box 17, volume 2-11
Risdon catalogs (unnumbered, 4-5, 8, 12, 16, 17)
1896-1909
Scope and Contents
Note by Hurst accompanying catalog No. 16: "This is Risdon's first gold dredge catalog. They cheated on it. The first four
photos are of Feather River No. 1 dredge while under construction. The last four photos show dredges working in New Zealand;
also the back cover photo."
Box 18
Union Iron Works catalogs
Box 18
Union Construction Company catalogs
Box 18
Yuba Construction Company - Yuba Manufacturing Company dredging catalogs & blank stock certificate
Box 19
Risdon gold dredge contract & specifications - Feather River Exploration Co.
1902
Box 19
Tabulation of Specifications and Costs of Risdon Dredges
map-folder 24
Large blueprints and plans
Box 19
Hurst outgoing correspondence
1915 & 1916
Scope and Contents
Two items
Box 19
Bethlehem Steel Supervisor's Conference Series
circa early 1940s (WWII)
Box 20
Article clippings
1964, 1968, 1971, 1980
Box 20
Miscellaneous mining and dredging publications
Scope and Contents
Includes
The Mining World & Engineering Record October 1898, reprint from
The Mining Journal 1905,
Practical Stamp Milling & Amalgamation,
Dredging for Gold in California,
Gold Dredging in Otago,
California Miner's Association Annual 1900,
Papers Relating to the Geology, Mining, Metallurgy & Milling of the Comstock (American Institute of Mining 1922),
International Mining Annual 1916,
The Yukon Territory: It's History & Resources
Box 21
Government publications on miming
Scope and Contents
Department of the Interior Bureau of Mines, U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Mines, California State Mining Bureau, State
of California Department of Natural Resources Division of Mines
Box 21
Audio recording of George P. Hurst discussing collection (1 cassette)
Box 22
Wooden model of dredge bucket designed by George L. Hurst
Box 23
Bethlehem/Union Register of Mining & Dredging Department Orders Received
1909-1932
Box 23
George L. Hurst scrapbook
Box 23
Mounted panorama of dredge at work
