Collection context
Summary
Background
- Scope and content:
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Financial records of the Eagle Salt Works.
- Biographical / historical:
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Railroad Surveyor B.F. Leete saw potential in the salt beds at Leete in 1871, and soon thereafter was supplying salt to the silver mills. On hot days, the vats could make ten tons of salt per day per acre. The salt works was comprised of seven acres of vats. In the period between 1879 and 1884 they shipped 334,000 tons of salt. In 1901-1903 the Central Pacific railroad relocated the rail line from Wadsworth to Brown's via Hazen. They removed the rails, but left every other tie under an agreement with Leete, who wanted to build his own light railroad to transport salt. The railroad was completed in 1903, but didn't ship any salt until 1906. Only 171 cars of salt were shipped form 1906 thru 1910. Bankruptcy followed quickly, and the Central Pacific ended up owning the railroad and the salt works in 1910. By 1916 the railroad had been dismantled and hauled away.
- Acquisition information:
- Gift of The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley
About this collection guide
- Date Prepared:
- Dec. 1910 - Nov. 1915
- Date Encoded:
- This finding aid was produced using Record Express for OAC5 on July 14, 2025, 2:54 p.m.
Access and use
- Restrictions:
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Collection is open for research by appointment. Please give Library staff one week's notice.
- Terms of access:
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Copyright has not been assigned to the California State Railroad Museum. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the CSRM Librarian. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the CSRM as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.
- Preferred citation:
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Eagle Salt Works financial records. California State Railroad Museum Library and Archives
- Location of this collection:
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111 I StreetSacramento, CA 95814, US
- Contact:
- (916) 323-8073