North Bloomfield Gravel Mining Co. Records: Finding Aid
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Title: North Bloomfield Gravel Mining Co.
Records
Dates (inclusive): 1890-1891
Collection Number: mssHM 51035-51130
Creator:
North Bloomfield Gravel Mining
Company.
Extent:
96 pieces in 1 box
Repository:
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
Manuscripts Department
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2129
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
Abstract: This collection consists primarily of letters from the secretary to the president of the North Bloomfield Gravel Mining Company
of Nevada County, California, in
1890-1891 related to the company and hydraulic mining.
Language: English.
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department.
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[Identification of item]. North Bloomfield Gravel Mining Co. Records, The Huntington
Library, San Marino, California.
Purchased from Talisman Press, October 26, 1978.
The North Bloomfield Gravel Mining Company was a company that pioneered in the development of
hydraulic mining for gold in Nevada County, California, during the 1870s. Subsequent
restrictions on hydraulic mining operations forced the company to adopt new procedures to
protect downstream agriculturalists from the effects of water-borne mining debris.
The North Bloomfield Gravel Mining Company was incorporated for a capital stock value of
$800,000 in 1869 by a group of San Francisco capitalists including Lester L. Robinson and S.
F. Butterworth on the San Juan Ridge in Nevada County, California, to engage in hydraulic
gold mining. At the height of hydraulic mining in Nevada County during the 1870s, the
company, along the Eureka Lake and Yuba Canal Company of North San Juan and the Milton
Mining and Water Company of French Corral, led in the development of hydraulic engineering.
Hamilton Smith, a leading innovator in the field, served as superintendent of company
operations from 1871 until 1881. The decision rendered by Judge Lorenzo Sawyer in Woodruff
v. North Bloomfield Gravel Mining Co. (January 7, 1884) radically restricted the scope of
hydraulic mining in an effort to preserve agriculture in the Sacramento Valley from the
destructive effects of river-borne debris.
Johnson, J. W. Early Engineering Center in California
California Historical Society Quarterly, XXIX, 3, Sep.
1950
This collection consists primarily of letters from Henry Pichoir, North Bloomfield's
secretary, and Lester L. Robinson, its president, to William H. Radford and J. G. Mather,
superintendents of company operations in the field, between January 3, 1890, and January 7,
1891. The letters deal mainly with the state of accounts kept by the superintendents, the
physical condition of the company's ditches and flumes after storms, and the company's
efforts to control the run-off from its operations.
There are also occasional discussions of
the company's relationship with other mining firms, including water leases and operating
facilities.
Persons represented by 5 letters or more: Joseph H. Mooser (14 letters); Henry Pichoir (68 letters); and
Lester Ludyah Robinson (5 letters).
Notable items include two letters from Lester Robinson to Superintendent Mather, April 9, 1890 (HM 51127) and
June 23, 1890 (HM 51128), which discuss plans for
water sampling and the construction of tunnels for water diversion to guard against
run-off.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
Huntington Library's Online Catalog.
North Bloomfield Gravel Mining Company -- Archives.
Hydraulic mining -- California, Northern -- History -- 19th century -- Sources
Mines and mineral resources -- California -- Nevada County
Nevada County (Calif.) -- History -- 19th century -- Sources
Letters (correspondence) California, Northern 19th century.
Collection Contents
Box 1
mssHM 51035-51130