Register of the Demarest Family Collection, 1849-1967

Processed by staff & Don Walker; machine-readable finding aid created by Don Walker
Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections
University Library, University of the Pacific
Stockton, CA 95211
Phone: (209) 946-2404
URL: http://www.pacific.edu/Library/Find/Holt-Atherton-Special-Collections.html
© 1998
University of the Pacific. All rights reserved.



Register of the Demarest Family Collection, 1849-1967

Collection number: Mss28

Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections

University Library

University of the Pacific

Contact Information

Processed by:
staff & Don Walker
Date Completed:
1967; 1998
Encoded by:
Don Walker
© 1998 University of the Pacific. All rights reserved.

Descriptive Summary

Title: Demarest Family Collection,
Date (inclusive): 1849-1967
Collection number: Mss28
Creator: A.D. Ryland
Extent: 1.25 linear ft.
Repository: University of the Pacific. Library. Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections
Stockton, CA 95211
Shelf location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the library's online catalog.
Language: English.

Administrative Information

Access

Collection is open for research.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Demarest Family Collection, Mss28, Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library

Biography

David Durie Demarest (1824-190?) of New Jersey, came overland to California via Galveston, El Paso and Yuma with two friends, Dr. William Jones and George Griffith (1849). The three soon settled at Altaville in Calaveras County, where they established the Union Water Co. (1852). This organization created, under the supervision of engineer, George Griffith, a dam fifteen miles above Calaveras Big Trees on the Stanislaus River and diverted water thence by flume some twenty miles to Murphys, Angels Camp and Altaville. The Company sold water for irrigation as well as for mining. Having thus helped create a comfortable living for himself, Demarest returned to New Jersey (1856) and induced his brothers, Cornelius Blauvelt (1836-1911) and Abraham Demarest, to return with him to California. Although Cornelius remained here only eight years before returning east, he later penned a memoir (c1910) which is one of our principal sources of information about Demarest family enterprises during the Gold Rush era (Las Calaveras, 1976-1977). Cornelius Demarest took over the Altaville Iron Works from 1861 until his return East. At that time, David D. Demarest assumed control of the foundry, renaming it the Angels Iron Works and operating it in partnership with Thomas H. Fullen, then with his son Clarence and Lawrence Monte Verda, throughout the rest of the 19th century. D.C. Demarest later maintained that Angels Iron Works built more stamp mills than any other company in the state. Angels also supplied mines in the Klondike and in Mexico. The Central Pacific Railroad established a branch line to Milton (1871) largely to facilitate shipment of mining machinery from Altaville to these distant locations.
David Durie Demarest married Salina Ward (1861) and fathered three children: David Clarence, Cornelius and Lillie. David Clarence Demarest later moved to the San Francisco Bay area (c1909), where, for many years, he operated the D.D. Demarest Mining Machinery Co. Many of the family's early records were destroyed when D. Clarence's Berkeley home was destroyed by fire (1923).

Scope and Content

The Demarest family collection consists chiefly of an unpublished typescript, "California Gold," by David Durie Demarest's oldest son, David Clarence Demarest(1866-1962). It embraces 51 chapters divided into three volumes. The work's preface is followed by a typescript copy of David Durie Demarest's overland diary (1849), the original of which is in the Bancroft Library at the University of California. The first volume of "California Gold" is devoted to descriptions and history of the mining towns and mines of Calaveras County. The second volume contains biographies of pioneers and leaders of the area. The third volume consists of 126 captioned photographs. The collection also contains additional photographs and family correspondence.

 

BOX 1: D.D. DEMAREST OVERLAND DIARY; CALAVERAS MINING TOWNS

 

1.1 "CALIFORNIA GOLD": PREFACE; DDD DAIRY; TOWNS DESCRIBED

 

a) Preface [3 pp.]

 

b) 1849 Diary of D.D. Demarest [39 pp.]

 

c) Angels Camp, Altaville and Cherokee Flat [21 pp.]

 

d) Altaville-Present, Past and Future [22 pp.]

 

1.2 ALTAVILLE IRONWORKS & MINES

 

a) The Iron Works at Altaville [9 pp.]

 

b) The Sultana Mine [4 pp.]

 

c) The Angels Mine [5 pp.]

 

d) The Lightner Mine [10 pp.]

 

1.3 UTICA MINE; SHEEP RANCH & BEAR MTN.

 

a) Utica Mine [22 pp.]

 

b) The Ridge Road to Sheep Ranch [14 pp.]

 

c) Bear Mountain [19 pp.]

 

1.4 MURPHYS, CARSON HILL & CALAVERAS BIG TREES

 

a) The Great Flood of 1862 [2 pp.]

 

b) Murphys [14 pp.]

 

c) Carson Hill [29 pp.]

 

d) My Father's Diaries [9 pp.]

 

e) Calaveras Big Trees [7 pp.]

 

1.5 MILTON & GWIN MINE; TRANSPORTATION

 

a) Early California Transportation [22 pp.]

 

b) Milton [8 pp.]

 

c) Gwin Mine [22 pp.]

 

1.6 OVERVIEW OF LODE GOLD MINES; EAGLE SHAWMUT MINE

 

a) The West Belt of the Mother Lode [21 pp.]

 

b) The East Belt of the Mother Lode [7 pp.]

 

c) Eagle Shawmut Mine [12 pp.]

 

d) Occurrence of California Gold [7 pp.]

 

1.7 BIOGRAPHIES OF CALAVERAS PIONEERS

 

a) Preface [3 pp.]

 

b) D.D. Demarest--California Pioneer [23 pp.]

 

c) Thomas H. Fullen [22 pp.]

 

d) The California Pioneers [6 pp.]

 

e) Lawrence Monte Verde [4 pp.]

 

1.8 BIOGRAPHIES OF CALAVERAS PIONEERS, PART 2

 

a) Frank J. Solinsky [8 pp.]

 

b) S.V. Ryland [8 pp.]

 

c) Charles D. Smythe [6 pp.]

 

d) W. Spencer Hutchinson [8 pp.]

 

e) Prospectors [6 pp.]

 

f) Mine Promoters [10 pp.]

 

1.9 LIFE IN CALIFORNIA, 1870s-80s

 

a) Teen-agers of the 1870's [41 pp.]

 

b) Higher Education in the 1880's [33 pp.]

 

1.10 BIOGRAPHIES OF CALAVERAS PIONEERS, PART 3

 

a) 400 Mile Hike in the High Sierra [20 pp.]

 

b) William J. Loring [17 pp.]

 

c) Harry Hogarth [6 pp.]

 

d) The Demarest Family [4 pp.]

 

1.11 BIOGRAPHIES OF OTHER PIONEERS

 

a) W.C. Ralston [10 pp.]

 

b) Captain William A. Nevills [15 pp.]

 

c) Frank Langford [4 pp.]

 

d) Beach Thompson [4 pp.]

 

e) Abe Sartoris [4 pp.]

 

1.12 BIOGRAPHIES OF CALAVERAS PIONEERS, PART 4

 

a) Samuel Harris [9 pp.]

 

b) C.S. Floyd [8 pp.]

 

c) George Loudon [8 pp.]

 

d) Other Characters in the Story [32 pp.]

 

1.13 CALIFORNIA IRON ORE

 

a) California Iron Ore [6 pp.]

 

1.14 CALIF. GOLD MINING EQPT.

 

a) California Gold Mining Machinery and Equipment [27 pp.]

 

1.15 CLIPPINGS & INVENTORY

 

BOX 2 PHOTOGRAPHS FOR "CALIFORNIA GOLD"

 

2.1 CAPTIONED PHOTOGRAPHS #1 [each image is 8x10 b/w & accompanied by 1 pg. typescript caption]

 

a) Preface [5 pp.]

 

b) Calaveras County's First Courthouse

 

c) Old Wheat Home--Double Springs

 

d) Winze Hoist at Gwin Mine

 

e) Calaveras County Miners' Association

 

f) Old Brewery at Mokelumne Hill

 

g) Metropolitan Hotel - San Andreas

 

h) Hydraulic Mine [1 p. typescript]

 

i) The Fricot Home [1 p. typescript; 3.5x4.5 bw]

 

2.2 PHOTOGRAPHS #2

 

a) Stone Store at San Antone Camp

 

b) Old Fourth Crossing Roadhouse

 

c) Thorpe Mine - Shaft Surface Plant

 

d) Thorpe Mine Mill

 

e) Bernasconi Stone House

 

f) Copper Smelter at Copperopolis

 

g) 120-Stamp Mill - Royal Consolidated Mining Company (2 p. typescript; 8x10 bw)

 

h) Hoist House - Royal Consolidated Mining Company (2 p. typescript; 8x10 bw)

 

2.3 CAPTIONED PHOTOGRAPHS #3

 

a) In Milton-A Ghost Town

 

b) Four Horse Stage

 

c) Angels Camp-Milton Stage

 

d) Rail-Head and Stage Coaches

 

e) Green Horn Gulch

 

f) The Altaville School

 

2.4 CAPTIONED PHOTOGRAPHS #4

 

a) The Altaville Brewery

 

b) Iron Works at Altaville

 

c) Street Scene in Altaville

 

d) Walters' Building-Altaville

 

e) The Prince Store in Altaville

 

f) Harness Shop-Altaville

 

g) Historic Machine Shop

 

h) Main Street in Altaville

 

2.5 CAPTIONED PHOTOGRAPHS #5

 

a) Iron Works at Altaville-Rear View

 

b) Pacific Rock Drill

 

c) Made in Altaville

 

d) Darby Ore Reduction Works

 

e) Second Home of D.D. Demarest (1 p. typescript; 4x4 bw)

 

2.6 CAPTIONED PHOTOGRAPHS #6

 

a) Diaries of D.D. Demarest

 

b) New Jersey's Oldest Home

 

c) University of California at Berkeley-1889

 

d) University of California at Berkeley-1953

 

e) Inside a Stamp Mill [1 p. typescript]

 

f) Model of a 10-Stamp Mill

 

g) Pelton Water Wheel

 

h) Two-Ton Side Dump Ore Car

 

2.7 CAPTIONED PHOTOGRAPHS #7

 

a) Logs for the Utica Mine

 

b) D.D. Demarest--Angels Camp Pioneer

 

c) Freight Team of Angels Iron Works

 

d) Shaft Head Frame--Calaveras Central

 

e) Shaft Head Frame--Reiner Mining Company

 

f) Benson's Buggy and Team

 

g) Surface Plant--Utica Mine

 

h) Lane Mansion--Angels Camp

 

i) Utica Mine Log Yard

 

j) C.D. Lane--Utica Mine-Madison and Stickle Mine [6.5x4.25 Cabinet Card (spirit)]

 

k) C.D. Lane by C.A. Lillie [6.5x4.25 Cabinet Card]

 

l) Cook for C.D. Lane Family for Years [6.5x4.25 Cabinet Card]

 

2.8 CAPTIONED PHOTOGRAPHS #8

 

a) The Angels Camp School on the Hill

 

b) Angels Camp Pioneers

 

c) Stickle Store--Angels Camp

 

d) Utica Mine Log Pile

 

e) Charles D. Lane

 

f) 40-Stamp Mill - Angels Mine [1 p. typescript]

 

g) Utica Mine Surface Plant - Rear View [1 p. typescript]

 

h) Utica Chlorination Works [2 p. typescript]

 

2.9 CAPTIONED PHOTOGRAPHS #9

 

a) Angels Creek at Main Street - Angels Camp

 

b) Lumber and Logs for the Mines

 

c) Upper Main Street - Angels Camp

 

d) Angels Hotel - Angels Camp

 

e) Calaveras Hotel - Angels Camp

 

f) Leeper Building - Angels Camp

 

g) Masonic Hall - Angels Camp

 

h) Tractor Used for Hauling - Angels Camp [no text]

 

2.10 CAPTIONED PHOTOGRAPHS #10

 

a) Lower Main Street - Angels Camp

 

b) Sierra Railway Depot

 

c) Jim Rooney

 

d) View of Angels Camp

 

e) Artist View of Early Angels Camp

 

f) Steve Lavagnino's Arrastras

 

g) Old Batch

 

h) Power House at Camp Mine

 

2.11 CAPTIONED PHOTOGRAPHS #11

 

a) Mitchler Hotel - Murphys

 

b) Hotel Register Page - 1869 [no text]

 

c) Hotel Register Page - 1880 [no text]

 

d) Mitchler Hotel Garden - Murphys [2 p. typescript; 8x10 bw]

 

e) Logs for the Saw Mill [1 p. typescript]

 

f) End of the Horse and Buggy Days [1 p. typescript]

 

g) Logging in the Sierra Forest [1 p. typescript]

 

h) Letter to M.H. Manuel re. "Cards of Life" [1 p. typescript]

 

i) "Cards of Life" [poem printed on cardstock]

 

j) Dance Pavillion on a Tree Stump [1 p. typescript]

 

2.12 CAPTIONED PHOTOGRAPHS #12

 

a) Carson School at Carson Hill

 

b) Surface Plant of Angels Camp Deep Mining Co.

 

c) Mine Shaft Collar [1 p. typescript]

 

d) The Stevenot Home

 

e) Stanislaus River Canyon at Robinson's Ferry

 

f) Ferry-Boat at Robinson's Ferry [1 p. typescript; 4.5x3.75 bw]

 

g) View at Robinson's Ferry

 

h) Harvey Wood's Home - Robinson's Ferry

 

2.13 CAPTIONED PHOTOGRAPHS #13

 

a) At the Tunnel Portal of Calaveras Consolidated Mines

 

b) 100-Stamp Mill - Melones Mine

 

c) Sierra Railway - Angels Branch

 

d) Carson Hill Gold Nugget [1 p. typescript, 1 p. handscript; 8x10 b/w]

 

e) Pilot Mine - Carson Hill Gold Mines Inc.

 

f) Old Canepa Store - Carson Hill

 

g) Old Rooney House - Carson Hill

 

h) "Glory Hole" on Carson Hill [1 p. typescript]

 

2.14 CAPTIONED PHOTOGRAPHS #14

 

a) Marietta Mine at Tuttletown [1 p. typescript; 2 8x10 bw]

 

b) Carson Creek Mine [1 p. typescript]

 

c) Old Romaggi Home - Albany Flat [1 p. typescript; 2 copies]

 

d) Mark Twain's Cabin - Restored [1 p. typescript; 6.5x4.5 bw]

 

e) Gross Hotel at Tuttletown

 

f) Swerer's Stone Store at Tuttletown

 

g) Wells Fargo Building - Columbia

 

h) Gold Scales at Columbia

 

i) App Mine - Quartz Mountain [1 p. typescript; 2 8x10 bw]

 

j) Hotel Nevills - Jamestown, California

 

k) Angels Branch Locomotive - Sierra Railway

 

l) George Becker [no text]

 

2.15 CAPTIONED PHOTOGRAPHS #15

 

a) Eagle Shawmut Mine Plant [1 p. typescript; 5x6.75 cyanotype]

 

b) Hoist House and Head Frame - Central Eureka Mine [1 p. typescript]

 

c) Shaft Head Frame - Old Eureka Mine

 

d) Keystone Mine - Office Building [1 p. typescript]

 

e) Knights Ferry - Tulloch Flour Mill & Covered Bridge

 

f) Knights Ferry - Aerial [1 p. typescript; 2 8x10 bw]

 

g) Kennedy Mine - Surface Plant [1 p. typescript]

 

h) Shaft Head Frame - Kennedy Mine

 

i) Kennedy Mine Hoist

 

j) Air Compressor Plant - Kennedy Mine

 

k) Kennedy and Argonaut Mines [1 p. typescript]

 

BOX 3: MISC. MATERIALS PERTAINING CALAVERAS & TO DEMAREST CO.

 

3.1 MATERIALS ON GOLD HILL MINING CO.

 

a) Steam engine [cyanotype]

 

b) Office - Gold Hill Mining Co. [1 pg. typescript]

 

c) Gold Hill Mine & Mill [1 pg. typescript]

 

d) 2.25" Pacific Drill - Old Style [8 x 10 b/w; letter from Lightner Mining Co.]

 

e) Charles Andrew Lilly & other miners at mine nr. Angels Camp [8 x 10" b/w]

 

3.2 CORRESPONDENCE RE PELTON WATER WHEEL

 

a) D.C. Demarest to Pelton Div., Baldwin Lima-Hamilton Corp., 11-3-58

 

b) G.V. Arata, Pelton Div., Baldwin Lima-Hamilton Corp. to DCD, 11-6-58 [1 pg. typescript]

 

c) D.C. Demarest to Pelton Div., Baldwin Lima-Hamilton Corp., 11-18-58 [2 pp. typescript; re Pelton Water Wheel]

 

d) D.C. Demarest to Fred C. Stevenot, 11-20-58 [1 pg. typescript]

 

3.3 CLIPPINGS

 

a) "Samuel V. Ryland, noted engineer two continents" n.s., n.d.

 

b) "Floods of 62 severed route to lode mines," Stockton Record (1-30-67)

 

3.4 PRE-CALIFORNIA FAMILY HISTORY [3 pp. photocopy]

 

3.5 D.D. DEMAREST MINING MACHINERY CO. CATALOGS (1909-10)

 

a) Pacific Stem Guides, circ. #27

 

b) Pacific Lubricating Stop Cock, circ. #28

 

c) Pacific Rock Drills, circ. #30

 

d) Nielsen Pumps, circ. #33

 

3.6 D.C. DEMAREST'S PLAN FOR REOPENING & OPERATING A GROUP OF MOTHER LODE MINES (1935)

 

3.7 HY-PRES PUMPS, TYPE WD, SIZE 10---BLUEPRINTS (1921)

 

3.8 HEATH ENGR. SIGNALLING SIREN (1922)

 

a) Blueprint

 

b) Brochure

 

3.9 HICKS ENGINE WORKS---STAR DIESEL ENGINE

 

a) Advertising letter

 

b) Brochure

 

3.10 PROPOSED FLOW SHEET & ARRANGEMENT OF MACHINERY FOR DUTCH MILL [5 pp. typescript]

 

3.11 MISC. PHOTOGRAPHS: PEOPLE & THEIR HOMES

 

a) D.D. Demarest in old age [3.5 x 5.75 b/w]

 

b) D.C. Demarest [3.25 x 4.5 b/w]

 

c) Reta Demarest, B. Waldyn [circular b/w]

 

d) Employees & families in fron to Ranier Mine, Altaville [8 x 10 b/w pasted on black album paper]

 

e) Aubrey Ryland, D.C. Demarest, L. Monte Verda, Altaville [5 x 7 b/w]

 

f) Old Demarest home, Altaville [5 x 7 b/w; badly faded]

 

g) Mrs. Leonard Demarest home, NJ(1903) [6 x 7 b/w]

 

3.12 MISC. PHOTOGRAPHS: MINE SITES

 

a) Melones Mill [4.75 x 6.5 b/w]

 

b) Prince Mine, Altaville [5 x 7 b/w; badly yellowed, creased]

 

c) Top View of Melones Mill [4.75 x 6.5 b/w]

 

d) Triple Load Gold Mines, Angels Camp [8 x 10 b/w]

 

e) Magazine Mine, 30 mi. west of Lovelock NV [7.5 x 9.5 b/w]

 

f) Triple Load Gold Mines, Angels Camp [8 x 10 b/w pasted on gray canvas]

 

g) Angels Mine? [7.5 x 9.5 b/w]

 

h) Ingle Mine, Plumas County [two 2.5 x 4.25 b/w pasted together on black album paper]

 

i) Angels Quartz Mining Co., Angels Camp [postcard b/w]

 

j) Ranier Mine, Altaville [8 x 10 b/w pasted on black album paper]

 

k) Stickle Mine & Chlorine Works, Angels Camp [b/w postcard]

 

l) unident. mine [2.75 x 4.37 b/w]

 

m) App Mine, Quartz Mtn., Tuolumne Co. [4 x 6.75 collodion print]

 

n) Utica Mine, 60 Stamp Mill [10 x 14 collodion print]

 

o) The Old & New Gold Mills, Angels Camp [color postcard]

 

p) Mazuma Mill, Nevada [6.5 x 4.75 b/w]

 

q) Eagle Shawmut Mine, Chinese Camp, Tuolumne Co. [5 x 7 cyanotype]

 

r) unident. mine [5 x 7 cyanotype]

 

3.13 MISC. PHOTOGRAPHS: MINING MACHINERY

 

a) Altaville ?; unident. Mining Machinery [7.75 x 9.75 b/w; pasted on two sides, black album paper]

 

b) 10 Stamp Mill [4.75 x 6.75 b/w pasted on black album paper]

 

c) Skip of type built at Angels Iron Works [5 x 7 cyanotype]

 

d) Concentrator Handles Ore After It Left the Mills [4.5 x 7.75 b/w pasted on gray cardboard]

 

e) Angels Iron Works machinery [7.75 x 9.75 b/w & torn b/w pasted on both sides black album paper]

 

f) Machine Shop of D.D. Demarest, Altaville; 14 Inch Plunger Pump [8 x 10 b/w pasted on both sides black album paper]

 

g) Hoist, Eagle Shawmut Mine [5 x 7 cyanotype]

 

h) 10 Stamp Mill [4.62 x 6.75 b/w; unident. machinery same size photo on obverse]

 

i) unident. machinery [5 x 7 cyanotype]