|
|
Description:
Beautifully engraved certificate from the Tuolumne County Water Company issued in 1856. This historic document has an ornate border around it with a nice vignette of men working mining gold using water flow for seperation. This item is hand signed by the company’s president and secretary and is over 144 years old. Columbia was rich in gold, but poor in water. Even with its great wealth and phenomenal growth, it almost didn’t reach its first birthday. In July of 1850, the creeks and streams dried up, forcing the mining activity to cease altogether. The camp became a ghost town, with only a hatful of miners remaining through the summer. But toward the end of the year, miners again began to congregate in Columbia, hoping the winter rains would furnish enough water to resume mining. They were lucky; the rains came, allowing them to work the rich area, and the town’s population began to grow. At the end of May in 1851, Mrs. Sarah DeNoielle joined her husband Arnold and they opened the first boarding house in town. As Sarah was the first white woman in Columbia, she was given a royal welcome by the miners, who reportedly formed a mile-long procession, complete with brass band, and escorted her all the way from Sonora. Sarah later gave birth to the first child born in Columbia on January 31 of 1852. Unfortunately, the winter of 1850/51 was a relatively dry one and Columbia soon became a “dry diggings” once more. Without an adequate supply of water to work the gravels, reclaiming the gold was almost impossible, so in June of 1851 the miners met to discuss the problem. The solution was the Tuolumne County Water Company, organized to build a ditch to Five Mile Creek to insure a steady supply of water to the mines. The company’s efforts were frustrated at first by the very problem it was created to solve: there was no water to power the sawmill needed to cut the lumber to build the flumes. Heavy steam equipment had to be hauled in and finally, by late November, the mill was in operation. The ditch was completed by the following spring. On May 1 of 1852, amidst great rejoicing by hundreds of miners gathered for the occasion, the waters of Five Mile Creek were turned into camp, courtesy of the Tuolumne County Water Company. The celebrating was short-lived; however, as the ditch could not fully supply the camp’s needs. More water was needed, so the ditch was extended to the South Fork of the Stanislaus River. This extension cost much more than anticipated, but thanks to the pecuniary assistance afforded by D. O. Mills & Co., Bankers of Sacramento, in the amount of $300,000, the company was able to complete the project by August, bringing in sufficient water for Columbia’s mining and domestic needs. Once a steady water supply was brought to Columbia, the miners found the gold production to be almost beyond their belief. Discoveries of large nuggets and pockets of gold became a common occurrence, the camp’s output reportedly averaging $100,000 or more per week. Columbia was booming. Streets were laid out and by the end of 1852 more than one hundred businesses, including thirty saloons, twenty-one groceries, seventeen dry goods stores, seven boarding houses, four hotels, four banks, three express offices, three theaters, two fire companies, and numerous doctors, lawyers, and dentists served the estimated four to five thousand inhabitants. There was also a church, a Sunday School, a Masonic Lodge, and a branch of the Sons of Temperance. Three papers were being published and the first post office was established in November, with A. A. Hunniwell as postmaster. There were even enough children to start a small school, marmed by a Mrs. Haley. Columbia was incorporated in May of 1854, at which time the town officers were duly elected. The town was thriving and up to this point had not suffered a serious fire, which was somewhat of a miracle as most of the structures were made from canvas, brush, logs, and split or sawed lumber, in other words, tinder. Only three fire-proof brick buildings stood in town, completed sometime during June. And they were put to the test at two o’clock in the morning, on July 10 of 1854. H. “Babe” Crowell was accused of setting the fire. He had been refused credit in several of the town’s businesses, after which someone claimed to hear him remark that Columbia hadn’t had a “real” fire like some other towns. The blaze began near the corner of Broadway and Washington streets, in an empty house owned by Soloman Trues. Roaring north, the flames consumed nearly everything in their path, the only building to survive in the business section was Donnell and Parson’s brick store. One of the other fire-proof buildings was destroyed by an explosion of accumulated gas within the tightly closed, iron-shuttered building. The hook and ladder company couldn’t do much for downtown, but was instrumental in saving the residential section where the buildings were farther apart. When the fire was finally controlled, the losses to Columbia’s merchants amounted to more than $500,000. The rebuilding began before the ashes had cooled. Temporary structures were erected first, followed quickly by sturdy, fire-proof buildings of brick and stone. Most of the new buildings were furnished with heavy iron doors and shutters which could be closed at night, affording an added measure of security against future fires. Over thirty brick buildings were erected after this fire, many of which are still standing today. Partially as a result of this fire, the New England Water Company was organized, and seven water cisterns were built under the streets of Columbia for fire-fighting and domestic use. The water was piped to the cisterns, each capable of holding about fourteen thousand gallons. These early pipes were still in use to 1950, at which time the state installed a new water system. By 1855, Columbia was one of the largest and most important cities in California. The mines continued to produce fantastic amounts of gold, which in turn continued to attract more inhabitants. Substantial buildings lined the streets, privat
| Status: For Sale |
Reference#: tuolcounwatc |
| Condition:
See Description |
Year:
See Description
|
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
Dealer Policies: Scripophily Policy Details
Dealer Accepts:       
|
My
Basket
