Jun 12 at 12:00 PM - Sale 2708 -

Sale 2708 - Lot 43

Estimate: $ 600 - $ 900
(CALIFORNIA.) Log book of work done at the La Grange Hydraulic Mining Company. 39 manuscript pages. Folio, 12¼ x 7½ inches, original ½ calf over marbled boards with cover title "La Grange Surveys," worn and partly disbound; a few leaves coming loose. La Grange, CA, March-November 1893
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The La Grange Hydraulic Mining Company was formed in 1892 by the Baron E. De La Grange on the site of an old mine in central California. Because of the low quality of ore, hydraulic jets were used to process enormous quantities of gravel; it was the largest mine of its kind in California until closing in 1918.

In this volume, an unnamed mine manager begins the work of establishing the boundaries between the company's claims and their neighbors. On 1 April 1893, "The Italian showed me his corners, but Frank Potillo claims everything on the south side of Grub Gulch, but has no corners nor location notice on any part of the ground." Most of the entries specify every rock and ravine where he has placed a boundary marker. On 14 April, he begins to plan the water supply: "I think that 5 miles from West Weaver Creek would reach the Sieva Gap. It is my opinion that it would take 200 to 300 feet of tunnel to go through the Sieva Gap on a line of ditch 50 feet below Loveridge's lower ditch." On 30 April and 29 May he lists the company's expenses for the month, including 5 named employees with their pay rates and days worked. The best-paid of these employees was the well-known surveyor and express rider William Spencer Lowden (1830-1912), who was the likely compiler of this volume.

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