This page displays picture galleries of old and historical photos. They are usually pictures that I inherited or bought at a rare book or antique store.
Hydraulic Mining, California
While in Albany, CA on business I stumbled upon a small book and antique store called Antiques on Solano. I purchased six photos involving hydraulic mining in California. The colorized pictures of the diversion dam and suspension bridge I subsequently created a blog call Salyer – Swanson hydraulic mine bridge and history because there was a whole story behind those photos. The photo of Spring Valley Mine with two monitors operating neatly connects to a previous blog post I did on the Cherokee and Spring Valley Mines east of Table Mountain and north of Oroville- See: Table Mountain Cherokee Hydraulic Mines.
Two of the photos are debris dams built after the 1884 Sawyer Decision to comply with the retention of hydraulic mining debris. The hydraulic elevator picture show one of the mining areas in or around Malakoff State Historic- See: Malakof Diggins Hydraulic Mines and Hike. Because I didn’t know what a “hydraulic elevator was, I’ve included a diagram I found in an old mining book. Click on the thumbnail to enlarge.