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Collection: Directories and Documents > Pamphlets
Northern Mines & California Reports (PH 15-15)(06-26-1963) (4 pages)
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Page: of 4
Ease SESE PEE BSB ae Sab Sa SS ge SP SSSI ek ESET Lh YEE
The Story
Of The
HERBERT HOOVER k
Tommyknockers
The Waldorf-Astoria Towers
New York 22, New York The Tommyknocker---who is he, and where did he come from?
May 20, 1963 When the Grass Valley Chamber of Commerce picked Tommy6961 ‘93 AUN[** “LFDONN PUL" *"h O8eq
knocker Days as theme for the 1963 Fourth of July celebration,
Joseph L. Milliken decided to do some research on the little men.
DEE EES EME Milliken, associated with Radio KAHI, contacted local sources,
wrote to former President Herbert Hoover, the Library of Congress,
I beg to acknowledge your refreshing letter and numerous other potential sources.
Reproduced on these two pages are his answer from ex-President
Hoover, and the Library of Congress, including two enclosures sent
to Milliken by the Library as source material.
I want participation in any performance that The information Milliken gathered has been turned over to the
has to do with tommyknockers, Grass Valley, Nevada Grass Valley Chamber of Commerce for its use in the celebration.
City, and all other reminders of happy days which Although ex~President Hoover enclosed in his letter a
came to me from these sources. photo of his Tommyknocker, it was strangely missing
when the letter arrived. Elfers explains this by noting
that last week the Nugget photograph of Tommyknockers
inBob Paine's Fool's Gold also disappeared, even as the
of May sixteenth.
The tommyknockers were the gnomes who for
centuries had given benevolent aid to the hard rock ink was imprinting the photo on the paper.
miners, mostly by warning of rock falls and water “as
breaks. They were associated with fairies, generally, Pe fm mf Ta
and we all believe in fairies.
They have a long record with the happiness of > ——_— j/ =
miners. About fifty years ago, Mrs. Hoover and I AIR MAIL QE
translated a book written in Latin about mining matia
ters of four hundred years ago. It describes the
nevolent character of these gnomes, and their
sires { Mr, Joseph Milliken,
ite ss ; . kiyocks to warn the miners.‘ © = PAUP MBN Podtaln gox1seGeet, YS
‘ Auburn, California
I had occasion to meet the mining gnomes in
person in a Russian‘mine, somewhere about 1908.
‘The Russian miners so believed in them that they castlife-size figures of them in the machine shops and
placed them in needed spots around and in the mines.
To prove my belief in their efficacy, I brought
one of them home, although he weighs many pounds.
He still guards the entrance to my apartment in the
Waldorf-Astoria. And to prove both his existence
and my belief in him, I send youa photograph. So, bay ee as
if anyone doubts the existence of benevolent tommyCake toes. hae
knockers in mines, just show this to him.
THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
VARONCTON 1
June 6, 1963
Dear Mr. Milliken:
Also convey my affections to the descendants Wivivel d wdasudly es ee
of all my Cornish friends which I made when a Wid Paleo: Cee, See ae Weeden
youngster at Grass Valley and Nevada City. Some Es pooped paren pacar rer ype cle Ore
or goblin imagined to dvell in the mines, and to indicate the presence
of them may still remember a Fourth of July speech of ore by mocking." Tee Faglish Dialect Dictionary pentions that Hacker
= x ip Cornish dialect for knocker. We checked a number of books on Ascricen
I made at Grass Valley when I tried to put in some Pandas ip apps ara pip EL ET aR Geom epee Te i
paragraphs of the Cornish dialect and some appreJams ea coat ths arinitioas ar tem,* (orally aus tog) ailcag toocan
formerly used in gold-vashing." So it seems possible that the knockers or {
ciation of the Cornish pie. ares the Cornish tin mines became the tocmykmockers of the California
In addition to the descriptions and information included in the attached
Ys fs 3 5 4 ‘ Verifox pages, the following quotations my be of interest:
Anyway, count me in in this festival. Beak ies aank ts ee ee eas a ee
the workeen; but never, uless insulted, do them barm, but rather are
of service to then. .. These Knockers are somstines visible.
Mr. John Lewis, in his correspondence with Mr. Baxter, describes thea
otal proverbs, and popular supersitions. Loodon, Printed
for Eévani Jeffery, 18. p. 246.
i Knockers, liks spriggaos, are very ugly beings, and, if you do not
treat then in a friendly spirit, very vindictive.
Courtney, M. A. Cornish feasts end folk-lore. Peazance,
Beare and Boo, 1850. p. 126.
Enclosures “loos TD
Mr. Joseph L. Billikes :
Route 1, Box 1355 Gasral narermee ead
. Auburn, California Bibliography Divisica.