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Collection: Directories and Documents > Historical Clippings

Newspaper Notes - 1850s (NN-18.5)(1850s) (336 pages)

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The first noteworthy attempt at ! . ditch building was made in March 1850 at Coyote Hill, Nevada county to carry water from Mosquito c HYDRAULIC MINING’S END; Creek to nearby mining operations. Other ditches were built soon aflt sta rted power d evel c pane Me terwards throughout the mining r ; ) district, and by 1869 approximately = 325 separate canals were in operTeaee ® ABOUT THE MAN WHO WROTE 9 : THE DECISION ation in California, 120 of which were located in Nevada county i and its neighboring counties, In 1865 the various canals in Nevada . . . 1 ) . } Judge Lorenzo Sawyer, whose decision sounded the death knell of the billion dollar . _ . hydraulic mining industry, began his California legal career, oddly _{. enough, in the tow ’ where the first hydcounty were combined into two grand systems, The Eureka Lake and Yuba Canal Co, and the South Yuba: Canal Co. . f lw Neyada City First The county’s first post office _ Was established at Nevada City’ Dec. 12, 1850. a Newspaper publisher and_ state senator E.G.Waite said of it in’ 1867: at . Alexanders Blanton was the first postmaster. His office was on the site of Mrs. Maria Hill’s brick dwelling (still stand_ Ing 1959) near the Court House. The office of postmaster was supposed to be a fat one in those! early days, the perquisites and stealings being on a liberal scale. _ > "Il is not known now much «ne first postmaster came out of wie office with, but the import.’ ation of fast stock soon after is short term of a few months closed, seemed to show that te means for his temporal comfort had been well supplied. “Wakeup-Jake” was a celebrated horse in his time, brought to the State under the auspices of the first postmaster of Nevada (City) .". raulic monitor was developed. Lorenzo Sawyer, admitted to the Ohio bar in 1846, came overland to California in 1850, and in October of that year opened a / w. office in Nevada City. It is related that his law library consisted of eleven volumes and that for many months his clients and fees were few until he defended a murder case which the other lawyers refused to — handle. The defendant, a "public woman," — known as "Old Harriet" kept a saloon and dance house bordering on Deer Creek. One . night a drunken miner celebrated there and . disappeared, to be found dead and complete. ly nude, with a wound in the head, in the . storm swollen creek. Harriet was charged . with his murder. Sawyer contended that the . miner fell off a log which was used tobridge the creek to enter the establishment. . While the Judge was considering the case . two other miners crossed the creek on the . log and one fell in. Three days later his . body,also nude and with an identical wound, was found at the exact spot where corpse No. 1 had been recovered. This new develop~ ment resulted in Harriet's acquittal and . reportedly thereafter he was acclaimed a legal genius and had more clients than ho could accomodate. Judge Sawyer made his fateful hydraulic decision on January 12, 1884 as Federal Circuit Judge of the Ninth District. He had formerly served as Chief Justice of the . Supreme Court of California. His decision, obviously just, as contemplated today, changed prosperous communities to "ghost towns" and depressed the state's economy for . a decade. But it also diverted the vast ditch systems of the miner to agriculture and powere.

The first noteworthy attempt at ! . ditch building was made in March 1850 at Coyote Hill, Nevada county to carry water from Mosquito c HYDRAULIC MINING’S END; Creek to nearby mining operations. Other ditches were built soon aflt sta rted power d evel c pane Me terwards throughout the mining r ; ) district, and by 1869 approximately = 325 separate canals were in operTeaee ® ABOUT THE MAN WHO WROTE 9 : THE DECISION ation in California, 120 of which were located in Nevada county i and its neighboring counties, In 1865 the various canals in Nevada . . . 1 ) . } Judge Lorenzo Sawyer, whose decision sounded the death knell of the billion dollar . _ . hydraulic mining industry, began his California legal career, oddly _{. enough, in the tow ’ where the first hydcounty were combined into two grand systems, The Eureka Lake and Yuba Canal Co, and the South Yuba: Canal Co.. . f lw Neyada City First The county’s first post office _ Was established at Nevada City’ Dec. 12, 1850. a Newspaper publisher and_ state senator E.G.Waite said of it in’ 1867: at . Alexanders Blanton was the first postmaster. His office was on the site of Mrs. Maria Hill’s brick dwelling (still stand_ Ing 1959) near the Court House. The office of postmaster was supposed to be a fat one in those! early days, the perquisites and stealings being on a liberal scale. _ > "Il is not known now much «ne first postmaster came out of wie office with, but the import.’ ation of fast stock soon after is short term of a few months closed, seemed to show that te means for his temporal comfort had been well supplied. “Wakeup-Jake” was a celebrated horse in his time, brought to the State under the auspices of the first postmaster of Nevada (City) ..". raulic monitor was developed. Lorenzo Sawyer, admitted to the Ohio bar in 1846, came overland to California in 1850, and in October of that year opened a / w. office in Nevada City. It is related that his law library consisted of eleven volumes and that for many months his clients and fees were few until he defended a murder case which the other lawyers refused to — handle. The defendant, a "public woman," — known as "Old Harriet" kept a saloon and dance house bordering on Deer Creek. One . night a drunken miner celebrated there and . disappeared, to be found dead and complete. ly nude, with a wound in the head, in the . storm swollen creek. Harriet was charged . with his murder. Sawyer contended that the . miner fell off a log which was used tobridge the creek to enter the establishment. . While the Judge was considering the case . two other miners crossed the creek on the . log and one fell in. Three days later his . body,also nude and with an identical wound, was found at the exact spot where corpse No. 1 had been recovered. This new develop~ ment resulted in Harriet's acquittal and . reportedly thereafter he was acclaimed a legal genius and had more clients than ho could accomodate. Judge Sawyer made his fateful hydraulic decision on January 12, 1884 as Federal Circuit Judge of the Ninth District. He had formerly served as Chief Justice of the . Supreme Court of California. His decision, obviously just, as contemplated today, changed prosperous communities to "ghost towns" and depressed the state's economy for . a decade. But it also diverted the vast ditch systems of the miner to agriculture and powere.

Newspaper Notes - 1850s (NN-18.5)(1850s) (336 pages)

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Newspaper Notes - 1850s (NN-18.5)(1850s) (336 pages)

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