Enter a name, company, place or keywords to search across this item. Then click "Search" (or hit Enter).
Volume 79-1 - January 2025 (8 pages)
Go to the Archive Home
Go to Thumbnail View of this Item
Go to Single Page View of this Item
Download the Page Image
Copy the Page Text to the Clipboard
Don't highlight the search terms on the Image
Show the Page Image
Show the Image Page Text
Reset View and Center Image
Zoom Out
Zoom In
Rotate Left
Rotate Right
Toggle Full Page View
Flip Image Horizontally
More Information About this Image
Get a Citation for Page or Image - Copy to the Clipboard
Go to the Previous Page (or Left Arrow key)
Go to the Next Page (or Right Arrow key)
Page: of 8
NCHS Bulletin January 2025
North Star Powerhouse
Mining Museum: Vince Seck
Terrific examples of working
mining machinery — mod. els as well as large-scale real
deals — are at the North Star
Powerhouse Mining Museum. Vince Seck, docent
extraordinaire, dressed in
period attire, leads visitors through history from
men with gold pans along Wolf Creek to an ulwa-industrialized Pelton Wheel that generated
compressed air for underground mining. These
wheels are still in use today, inside hydro-electric
generators in dams across the world.
During Vince’s tour, he pauses to acknowledge
some of the people who made significant contibutions to the museum such as Rolf Laessig, a
German machinist and mechanical engineer who
restored the dynamite packing machine, and Glen
Jones who donated vintage items from his family’s multi-generation Grass Valley hardware store.
Women;s History. s
suildine iain
. Danger of Being
a
=) Lost 'S
x i v 2025 a
click here to view video : e
Women’s History Building
is in Danger of Being Lost:
Grass Valley Museum and Cultural Center
Grass Valley Museum and Cultural
Center: Paul Coddington
Paul Coddington, Director of the Grass Valley
Museum and Cultural Center (GVMCC), says,
“The building is one of the few stellar sites for
women’s history in the Mother Lode area. This
is the oldest standing purpose-built convent for
women west of the Rocky Mountains. It is one of
only two 19%-century buildings built for women
in California.'® And it’s the only building standing
from the 19"-century representing orphanages.”
Nevada County Historical Society:
Linda Jack
= Long-time editor of the
Nevada County Historical
. Society (NCHS) Bulletin,
F Linda Jack lives within
. viewing distance of the
Grass Valley Museum. As a
native Californian interested
in history, 1t was natural for her to research its
origins. “This building is one of the most significant historic buildings in Grass Valley,” she says.
“T was astounded by what the sisters accomplished
and the wide impact they had on the community,”
said Linda. “This was a group of very young Irish
women who probably never ventured more than a
few miles from their home villages.” In full black
habits, they sailed across the ocean, traveled by
land over the Isthmus of Panama, and then up the
California coast. “They were adventurous little
spirits. When they got here, there were a lot of
orphans. The mining business was very dangerous. They immediately took on the orphans and
children’s education. They made sick calls
throughout the community visiting people no
matter their race or religion. I think per capita, per
person, they had more impact than any group in
Nevada County. They operated for over 100 years,
so they had decades to make this kind of impact. I
don’t think anyone could find a single building,
complex, or group of people who were more
important than the Sisters of Mercy.”
Echoes of the Sister’s care remain alive today in
Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital run by Dignity Health. This organization was started by the
Sisters of Mercy health program.