Volume 029-3 - July 1975 (6 pages)

ARTHUR DeWINT FOOTE CIVIL & MINING ENGINEER BUILDER OF THE ROAD WHICH BEARS HIS NAME behind its construction. It is amusing to note now the above descriptions changed during the years between when the first was written in 1913 and the last, written in 1944. In the year 1913 the pages of the Grass Valley Union newspaper carried detailed acounts of the progress of gold mines in the surrounding hills and canyons. The Golden Center and Oustomah were putting in new equipment and the Brunswick was running full shifts. Gold seemed to be everywhere in the news. One edition even tells of gold uncovered during the excavation for a garage on the corner of Mill and Neal streets. But perhaps ‘the most dramatic headlines that year described the activities of the Tightner Mine in the canyon of the Middle Yuba River, forty miles north east of Grass Valley. On March first the Union reported, ‘“*TIGHTNER YEILDS OVER $250,000 IN LAST FOUR MONTHS.’’ On March fifth another article was headed: — ‘“*TIGHTNER FIND SAID TO BE ONE OF THE GREATEST EVER MADE” and the article describes ‘‘a quartz slab four feet long and one foot thick, hung together with clusters of pure gold.’’ It was estimated to weigh one thousand pounds and contain a king’s ransom in gold. The Tightner Mine, located near Alleghany, was first worked by H. L. Johnson in 1903. In 19ll J. M. O,Brien of San Francisco became interested in purchasing the Tightner from Johnson, In late 1911 O’Brien invited Arthur DeWint Foote to join in with him. A smal closed corporation was contemplated with a few friends which included Mr. Foote, his son Arthur Burline Foote, and William Hague, all three men associated with the North Star Mine in Grass Valley. On December 10, 1911 attorney Lloyd R. Larue wrote up the articles of incorporation and one hundred shares of stock were issued. There were thirty five stockholders, most of them Nevada County men. A. D. Foote served as president and manager and. ‘‘Abe’’ Hall became mine superintendent. The history of the Tightner is exciting as it contains many accounts of uncovering rich pockets of gold. A. D. Foote describes one of these discoveries: ‘‘In putting up a raise, from the stope, we ran into coarse gold and worked to the nanging over the former stope of poor quartz, taking out $750,000 in gold in a space less than one hundred feet squar>. Some of it was so rich we had to cut it up with chisels to get it to the mill.” This did not happen again in-such a large amount, but Foote relates finding numerous bodies that yeilded from $75,000 to $100,000 in the course of the three years he was manager. The forty mile road from Grass Valley to the Tightner Mine was frightful. In sections it climbed over one thousand feet higher than its destination so that in winter it became impassable due to heavy snow. This necessitated hauling the bullion out in nackpacks by men on skis. Foote conceived the idea of building a new and shorter road at a much lower elevation. An article written by his son A. B. ‘‘Sonny’’ Foote states, ‘‘Being unable, on account of infirmity, to go over the route himself, he located it on a small scale government topographic map and entrusted the staking out of the road to a local surveyor, who also made the estimate of costs.”’ On March 21, 1913 the Union carried the following article: — ‘It is not improbable that during the coming summer a new and shorter direct route to Alleghany will be built. A. D. Foote and other prominent mining men who have large interests in the Alleghany district will give aid to the project.One of the proposed routes is by way of Moore’s Flat which would mean a new and easier grade from that place to the Middle Yuba, thence by the Plumbago Mine and a new road across to Alleghany by way of Chipps Flat. This would place the Gold Canyon, Plumbago and other mines on the route. ‘*Another and more feasible route as advocated by the Union a few years ago, would be by way of Columbia Hill, the Delhi Mine, then to the Yuba River below to Kanaka Creek, and along the west side of Kanaka Creek to Alleghany. This route is nearly out of the snow line. ‘Still another proposed route is to start from Freeman’s Crossing on the Middle Yuba River and follow the Middle Yuba River to Kanaka Creek and thence along the creek to Alleghany. Any of the routes would prove much better than the long way now traveled to Alleghany. Freight teams now requiring five days to make the round trip would be enabled to do so in three days by a short cut route, while a new road would be open as well to winter travel. The building of the new road would result in much benefit to Southern Sierra County as well as to this

ARTHUR DeWINT FOOTE CIVIL & MINING ENGINEER BUILDER OF THE ROAD WHICH BEARS HIS NAME behind its construction. It is amusing to note now the above descriptions changed during the years between when the first was written in 1913 and the last, written in 1944. In the year 1913 the pages of the Grass Valley Union newspaper carried detailed acounts of the progress of gold mines in the surrounding hills and canyons. The Golden Center and Oustomah were putting in new equipment and the Brunswick was running full shifts. Gold seemed to be everywhere in the news. One edition even tells of gold uncovered during the excavation for a garage on the corner of Mill and Neal streets. But perhaps ‘the most dramatic headlines that year described the activities of the Tightner Mine in the canyon of the Middle Yuba River, forty miles north east of Grass Valley. On March first the Union reported, ‘“*TIGHTNER YEILDS OVER $250,000 IN LAST FOUR MONTHS.’’ On March fifth another article was headed: — ‘“*TIGHTNER FIND SAID TO BE ONE OF THE GREATEST EVER MADE” and the article describes ‘‘a quartz slab four feet long and one foot thick, hung together with clusters of pure gold.’’ It was estimated to weigh one thousand pounds and contain a king’s ransom in gold. The Tightner Mine, located near Alleghany, was first worked by H. L. Johnson in 1903. In 19ll J. M. O,Brien of San Francisco became interested in purchasing the Tightner from Johnson, In late 1911 O’Brien invited Arthur DeWint Foote to join in with him. A smal closed corporation was contemplated with a few friends which included Mr. Foote, his son Arthur Burline Foote, and William Hague, all three men associated with the North Star Mine in Grass Valley. On December 10, 1911 attorney Lloyd R. Larue wrote up the articles of incorporation and one hundred shares of stock were issued. There were thirty five stockholders, most of them Nevada County men. A. D. Foote served as president and manager and. ‘‘Abe’’ Hall became mine superintendent. The history of the Tightner is exciting as it contains many accounts of uncovering rich pockets of gold. A. D. Foote describes one of these discoveries: ‘‘In putting up a raise, from the stope, we ran into coarse

gold and worked to the nanging over the former stope of poor quartz, taking out $750,000 in gold in a space less than one hundred feet squar>. Some of it was so rich we had to cut it up with chisels to get it to the mill.” This did not happen again in-such a large amount, but Foote relates finding numerous bodies that yeilded from $75,000 to $100,000 in the course of the three years he was manager. The forty mile road from Grass Valley to the Tightner Mine was frightful. In sections it climbed over one thousand feet higher than its destination so that in winter it became impassable due to heavy snow. This necessitated hauling the bullion out in nackpacks by men on skis. Foote conceived the idea of building a new and shorter road at a much lower elevation. An article written by his son A. B. ‘‘Sonny’’ Foote states, ‘‘Being unable, on account of infirmity, to go over the route himself, he located it on a small scale government topographic map and entrusted the staking out of the road to a local surveyor, who also made the estimate of costs.”’ On March 21, 1913 the Union carried the following article: — ‘It is not improbable that during the coming summer a new and shorter direct route to Alleghany will be built. A. D. Foote and other prominent mining men who have large interests in the Alleghany district will give aid to the project.One of the proposed routes is by way of Moore’s Flat which would mean a new and easier grade from that place to the Middle Yuba, thence by the Plumbago Mine and a new road across to Alleghany by way of Chipps Flat. This would place the Gold Canyon, Plumbago and other mines on the route. ‘*Another and more feasible route as advocated by the Union a few years ago, would be by way of Columbia Hill, the Delhi Mine, then to the Yuba River below to Kanaka Creek, and along the west side of Kanaka Creek to Alleghany. This route is nearly out of the snow line. ‘Still another proposed route is to start from Freeman’s Crossing on the Middle Yuba River and follow the Middle Yuba River to Kanaka Creek and thence along the creek to Alleghany. Any of the routes would prove much better than the long way now traveled to Alleghany. Freight teams now requiring five days to make the round trip would be enabled to do so in three days by a short cut route, while a new road would be open as well to winter travel. The building of the new road would result in much benefit to Southern Sierra County as well as to this