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Page: of 12
~ The Nevada County Nugget Wedne
evada County
d in 1924
M.J. Brock
ven Vd ‘ a : 1S ire: vee J
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by the other Pelton wheel.
On Match 20, 1896, Glasson sold out his plant to the Nevada
County Electric Power Company. This company operated the
Deer Creek plant for three years before shutting it down and
disposing of the machinery for junk.
In 1896 electricity was brought for the first time from the
Rome Power House, on the South Yuba River, into Nevada
City, just three years before the old Teer Creek plant was
abandoned.
The first electric motor run in Nevada County was installed at the Gold Hill Mine to drive a 150-horse-power compressor.
The first induction motor used in Nevada County was installed in Boston Ravine, at the old Rogers or Gold Hill Mill.
The first electric hoist in Nevada County was erected at
the Homeward-Bound Mine, in August, 1898. The HomewardBound also used a 250-volt motor to drive a Cornish pump.
The first substation of the Nevada County Electric Rewer
Company, in Grass Valley, was situated at the corner of Main
and Stewart Streets. The mine's circuit was not brought into
Grass Valley substation, but was tacked off at a pole at the
corner of Auburn and Empire Streets. In the fall of 1900 electric
power was first brought in from Colgate.
The starting of the Rome Power House and the taking over
of the Glasson interests ushered in the new era in electric
development in Nevada County.
Eugene DeSabla, Jr., John Martin, and Alfred Tredigo were
the pioneers of local electric development. It was their hard
work in installing and equipping the small Nevada County Power
Plant that made possible the other plants and the enlargement
of the system, until their vision of electric development in
Nevada County has been realized in the establishment of one of
the largest public utilities of modern times, with power wires
extended over 31,000 square miles, an area equal to that of
the States of Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode
Island and Connecticut, and with a combined pay-roll of over
5000 employees. At first, power was sought only for the mines;
now the mines use but a small fraction of the power generated,
by far the greater portion being utilized to run the railroads
and manufactories, and the pumping-plants for the farmers
throughout California. Nevada County in pioneer days boasted
the largest and most expensive ditch system in California;
today, with the Excelsior Water & Power Company, the Pacific
Gas & Electric Company, and the Nevada Irrigation District
in the field for control of all the unharnessed water for power
and irrigation, it looks as if Nevada County is coming back to
its own, and may claim to be the greatest county for power and
water in the State.
NEVADA COUNTY'S MINING INVENTIONS
Nevada County is entitled to the credit for the invention
and improvement of most of the appliances used in mining, It
was here that the long tom, in 1851, was substituted for the
miner's cradle, Then came the ground sluice, followed shortly
by E, E. Matteson's discovery of the hydraulic pipe. In a few
years this discovery led to wonderful results and to the establishment of long ditches and permanent work. Later a hose
serving machine was introduced, and also French's rock-drilling machine,
The discovery of gold in quartz mace quartz mills necessary; and the main parts of the mills were invented here and
are still in use in improved form. The wooden stamps, with
iron end-clamps, gave way to iron and Steel, and the blankets
for saving the gold are now copper plates covered with amalgam. Twenty-five per cent of the gold then went out with the
by-slime. Now this is nearly all saved through the use of
modern concentrators and cyanide plants, Up to a few years
ago blankets caught the last gold collected from the slime
of the mill, The discovery of the Oliver filter by E, L, Oliver,
in Grass Valley, completed the chain of improvements, so that now
a modern mill first pulps the quartz to a 40 or 60 mash, This
slime flows over the amalgam plates and then goes over the
concentrators, is distributed in vats mixed with cyanide, and
passes through the filter, about 95% of the gold being saved in
the process,
One of the most recent discoveries in Grass Valley is the
Paynter drill-testing machine, This machine registers accurately the number of blows per minute, and weight of same, for
all drilling machines, These machines are now being made in
Grass Valley, and are shipped to various centers throughout
the mining world,
(To be continued next week)
sday, May 10, 1972 7