TUOLUMNE COUNTY WATER CO Stock 1857 CA Gold Rush Stanislaus River Flumes BEAUTY
Item History & Price
| Reference Number: Avaluer:10009698 |
TuolumneCounty Water Company. Stock issued on July 9, 1857 in Columbia, California (Tuolumne County). Incorporated in 1852 in the State ofCalifornia. Certificate No. 3165 was issued to John Sime, Trustee(see bio below) for one share of capital stock ($250 per share).(written in red ink on the front: “Share No. 275”) Companycapital was $550, 000. Original ink signatures of company presidentand secretary. Certificate is about 6” x 10”. Black print of thinonionskin paper. Vig...nette with a beautiful, detailed engraving of aflume carrying water from the mountains (above) to the valley (below)and used by gold miners with sluice boxes to separate placer goldfrom other sands and gravels. Very interesting, unique vignette on awater company stock certificate during the California Gold Rush.
(Aflume is a man-made channel, an open declined gravity chute typicallymade of wood, to direct water for use in hydraulic placer mining, mills, agriculture, or consumption.)
(Columbia, Californiawas founded as a miningboomtownin 1850 when gold was found in the vicinity, and was known as the "Gem of the Southern Mines.")
(Thiscertificate is issued to, and signed on reverse by, John Sime, whocame to San Francisco in the late 1840s gold rush era and startedworking as a carpenter and builder. Sime became very successful andwas best known as a San Francisco banker (The Banking House of JohnSime & Company), but was also a driving force behind the firstWest Coast powder factory at the California Powder Works, the SanLorenzo Paper Mill in Santa Cruz, as a San Francisco merchant, and asone of the original founders of the Tuolumne County Water Company.)
Condition: Very Fine, no folds, creases or tears, very light signs of any wear/handling/toning, very small hole in center repaired from back with archival tape over small slit cancellation.Printer: Britton & Rey, Lithographers, San Francisco.
Company History:TheTuolumne County Water Company was organized in 1850 as an employeeowned and controlled company by Tuolumne County merchants and minerswho realized that a reliable supply of water was needed to makemining feasible year-round. Together, they established to TuolumneCounty Water Company in June of 1851. Company founders traveled tosurrounding areas of San Francisco promoting their company andfinding investors, and by the end of June, 1851 the route of theirwater flume had been surveyed taking water from the south fork of theStanislaus River to supply hydraulic placer mining sluicingoperations in the foothills adjacent to what is today YosemiteNational Park (founded in 1890). The company was incorporated inSeptember, 1852 with a new issuance of shares valued at $250 and acompany capital of $550, 000.Tuolumne County is one of the original counties of California, created in 1850 at the time of statehood. Prior to statehood, it hadbeen referred to as Oro County. Parts of the county were given toStanislaus County in 1854 and to Alpine County in 1864. After thefirst discovery of gold in Tuolumne County at Woods Creek nearpresent day Jamestown in the summer of 1848, mining camps sprang upthroughout the foothills. A steady supply of water was searched forin various areas near the major rivers, resulting in diverting andtransporting water primarily for hydraulic placer mining purposes.The first water company incorporated in 1852 was named TuolumneCounty Water Company. It started in Columbia and tapped water fromthe South Fork of the Stanislaus River. A competing company, Columbiaand Stanislaus River Company, was formed in 1854, tapping water fromthe Main Fork of the Stanislaus River. The Columbia and StanislausRiver Company was formed because the miners were being chargedexorbitantly high rates for water usage by Tuolumne County Water. TheTuolumne County Water Company (which later merged with several othersto become the Sierra and San Francisco Power Company) built a seriesof three dams between 1853 and 1856 along the South Fork StanislausRiver, the lowest turned Strawberry Flat into Lake Edna, the secondcreated Lake Eleanor, and lastly Lake Gertrude. Water disputes werevery common during the last half of the 1800s, which led to fightingand murder in some cases. An excerpt from the journal of William H.Brewer, scientist with the Whitney’s Geological Survey ofCalifornia, illustrates this colorful event: “Sonora, like Columbia, is a mining town…and there are several other mining villages verynear–all owing to the rich placers of the region. Water for washingthis dirt is brought from the Stanislaus River, over and through avery rough country, in a ditch over sixty miles long. And here is aCalifornian history. A ditch supplied water, but the miners thoughtthe water rates entirely too high, so they would build an oppositionditch.”
PAYMENTAND SHIPPING Please read certificate description details shown above before bidding. Please contact me with any questions before bidding. Payment by PayPal only. Shipping within the U.S. is by USPS First Class Mail ($4.00 for packages weighing 13 ounces or less) – shipping for packages weighing over 13 ounces will be shown on your invoice. If another shipping method is requested, a revised invoice will be sent. International buyers need to wait for my invoice before paying. Combined shipping cost will be offered for multiple items won – please wait for invoice before paying, or if specific shipping method or insurance is requested. Multiple items will be shipped together in one package. All packages will be shipped with certificates placed in plastic sleeves with cardboard backing and marked “Do Not Bend”. I do not profit on shipping costs charged. Items typically shipped within two days of payment.RETURNSAND GUARANTEE: Buyer satisfaction and authenticity of certificate is guaranteed – returns are accepted with 14 days of purchase (buyer pays return shipping cost unless item received is not as described in this listing). All certificates are originals – no reproductions.
(Aflume is a man-made channel, an open declined gravity chute typicallymade of wood, to direct water for use in hydraulic placer mining, mills, agriculture, or consumption.)
(Columbia, Californiawas founded as a miningboomtownin 1850 when gold was found in the vicinity, and was known as the "Gem of the Southern Mines.")
(Thiscertificate is issued to, and signed on reverse by, John Sime, whocame to San Francisco in the late 1840s gold rush era and startedworking as a carpenter and builder. Sime became very successful andwas best known as a San Francisco banker (The Banking House of JohnSime & Company), but was also a driving force behind the firstWest Coast powder factory at the California Powder Works, the SanLorenzo Paper Mill in Santa Cruz, as a San Francisco merchant, and asone of the original founders of the Tuolumne County Water Company.)
Condition: Very Fine, no folds, creases or tears, very light signs of any wear/handling/toning, very small hole in center repaired from back with archival tape over small slit cancellation.Printer: Britton & Rey, Lithographers, San Francisco.
Company History:TheTuolumne County Water Company was organized in 1850 as an employeeowned and controlled company by Tuolumne County merchants and minerswho realized that a reliable supply of water was needed to makemining feasible year-round. Together, they established to TuolumneCounty Water Company in June of 1851. Company founders traveled tosurrounding areas of San Francisco promoting their company andfinding investors, and by the end of June, 1851 the route of theirwater flume had been surveyed taking water from the south fork of theStanislaus River to supply hydraulic placer mining sluicingoperations in the foothills adjacent to what is today YosemiteNational Park (founded in 1890). The company was incorporated inSeptember, 1852 with a new issuance of shares valued at $250 and acompany capital of $550, 000.Tuolumne County is one of the original counties of California, created in 1850 at the time of statehood. Prior to statehood, it hadbeen referred to as Oro County. Parts of the county were given toStanislaus County in 1854 and to Alpine County in 1864. After thefirst discovery of gold in Tuolumne County at Woods Creek nearpresent day Jamestown in the summer of 1848, mining camps sprang upthroughout the foothills. A steady supply of water was searched forin various areas near the major rivers, resulting in diverting andtransporting water primarily for hydraulic placer mining purposes.The first water company incorporated in 1852 was named TuolumneCounty Water Company. It started in Columbia and tapped water fromthe South Fork of the Stanislaus River. A competing company, Columbiaand Stanislaus River Company, was formed in 1854, tapping water fromthe Main Fork of the Stanislaus River. The Columbia and StanislausRiver Company was formed because the miners were being chargedexorbitantly high rates for water usage by Tuolumne County Water. TheTuolumne County Water Company (which later merged with several othersto become the Sierra and San Francisco Power Company) built a seriesof three dams between 1853 and 1856 along the South Fork StanislausRiver, the lowest turned Strawberry Flat into Lake Edna, the secondcreated Lake Eleanor, and lastly Lake Gertrude. Water disputes werevery common during the last half of the 1800s, which led to fightingand murder in some cases. An excerpt from the journal of William H.Brewer, scientist with the Whitney’s Geological Survey ofCalifornia, illustrates this colorful event: “Sonora, like Columbia, is a mining town…and there are several other mining villages verynear–all owing to the rich placers of the region. Water for washingthis dirt is brought from the Stanislaus River, over and through avery rough country, in a ditch over sixty miles long. And here is aCalifornian history. A ditch supplied water, but the miners thoughtthe water rates entirely too high, so they would build an oppositionditch.”
PAYMENTAND SHIPPING Please read certificate description details shown above before bidding. Please contact me with any questions before bidding. Payment by PayPal only. Shipping within the U.S. is by USPS First Class Mail ($4.00 for packages weighing 13 ounces or less) – shipping for packages weighing over 13 ounces will be shown on your invoice. If another shipping method is requested, a revised invoice will be sent. International buyers need to wait for my invoice before paying. Combined shipping cost will be offered for multiple items won – please wait for invoice before paying, or if specific shipping method or insurance is requested. Multiple items will be shipped together in one package. All packages will be shipped with certificates placed in plastic sleeves with cardboard backing and marked “Do Not Bend”. I do not profit on shipping costs charged. Items typically shipped within two days of payment.RETURNSAND GUARANTEE: Buyer satisfaction and authenticity of certificate is guaranteed – returns are accepted with 14 days of purchase (buyer pays return shipping cost unless item received is not as described in this listing). All certificates are originals – no reproductions.
