THREE ALBUMEN PRINTS OF MINING OPERATIONS NEAR FRENCH CORRAL, NEVADA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA. N.p., n.d. Three photographs, circa 1880s: (1) Hydraulic mining operation near French Corral, albumen print, 11.5x19.2 cm (4 1/2 x 7 1/2 inches) on a slightly larger plain mount with "French Corral" in pencil on mount verso; (2) Mine and Flume near French Corral, albumen print, 11.5x19.2 cm (4 1/2 x 7 1/2 inches) on a slightly larger plain mount with "French Corral" in pencil on mount verso; and (3) Shady Creek flume near French Corral, albumen print, 15.5x120.5 cm (6 1/8 x 8 inches) on a larger plain mount with "Shady Creek, Nev. Co." written in pencil on the mount below the image and "Shady Creek / Nevada Co. / w/French Corral photos" in pencil on mount verso. French Corral, located between Rough & Ready and North San Juan, is one of several early California gold rush towns built along the San Juan Ridge, a region notable for hydraulic mining extending approximately 24 miles east-northeast between the South and Middle Yuba Rivers in the foothills of the northern Sierra Nevada. French Corral "enjoyed both a placer boom and a hydraulic mining boom. The area existed as a successful mining region from 1849 well into the 1900s. [The principal period of gold mining was from the middle 1850s to the 1890s.] Ravine mining began in the area in 1849, with surface diggings discovered around 1851. More sophisticated mining practices started in early 1852, with the building of a ditch from Shady Creek by the Messrs. Twist, Wadsworth, Williams, Spurry, and the Eddy brothers. Another Shady Creek ditch was built in 1853, brought in by the Grizzly Water Company and principally owned by Charles Marsh and W. M. Stewart. Several fires damaged the facilities, but profitable mining continued, with more ditches and deeper tunnels being built throughout the 1850s. The gold mined in the 1850s in the French Corral area was estimated in the millions of dollars. As hydraulic mining took over, several large mines were established near French Corral, including the Manzanita Mine operated by the Milton Company. By 1880, the company had 160 men on the payroll. Several men became wealthy through these mining practices. Those men included A. H. Eddy, the eventual owner of the National Exchange Hotel in Nevada City, W. G. Fenton, M. L. Marsh, and Jean Villian. Hydraulic mining lasted until the 1884 prohibition of discharging mining debris into the Yuba River. In 1894, however, the U.S. Debris Commission granted limited hydraulic mining to the French Corral region" (Wikipedia). The images are very good or better. One mount has several small holes in margins, image not affected. Interesting images of a historic California mining region. (#167435).
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