After two years, I’m finally back in northern California on a brief vacation to see family, and having a ball.
I’ve spent a few days in Amador City, in the heart of the Mother Lode, and have been able to finally see (thanks to my sister setting up a private tour) the historic Knight Foundry in Sutter Creek.
This foundry was the last operating water-driven foundry in the US, all run on Knight “water motors”, the predecessor / basis of the better promoted Pelton Wheel.
The line shaft is now run from a single electric motor, purely for demonstration purposes.
Official web site:
Here’s a couple vids I took of the line shaft running.
And some photos:
OK, this has nothing to do with California gold mining, except the mining part, the fact that a relative mentioned scorpy.com, that this has been the first night in front of a computer since I don’t know how long, that I’m still in a CA hotel, and that I was drawn to the first topic that came up: coal breaker boys.
Check this out.
https://www.shorpy.com/search/node/breaker+boys
I want to add that Amador City, where my middle sister lives, is wonderful. Less than 200 residents, and they’re all friendly. Met at the historic Imperial Hotel on Wednesday evening to here the local folk band, where they performed many hit tunes such as Swervin In My Lane (loved that, my sis was playing the uke earlier and singing the harmony here).
This is a mixed album of pics from the Angels Camp museum and Amador City’s Imperial Hotel. (This will take a couple hours to load to Imgur…)(Edit: I have tried hard to add many pics to the album, but they don’t show up, and I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong, but I hope this gives you an idea)
888:> Cliffy
