Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Image not available
Manuscripts
Collection of letters from George H. Mendell to D.D. Clarke - who was Engineer of the Water Board for Portland, Oregon - written between 1897 and 1899. Mendell writes detailed letters of instruction and advice for engineering issues raised by Clarke, particularly regarding drainage, wells, and the sinking of shafts. The majority of the letters were written from Mendell's office in San Francisco, although some originated in Los Angeles or Springfield, Illinois, where Mendell had traveled "on account of mental illness of a relative" in 1897. He also mentions meeting with Clarke in Portland on his return trip from Illinois in September 1897. Also included in the collection are a few other pieces of miscellaneous correspondence from 1894-1899 relating to water engineering in Portland.
HM 77819
Image not available
Manuscripts
This manuscript is Samuel Goodman's 1861 recollection of his 1852 journey to California. In his opening lines, he writes that he "with hundreds of others blindly went forth to unknown regions impelled and urged onward by the Strange Excitement caused by the discovery of Gold in that Country." He departed from New York in January 1852 with his oldest son, aboard the ship Prometheus, bound for Nicaragua. Once arrived, it was discovered that the ship they were to take for the next part of their journey, the Central America, had been run aground, so they traveled by foot to Mexico. They went by ship the rest of the way, on board a charter ship from San Francisco by the name of Northern Light, arriving in California at the end of May. Goodman and his son take to the country and begin searching for gold. He ponders the mentality and circumstances of the California gold miner. He eventually gives up mining and spends two years "acting as Magistrate and Post Master" in Sierra County, and obtained shares in quartz and granite mining operations. He writes in detail of the various mining processes, and also relates the "Story of Logan," whom he calls "the Prince of the Mines."
mssHM 50578