Visual Materials
Carlisle Mine, Forbestown, California
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Photographs of Los Angeles Old Chinatown, First Street Bridge, and an unidentified trestle bridge
Visual Materials
Three cabinet photographs of early Los Angeles, California, most likely taken in the1880s. The first is an elevated view of Calle de Los Negros in Old Chinatown by photographer F. G. Schumacher, showing a dirt road, adobe buildings, horse-drawn wagons, and a few people. The second photograph is marked in ink "First St. Bridge," and shows a partially washed-out wooden bridge over the flooded Los Angeles River. A man on horseback and a photographer with a large box camera are on the shore. The third cabinet photograph is of an unidentified railroad trestle bridge spanning a canyon or river.
photPF 26024
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Title page: New Almaden Quicksilver Mine
Rare Books
A collection of 50 mammoth plate photographs of Yosemite, the New Almaden Mine, and Mendocino, California by photographer Carleton E. Watkins (1829-1916). The prints were in a two-volume set, now disbound, containing a title page dated 1863 and a dedication page reading: "To Ernest Frignet / His California Friends / April 1864." The photographs are landscape views of Yosemite and the Mariposa giant sequoias, taken by Watkins in 1861, followed by 1863 views of New Almaden Quicksilver Mine and Mendocino, both in Northern California. The mining series includes views of workers and the miners' community of small houses and wooden shacks. One view shows young boys with wheelbarrows of rock. The Mendocino Coast images focus on lumber mills near the mouths of Big River, Albion River, and Noyo River, with one view of Native Americans, possibly Pomo, in front of wood plank dwellings, and a group of soldiers at Fort Bragg.
379010

The Downey Bridge, San Antonio Rancho
Visual Materials
View of Downey Bridge over the San Gabriel River on the San Antonio Rancho (present day Bell Gardens, California), with wooden supports.
photCL_555_06_210
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New Almaden Quicksilver Mine / Mendocino Coast Views
Rare Books
In 1863, Watkins was commissioned to photograph the New Almaden Quicksilver Mine near San Jose, California, by William Eustace Barron, a founding partner and San Francisco merchant. This group of 8 mammoth plate photographs depict the structures and works of the quicksilver (i.e. mercury) mine set among hillsides, including smelting furnaces, metal sheds, and paths leading to mine entrances. One view depicts about 40 workers at a quarry, including several adolescent boys posed with wheelbarrows. The miners’ community of small houses and wooden shacks is also seen in views titled "Hacienda" and “The Town on the Hill.” The Mendocino Coast Views Watkins made in the fall of 1863, most likely on a commission from Jerome B. Ford, a major mill owner in Mendocino, California. Views show lumber mills along the banks of Big River, Albion River, and Noyo River, near where they meet the Pacific Ocean. The coastal city of Mendocino is seen on top of a high beach cliff, and there are scenic views of ocean waves crashing against boulders. One river view shows men guiding a small ferry by holding a cable mounted across the river, and a log flume is seen suspended in the background. There is one view of Native Americans, possibly Pomo, seated in front of dwellings made from wooden planks. The house of “Mr. Chalfant” in the town, with a fenced yard, is the focus of another photograph, and there is one view of the Fort Bragg army post.
RB 379010 : Vol. 2

LA & San Gabriel Valley RR crossing Columbia St., Pasadena, 1885
Visual Materials
View down a railroad track of the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad running under a wooden bridge at Columbia Street in Pasadena, California. The bridge spans a wide trench dug into the ground for the tracks. Another similar bridge is ahead in the distance.
photPF 559
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Photographs related to mining in California
Visual Materials
Consists of eight photographs. Seven are taken by Rockwell Hereford while he was employed at Consolidated Western Steel Corporation. Captions are on the verso, and subjects include the Bryne (O'Bryne) covered bridge near Copperopolis in Calaveras County, the telephone line believed to be the oldest long distance telephone line in the world (as of June 1948), located between French Corral and North San Juan. Photographs taken in Nevada County include the machine shop where Pelton invented his water wheel, the Malakoff mine, an old hose cart in North San Juan with rawhide riveted nozzles and laced canvas, and Relief Hill mine. One photograph of an unidentified church choir photographed y Huddleston Photo Company, Los Angeles, is also included in this collection.
photPF 2460-2467