Visitors to the
Siskiyou County Museum might notice this large, iron piece of equipment that sits tucked away and almost out of sight. There's a plaque monumented in front of this preserved machine that reads:
NO. 4 KINGPIN HYDRAULIC GIANT
PURPOSE: GOLD MINING. USED FROM 1890
TO 1906. CAST BY JOSHUA HENDY IRON
WORKS. OPERATED FOR YEARS AT RED HILL
MINE, NEAR MOUTH OF KNOW NOTHING CREEK,
NEAR 500 FOOT HEAD OF WATER. PACKED
TO MINE BY BENNETT CO. PACK TRAIN.
DONATED BY NELSON BENNETT
ERECTED BY HUMBUG CHAPTER NO. 73
OF THE "E CLAMPUS VITUS"
DEDICATED JUNE 17, 1973 |
I located the ECV Chapter #73 website here. I also located a couple of websites discussing the history of the Joshua Hendy Ironworks on Wikipedia here and another website here. Finally, I located an online newsletter titled Jefferson Backroads which highlights this historical marker and preserved machine and reads:
Historical Markers of The State of Jefferson
by Bill Wensrich & James Ordway
Chartered by Grand Council in May 1973, Humbug Chapter wasted no time erecting their first historical plaque. Callahan’s Mel Cramer, one of the founders and first Humbug Chapter President, was the spark for getting this plaque erected. Located at 910 Main Street in front of the Siskiyou County Museum, it serves as a good example of an E Clampus Vitus historical marker.
Hydraulic mining, a very efficient method of getting gold out of the ground, was a variation on ground sluicing. Hydraulic miners shot water through a nozzle at high pressure onto cliff faces washing away tons of boulders, gravel, dirt, and ounces of gold. Whole hillsides would collapse with all the debris ending up in a series of huge sluice boxes catching the gold.
Edward Mattison is recognized as the innovator for this method of mining. In 1853 he supplied water through a rawhide hose to a nozzle he carved out of wood. Miners later upgraded their hoses to metal; the nozzle component soon became iron. Product names for these iron nozzles included Hoskin’s Dictator and Hoskin’s Little Giant. The name that stuck, the Monitor, was a product name from the Craig Company. It eventually became the colloquial description for water cannon, just like the word Kleenex today has become the generic term used for facial tissue.
With small-scale placer mining mostly exhausted, hydraulic mining reached its height of operation by the early 1860s. Decades of hydraulic mining resulted in catastrophic environmental damage. During high water events, rivers and streams overflowed their banks. Massive deposits of sand and gravel washed downstream onto adjacent farm land destroying the crop producing potential of the land. Vast areas of farm land in the Sacramento Valley were buried by mining sediment. Farmers demanded an end to hydraulic mining. In a most renowned legal fight, farmers against miners, hydraulic mining operators were sued. The landmark 1884 case of Edwards Woodruff v. North Bloomfield Mining and Gravel Company made its way to US court in San Francisco where Judge Lorenzo Sawyer decided in favor of the farmers. He declared hydraulic mining to be “a public and private nuisance.” Revived in 1893 when Congress passed the Camminetti
Act, hydraulic mining was allowed if sediment detention structures were constructed.
Red Hill mine located about five miles east of Forks of Salmon
utilized the No. 4 Kingpin Hydraulic Giant, one of the largest water cannons of its era. Cramer obtained the Monitor and hauled it to the Siskiyou County Museum to be placed alongside the plaque monument. The beginning date of use listed on the plaque appears to be in conflict with the law mentioned above. Written history changes through the years as more information is found and validated. Mel may
have obtained the 1890 date from some document or interview he conducted. The information could have been off by a few years. Maybe the source(s) meant “around 1890” or beginning in the “early nineties.”
Following the placement of this first plaque, Humbug Chapter has gone on to erect, or relocate and renovate another 40 historical markers and monuments. Along the way they’ve acquired new members to assist with preservation of the historical record. The secret to finding prospective new members is similar to finding gold. Clampers are not made my friend, they are born! Like the gold of southern Oregon and California’s past, they just have to be discovered. Are you waiting to be discovered?
Relive history with family and friends. Take time and visit your museum. The water canon next to the plaque is an excellent illustration of the technology. Touch the monitor and imagine the roar as it transformed steep, rocky forested terrain into moonscape. Miners standing next to an operating monitor wouldn’t be able to hear one another talk. Once afflicted with gold fever, men will do anything for more gold.