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Form 10-300 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR STATE: (Rev. 6-72) NATIONAL PARK SERVICE California COUNTY: NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES Amador INVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM FOR NPS USE ONLY ENTRY DATE (Type all entries complete applicable sections) \ i'- <, ^fg Ifiilil^^ i;;;;5!;;i;il:;;;;;;:;i;;;;;i;;i?^ COMMON: Knight f s Foundry and- Shops AND/OR HISTORIC: STREET AND NUMBER: 13 Eureka Street CITY OR TOWN: CONGFSESSIONAL DISTRICT: Sutter Creek 14 STATE CODE COUNT Y: CODE f!a1 i •Frvrrn » 06 LAmador 005 jil;|§i||||i||ipliN:::::;: :>: |; :;-:!• :: .f 1 CATEGORY STATUS ACCESSIBLE OWNERSHIP (Check One) TO THE PUBLIC n District [g Building S PI Public Public Acquisition: (S Occupied Yes: X ,, . , S Restricted t^] Site Q Structure £jj) Private Q In Process D Unoccupied vtw ed i—i D • i D Unrestricted D Object | | Both [~| Being Conside | _) Preservation WOCK — in,prtogress LJ No —— XV • ————— ^ —— PRESENT USE (Check One or More as Appropriate) [ 1 Agricultural ( | Government ( | Park [~1 Commercial TC Industrial Q Private Residence n it^sTp£CElV^ Co-S^ C3 Educational f~l Mi itary [~| Religious /-/ "• v - PI Entertainment l~l Museum Q] Scientific [ ~J ,-. i i'-! J "£r I J J L\ l '^ i M OWNER'S NAME: STATE' Carl W. Borgh & Wife \Jv p^-vtR ^ STREET AND NUMBER: California 26 Hanford Street X^7 ,/7 CITY OR TOWN: ST ATE: ^~^ — - -""~ CODF Sutter Creek California 06 COURTHOUSE, REGISTRY OF DEEDS, ETC: COUNTY: Amador County Court House ^«*d 3Book 2O3, page 531) Amadcr STREET AND NUMBER: 108 Court Street CITY OR TOWN: ST ATE CODE Jackson California 06 itlllillllliliM -r*' 4 3 TITUE OF SURVEY: i •i s. MJ.N3 Assessor's Hap Bk. 18, Eg* 16, County at Amador. Calif oi-nij l^> -n O DATE OF SURVEY: NfeVfeP surve ved P . F»d.ero ' . P . State ^} County | | Local NUMBERV TO DEPOSITORY FOR SURVEY RECORDS: ^ TJ Engineering & Surveying Sept. , Amador County €9 C/l C STREET AND NUMBER: m 42 Summit Street 0 z CITY OR TOWN: ST r Jackson y California -QE 13J.VQ (Check One) Excellent GoodtO [X Foir Q Deterioroted Q Ruins Q Unexposed CONDITION (Check One) Altered 0 Unaltered Moved Original Site DESCRIBE THE PRESENT AND ORIGINAL (it known) PHYSICAL APPEARANCE Knight's Foundry and Shops were established 1873 by Samuel Newman Knight (1838-1913) , l Sutter CreeKf^alifornia, and his partner. George, ,..i s^*i >^i*'Home,w<sw*;i*'*"'*'"'''•• Sutter Creek, California. The buildings that hotr^e'tne foundry and shops have occupied the original site to present (July, 1974); in continous operation during this period of time. The foundry and shops are simple, wood frame, gable and some shed-like construction. Their exterior walls were origi nally covered by vertical, 1" x 12" wood boards and battens; replaced by corrugated iron sheeting, after the 1936 fire.^ Plant layout includes;3 a foundry having two cupola furnances both for iron, one of which was used originally for brass; a pattern shop for making molds; a shop for rivet IS* ing metal pipe; a complete blacksmith shop;^ a machine shop rn equipped with lathes and other machine tools, for shaping and m cutting metal.5 The Knight foundry and machine apparatus were and are operated by water power delivered by seven Knight turbines frf on various horse power ratings; lathes and other shop machines H were and are driven by overhead line shafts, belts and pul 70 leys. The crane boom was and is moved manually by tsuning <Z a set of reduction gears. The ladle is suspended from the n crane by a chain fall and hook. A turbine driven blower supplies air to the brass boundry located on Eureka Street, H opposite the iron foundry. O -z. oo 1-Appendix 1: Register of Deaths. 2^d Arata, 1972: 9. 3Appendix 3, 3A '& 3B. 4-Ed Arata, 1972: 1. Originally two forges; now one forge. ^Appendix 4: Listing: Some equipment & machine tools, June, 1974. .15* tf ^ ^ ••< i v 5i \ ' ^^ PERIOD (check One or More as Appropriate) [~] Pre-Columbion ! f~l 16th Century 18th Century 20th Century G 15th Century Q 17tn Century 19th Century SPECIFIC DATE(S) (It Applicable and Known) AREAS OF SIGNIFICANCE (Check One or More as Appropriate) Abor iginal I | Education D Political Urban Planning 1 [ Prehistoric ffl Engineering D Religion/Phi, Other (Specify) n Historic ££] Industry losophy [ | Agriculture CJ Invention Q Science | | Architecture || Landscape I I Sculpture D Art Architecture I I Social/Human X I Commerce I | Literature itarian [~| Communications D Military d Theater | | Conservation D Music I | Transportation STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE Form 10-300 Knight f s Foundry & Shops, Sutter Creek, Calif 3- SIGNIFICANCE-- Knight f s Foundry and Shops, Sutter Creek, California were founded in 1873 by Samuel Newman Knight. He was born in Maine, 1838 and came to California in the 1860 f s.l- U ZD The foundry and shops from their beginnings have been closely associated with the gold mining industry of the Mother Lode of California. The Knight water turbines, stamp mills, and other power and mining machinery designed and built here, were an LLJ LJ essential part of this industry, which provided the means by which California influenced and accelerated the westward growth o!Lthe nation.^ It is still in operation today and remains perhaps the only shop of its kind in the world still run by water power "... still obtained from the old Amador Canal, now part of the P. G. & E. system* (Wagner, 1970: 132).' The development of gold mining in California was to a considerable extent dependent on the parallel development of water systems, for the recovery of gold. By the middle 1880 f s f> nearly all'of the principal quartz mines were using Knight, See continuation sheet Form 10-300a: 9. Major Bibliographical References UATITUDE AND LONGITUDE COORDINATES LATITUDE AND LONGIT'JDE COORDINATES DEFINING A RECTANGLE LOCATING THE PROPERTY DEFINING Thii <_tixiT3.R POIN I OF A PROPERTY OF LESS THAN TFN ACRES LATITU DE LONGITUDE LATITUDE Degrees Minutes Seconds Degrees Minutes Seconds Degrees Minutes Seconds Degrees Minutes Seconds NW NE 38 ° 23 ' 37 120° ii? ' 56 SE APPROXIMATE ACREAGE OF NOMINATED PROPERTY: |LIST ALL STATES AND COUNTIES FOR PROPERTIES OVERLAPPING STATE OR COUNTY BOUNDARIES STATE: CODE COUNTY rn rn (X* COUNTY: H TO C= NAME AND Tl TLE: Landmarks Committee Clyde R. Berriman, Chairman, Amador County Historical/ n ORGANI ZATION H Amador County Board of Supervisors July 25,1974 STREET AND NUMBER: 108 Court Street CITY OR TOWN: TATE Jackson California 95642 As the designated State Liaison Officer for the Na I hereby certify that this property is included in the tional Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (Public Law National Register, 89-665), I hereby nominate this property for inclusion in the National Register and certify that it has been evaluated according to the c-iteria and procedures set forth by the National Park Service. The recommended Director, Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation level of significance of this nomination is: National CD Stle_ Local D-ite Name ATTEST: Title State Historic Presentation Office r Keeper ofjThe'Nati ona/ Regis JUN 27 WS Date OAN 2 1975 Date U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1973-729-147/1442 3-I STATE California TIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES COUNTY Amador INVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM FOR NPS USE ONLY ENTRY NUMBER (Continuation Sheet) JUl (Number all eptfies) "—ftr-~ Significance 2 Pelton or Donnelly water wheels of the impulse type to supply their power needs.-' Water, under pressure, was the most available source of power located in the foothills and mountainous areas of the tfjU-t - Mother Lode region of California: a high head with a rolot- Povit-n, f~ively small volume of water. This kind of potential waterAcalle for a water whell entirely distinct from the more familar over shot and undershot types: low head with a relatively large volume of water. The use of some form of free-jet or impulse water wheel was inevitable (Durand, 1939: 448). The precursor to the impulse wheel seems to have been the crude aiad inefficient hurdy-gurdy water wheel. It was used in the Mother Lode region on the 1850 f s; it became obsolete, when power demand increased due to greater sizes and capacities of mining machinery (Durand, 1939: 448). Inventors and mjchi&es5 were at work to develop a wheel to meet these requirements. Apparently the first significant advance in California itself, affecting the development of water wheels of this type (impulse), was a form of bucket in vented by Samuel N. Knight, Sutter Creek, California, who, in 1870, brought out the cup-shaped bucket, acted on by a jet of rectangular cross section (Durand, 1939: 449/450). _______ GPO 921-724 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE California IONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES Amador INVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM FOR NPS USE ONLY . ENTRY NUMBER (Continuation Sheet) wheel designed, invented and built by Samuel N. Knight marked an important engineering achievement that resulted in a significant advance over previous practice, both in efficiency of operation and cost, which made the use of foothill and mountainous water power practical. Knight's busi ness was expanded to accomdate the quartz mines of the Mother Lode region: turbine wheels and casings, stamps mills and their dies, shoes and mortars, hoisting and pumping machinery. At a later date, Knight manufactued heavier equipmaec, A including the scarifiers and dredgers. The scarifiers were used in ripping dirt roads and used state-wide. Dredgers (20 inch) were made in 1898 for harbor use in San Francisco Bay; then, in 1902, Kayaght developed and manufactured the 30 inch dredger for use in the port of Portland, Oregon.