Steam engine

Steam engine

Gold Rush
California
Industry

The photograph shows a steam engine manufactured in San Francisco in operation at the mill of the Gould and Curry gold mine. Steam engines such as this powered a range of mining equipment including pumps, compressors, hoists and mills. The 1870 census records 42 such engines in use in Californian mines, many made within the state. Prior to the gold rush the Californian economy was small and undeveloped. The gold rush marked the beginning of the industrialisation of the state. This started slowly as wage rates and interest rates were high, some raw ingredients were in short supply, and the east coast and European producers offered stiff competition. Although the high demand created by the gold rush offered an initial stimulus, what maintained the momentum was the fact that the gold rush drew in not only miners but entrepreneurs.

Unknown

University of California Press

https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?brand=ucpress&chunk.id=d0e7698&docId=ft758007r3&toc.depth=1&toc.id=d0e7698

Exact date unknown - estimated 1860s or 1870s.

Margaret Minchin

Huntingdon Library, San Marino, California

N/A

Visual - photograph

19th century Cailfornia