Chisel
Dublin Core
Title
Chisel
Subject
Gold Rush
labourers
California
digging tools
railway
immigrants
slavery
transport
labourers
California
digging tools
railway
immigrants
slavery
transport
Description
This object is a chisel, most likely used by labourers during the Gold Rush Era, and in the development of the railway network in California. Chisels were digging tools which helped to shape the metal railway tracks that were gradually laid across California to facilitate easier transport.
The function of the chisel is to carve or cut, using a mallet to strike its wooden handle as a drive force to push the steel blade into hard material. The appearance of the decomposition on the handle shows its wooden property. The chisel handle is considerably shorter than the blade, so it must have taken a large number of labourers using the same digging tool over a period of time, to successfully cut into the landscape.
The function of the chisel is to carve or cut, using a mallet to strike its wooden handle as a drive force to push the steel blade into hard material. The appearance of the decomposition on the handle shows its wooden property. The chisel handle is considerably shorter than the blade, so it must have taken a large number of labourers using the same digging tool over a period of time, to successfully cut into the landscape.
Creator
Unknown
Publisher
Transbay Joint Powers Authority Archaeology Exhibit
http://tjpa.org/uploads/gallery/archaeology-album/household-industry-pedestal-art-737-chisel.jpg
http://tjpa.org/uploads/gallery/archaeology-album/household-industry-pedestal-art-737-chisel.jpg
Date
circa. 1849-1853
Contributor
Leah Guy
Rights
Transbay Joint Powers Authority, http://tjpa.org/project/archaeology
Language
N/A
Type
Material Object - metal
Identifier
19th century California
Files
Collection
Citation
Unknown, “Chisel,” The American Pacific Rim: Colonisation, Conflict and Connections, 1800-Present, accessed April 28, 2024, https://theamericanpacificrim.omeka.net/items/show/180.