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36-591: The mine is located by Wolf Creek , on Auburn Road, 1 mile (1.6 km) west of the Empire Mine. It is approximately 65 acres (26 ha) in size and situated in a southerly direction, the north boundary of the North Star being at an average distance of 430 feet (130 m) southerly from the Irish-American Mine. Within the surface boundaries of the North Star, there is a ledge of rock known as

72-552: A year, and then went to Toronto, where he remained until the spring of 1852, before moving to New York City . Edward and his brother John left for California in the spring of 1853, arriving a few miles north of Marysville in October. The brothers moved on to Canon Creek in El Dorado County , where Edward was interested in mining. In 1855, they moved to Iowa Hill, Placer County where they mined together until early in

108-509: A fair amount of human habitation of indigenous people who have always depended, for their economic survival, on the biodiversity of the valley. The Tsi Akim Maidu and the Nisenan were resident in the valley when the European settlers arrived here. They were the traditional hunter/gatherers who practiced proto-agriculture, which is considered as an effective practice with the least effect on

144-417: A gradually increasing tenor of gold. The North Star Mine Company owned 2,100 feet (640 m) upon the course of the lode. Between 1861 and 1865, the net returns were approximately $ 500,000, about one-fourth of which was expended in permanent improvements on the property. These included the drain tunnel, half a mile long, which was the most considerable item, and a new mill of sixteen stamps. About $ 375,000 of

180-514: Is heavily mined. Most of the creek is situated in the lower montane zone. Its altitude ranges between 3,000 feet (910 m) (headwaters at Banner Mountain , also known as Banner Hill) to 1,200 feet (370 m) (confluence with the Bear River ). Vegetation in the valley varies from alpine pines at higher elevations, to blue pines at mid elevations, and ponderosa pine mixed with evergreen forests at lower elevations. From 1850 to 1950 gold

216-1086: The California gold rush in Nevada County . He also served as President of the Board of School Trustees in Grass Valley ; and Vice President of the Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad . His brother, John C. Coleman , was the railroad's first president; John was also president of the North Star Mine . Coleman was born August 28, 1830, in Walton, Suffolk , and he attended school in England. He left England with his parents in May, 1846, for Canada. He lived in Montreal for

252-806: The North Star House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2011. In 1911, the North Star Mines Company purchased the Champion-Providence Mine (which was itself a consolidation of two adjoining mines). Also in 1911, with his partners, Foote purchased the Tightner Mine in Alleghany, California . Two years later, in 1913, he designed and built Foote's Crossing Road along

288-628: The Sacramento River , which finally debouches into San Francisco Bay . The larger part of the Banner Mountain area in the southern part of its tract is drained by Wolf Creek. From Grass Valley , it runs south without larger tributaries. At Grass Valley, it forks into two creeks, which have a general east–west direction. The fall varies from 50 feet (15 m) to the mile in the Grass Valley basin to 130 feet (40 m) in

324-586: The "North Star Ledge", its top or apex wholly within the surface boundaries. The French Lead, or North Star vein, was discovered in the Fall of 1851 by the Lavance Brothers, who with nine other Frenchmen, formed the Helvetia and Lafayette Gold Mining Company. In 1858, the sheriff sold the company to Edward McLaughlin to settle an $ 8,000 judgement. In Feb. 1860, it was purchased for $ 15,000 by the owners of

360-538: The Bear River. The river course from the source to its confluence is about 25 miles (40 km) and the flow is in the north-south direction, which is helpful in the development of productive and diverse ecosystems. Wolf Creek, along with its tributaries, forms a major tributary of the Bear River. It is part of the upper region of the Bear River watershed. Bear River drains into the Feather River , which joins

396-477: The Middle Yuba River to improve transportation between the two mines; the road became a National Register of Historic Places landmark. Foote's son, Arthur Burling Foote, who started at the North Star as an assistant, went on to become the mine's manager after his father's retirement in 1913. In 1918, the North Star brought suit against the Empire Mine for underground encroachment upon its claim, but

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432-551: The North Star Group, which became the North Star Quartz Mining Co. in 1861. The North Star Gold Mining co. was incorporated in 1867. The mine shut down in 1875 after reaching a depth of 1,200 feet. The North Star Mining Co. was incorporated in May 1884, by William Bowers Bourn II , and the mine was reopened. Bourn sold the North Star to James Duncan Hague in 1887. Hague reorganized the company as

468-700: The North Star Mines Co. in 1889, and acquired Gold Hill, New York Hill, and the Massachusetts Hill mines. The Lafayette Hill ledge by Wolf Creek was pronounced by the State Geologist in 1855 as being one of the best-producing for quartz mining in California.In the 1860s, reserves were estimated to be not less than thirty thousand tons, worth in the aggregate of $ 900,000. Competition between Grass Valley Gold District's 95 mines

504-554: The North Star to a great depth. When the mining operations expanded subsequent to the California Gold Rush, the powerhouse was added. In 1895, it became the site of the largest tangential water wheel in the world. In 1878, Lester Pelton of Camptonville brought a strange machine to the Miners Foundry in nearby Nevada City . The Pelton wheel, about the size of a car tire and referred to as "Wheel One",

540-828: The U.S. War Production Board during World War II. After the war, a shortage of skilled miners forced the suspension of operations in the deeper portions of the mine by 1951. Mining operations were suspended on 5 July 1956, due to a local labor union strike. Superintendents and administrators of the mine included William H. Rodda (later of the Norambagua Mine), John C. Coleman , his brother, Edward Coleman , and Arthur De Wint Foote . Its early owners were all miners such J. C. Coleman, E. Colman, W. H. Rodda, Josiah Rodda, John Rodda, William Kitto, William Hosken, William H. Thomas, James Dods and John Harper. The mine and mill employed over seventy men. Three-quarters of them had emigrated here from Cornwall , England where they had worked in

576-411: The assistance of an electric motor. The powerhouse is also a designated California Historical Landmark. Its plaque's inscription reads: NORTH STAR MINE POWERHOUSE The North Star Powerhouse, built by A. D. Foote in 1895, was the first complete plant of its kind. Compressed air, generated by Pelton water wheels , furnished power for the entire mine operation. The 30-foot Pelton wheel was the largest in

612-527: The boundaries were resolved, and the matter never went to trial. In 1927, the Central shaft reached a depth of 3700 feet (8600 level). By 1928, the North Star's total output value was approximately $ 33 million. The following year, Newmont Mining Corporation purchased the Empire Mine and the North Star Mine, consolidating them to become Empire-Star Mines, Ltd. The Empire-Star was forced to shut down by

648-525: The depressed tin mines. These Cornish miners introduced the Cornish pump and the Cornish pastie to the area. The North Star vein has an east and west course, with a dip of about twenty-three degrees to the north. This mine was opened by an incline shaft sunk on the course of the vein to a depth of nearly 700 feet (210 m). The lowest perpendicular depth attained was approximately 300 feet (91 m). It

684-489: The environment. The Wolf Creek watershed, in Grass Valley and Nevada City , became famous on account of its gold deposits which were discovered as Mother Lode formations in the heart of the Banner Mountain, one year after the Sutter's Mill discovery. Following this find, gold extraction started in 1850 with large number of hardrock mines, and lasted for 100 years until 1950. According to reports, this Wolf Creek watershed had

720-431: The ground was virgin to surface, and little was extracted from the two next to the bottom. The ore was raised by tram wagons on the incline, with a wire rope. The vein was enclosed in greenstone . A vertical hoisting and ventilation shaft was sunk 800 feet (240 m) east of the incline. This shaft was set to cut the mine on the level of the fourth gallery. The shoots of ore in this ground had an easterly pitch. The ore had

756-595: The largest concentration of hard rock mines in California . Some of these include the Cedar Mine, the Badger Hill vein on the creek's south fork, and the Washington vein. The biodiversity of the narrow watershed of the creek is very rich in flora, with cold alpine species at higher elevations, changing to the blue oak and gray pine woodlands at middle elevations and then gradually transforming into

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792-488: The mine was worked out in 1893. He held interests in the Mohawk Lumber Company. Coleman was married December 26, 1865 to Luisa; they had no children. He was a Freemason and a Congregationalist . He served two terms as President of the Board of School Trustees of Grass Valley. The Edward Coleman House in Grass Valley on the corner of South Church Street and Neal Street came under protection in 1996 by

828-435: The mine. At the mine's powerhouse, he installed the largest operating Pelton water wheel to that date; it was the largest tangential water wheel in the world. The powerhouse is a designated California Historical Landmark . In 1901, the North Star "Central" vertical shaft reached the North Star vein at 1630 feet. In 1905, Julia Morgan designed a mansion for Foote and his wife, the illustrator and writer Mary Hallock Foote ;

864-407: The nearby Rocky Bar Mine and Massachusetts Hill Mine. The sixteen stamp mill, erected in 1866, had a capacity of crushing about two tons to the stamp daily. The water in this mine was light, a supply for the use of the amalgamation works being derived from a neighboring ditch company. This circumstance, as well as the low angle of the dip of the vein, favored very greatly the economy of development of

900-583: The net savings were returned to the owners in dividends, obtained from the use of a six stamp mill during 1862–63, which was subsequently enlarged. The returns for the year 1866 were $ 315,000, derived from the crushing of 6,000 tons of ore. The ores of this mine are considerably sulphuretted, but the value of the sulphurets in gold was much less than in the nearby Eureka Mine. The North Star did not possess chlorination works, but dressed their tailings by hand rockers for sale. The ores showed free gold, often in very fine masses, implanted in quartz, which resembles that of

936-684: The ponderosa pine mixed with evergreen forests in the lowland zones. Based on data reported by the California Natural Diversity Database (CNDDB), the floral species recorded in the watershed of the creek consist of Scadden flat checkerbloom (endangered), Brandegee’s clarkia , brownish beaked-rush , red-anthered rush , Red Hills soaproot , Stebbins' morning glory , Follett's monardella , Pine Hill flannelbush (endangered), Norris’s beard-moss , elongate copper-moss , Cantelow’s lewisia , Butte County fritillary and bog club-moss . The faunal species reported from

972-428: The seasons. The winters are wet and cold with temperature in the range of 36 °F (2 °C) to 55 °F (13 °C). The summers are dry and hot with temperature varying from 75 °F (24 °C) to 95 °F (35 °C). The annual precipitation reported is about 54 inches (1,400 mm). During winter, the snow precipitation on the mountain is heavy with several feet of snow. The creek's watershed has had

1008-556: The spring of 1860. In February 1860, the brothers and others purchased the Helvetia and Lafayette Mining Company in Grass Valley, Nevada County. Subsequently, Edward became administrator of the North Star Mine , and John became the President. In 1867, the brothers sold out their interest in that mining company and formed the Idaho Quartz Mining Company , of which Edward was the President and Superintendent until

1044-542: The vicinity of the Omaha mine. The smaller tributaries to the creek flow with gentle grade over the undulating, plateau-like country, forming marshes at their sources, but on approaching the main stream they descend to it with a steep, torrential grade. East of Osborne Hill the drainage is toward Rattlesnake Creek, a tributary of Wolf Creek. The watershed formed by Wolf Creek and the mountain range draining it exhibits moderate Mediterranean climate with marked variations between

1080-507: The watershed of the creek as reported in the California Natural Diversity Database are California spotted owl , California red-legged frog (threatened), coast horned lizard , elderberry beetle , foothill yellow-legged frog , great grey owl , northern goshawk , northwestern pond turtle and the Pacific fisher . Edward Coleman (miner) Edward Coleman (1830–1913) was an American mine manager, president, and superintendent during

1116-567: The world, and was in continuous use for over 30 years. Plaque placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the Nevada County Historical Society 15 May 1971. Wolf Creek (Nevada County, California) Wolf Creek is a waterway in Nevada County, California , US. The creek is 25 miles (40 km) long. The watershed , approximately 78 square miles (200 km ),

North Star Mine and Powerhouse - Misplaced Pages Continue

1152-586: Was fierce, forcing them to open, close, and re-open at various times. Each was concerned with power sources to extract the gold. Many, like the North Star, used wood-fired engines to generate steam, depending on the surrounding forest for firewood. The North Star Mine was the Grass Valley Gold District's deepest mine, measuring 4,000 feet (1,200 m) vertical depth. In 1895, Arthur De Wint Foote settled in Grass Valley, having been hired to design and construct an electric-generating plant for

1188-479: Was made the North Star's superintendent. The powerhouse has been turned into the North Star Mine and Powerhouse & Pelton Wheel Museum . The New Verde Mining Company donated an acre of land and the remains of the old power house. The wheel was saved from the scrap heap by a Grass Valley resident who raised $ 2,000 to purchase the wheel and donated it to the Historical Society. The wheel now turns with

1224-461: Was mined in the rich formations of the Mother Lode in the heart of Banner Mountain. The creek's watershed area is 78 miles (125.53 km), which consists almost entirely of the lower montane zone where the incidence of snowfall precipitation is comparatively low. The elevation range is between 3,000 feet (910 m) at the headwaters to about 1,200 feet (370 m) at its confluence with

1260-406: Was opened by seven levels. The vein varied in thickness from a few inches to 4–5 feet (1.2–1.5 m), with an average of about 2 feet (0.61 m). The explorations in the fifth level extended about 700 feet (210 m) east of the shaft. The total known extent was estimated at 1,000 feet (300 m). The lower level was driven 550 feet (170 m) east of the shaft. Above the three lower levels,

1296-413: Was put on display for mine owners. It used cups on a wheel to draw water and harness power. Running out of trees to burn, the North Star decided to switch to hydraulic power, and Arthur De Wint Foote designed the 30-foot (9.1 m) wheel which drove four new compressors that delivered 90 pounds (41 kg) of air pressure for 2,000 feet (610 m) to the mine's central shaft. For his ingenuity, Foote

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