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[Three larger-format photographs of the mining town of Sierra City, California.]

[Sierra City, Sierra County, California], 1883. 3 albumen prints, 9.5” x 7.75”, on original paperboard mounts, 12” x 10”. One photo captioned in the margin in pencil; one photo inscribed in pencil on the verso. CONDITION: Very good, strong tonality, overall moderate wear to paperboard mounts; tape repair to 3.25” tear on both the verso and recto of one photo (tape covering a small portion of the image that measures, 2.5” x .25”) and light dampstains along edge of mount; tack holes in two of the mounts.

A scarce and appealing group of three large-format photographs picturing the town of Sierra City, California, its mining infrastructure, and a miner’s boarding house. 

One photo, taken from an elevated position and captioned “Sierra City, Sierra Co. Cal. 1883. Mr. Marshall was four years at the Sierra Butte’s mine,” shows the settlement nestled at the foot of the Sierra Buttes mountain. A lumber yard, sluices, and numerous buildings, many of which are built into the side of a mountain are visible. Another photo, inscribed “Miner’s boarding house at Sierra Butte’s mine 1883,” shows one side of the three-story boarding house, along which runs what appears to be a sluice. The third photo pictures a mining operation with mountainside sluices, buildings, and shacks.

The mining town of Sierra City was settled in 1850, and during the early ‘50s miners began searching gold in the mountain. The town suffered an avalanche in the winter of 1853, following which its residents rebuilt at a lower elevation. Yielding gold for eight decades, the Sierra Buttes Mine was Sierra County’s second largest producer of gold. In 1873, nearly 300 men were employed at the mine. In the mid 1870s, a telegraph line was established that connected Sierra City with Downieville and Taylorville. 

“The Sierra Buttes or Reis mine was located on the steep rocky side of the southern exposure of the rugged Sierra Buttes Mountain which is the highest and most prominent peak in Sierra County with an elevation of 8,600 feet. The mine was at an altitude where winters and deep snows were quite severe…This was one of the biggest and well managed quartz mines in California. The mine was owned by the Sierra Buttes Company whose board of directors and head office were located in London…31,580 tons of ore were extracted and milled in 1883 with a yield of $6.70 per ton with a cost of $4.97 for mining and an additional 50 cents in milling costs” (“Sierra Buttes Mines”).

REFERENCES: “Sierra City” at Sierra County Chamber online; “Sierra City, California”; “Sierra Buttes Mine” at Back Country Explorers online. 

Item #9296

Price: $2,500.00

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