The Forty Niners and the California Gold Rush

Mike Dubber

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Nov 10, 2006
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424
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Evansville, IN
I just finished this William Henry folder this afternoon - my shop photo is of the two scales prior to returning to William Henry Co. for final assembly.
In 1848 the first gold nuggets were found in the tail stream of Sutter's Saw Mill, near Coloma, California by James Marshall. The ensuing years brought over 300,000 miners and others to the area. Wm Henry Co. supplied the actual California Gold Nuggets that are inlaid into the miner's pans. Other metals used were copper for the nugget bag, silver for the pick head and platinum for the shovel handle...and of course, a silver moon.
 
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Roger Bleile

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Oct 4, 2007
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2,988
Location
Northern Kentucky
Yes I do Rex - these small pieces and all that flatness is really different!

I hear ya Mike. I just finished a S&W revolver, All those convex and concave surfaces, along with hand obstructions are so different from working on a flat surface. It's like the difference between walking across the fairway of a golf course and a minefield in Afghanistan. It's one of the reasons that FEGA requires gun work as one of the requirements to apply for Master.
 

dave gibson

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Aug 18, 2009
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Livermore,CA
Thanks for sharing the pix of your fine work. I'll be gleaning some imagery from your post for some items I'll be engraving for some E Clampus Vitus members aka Clampers,, a mostly western fraternity with roots in the CA goldrush,,, I think.
 

Mike Dubber

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Joined
Nov 10, 2006
Messages
424
Location
Evansville, IN
It was fun to research the California Gold Rush for this project - lot's of good information and graphic material on the web.
 

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