Adventure: 051, Site 117 – Knights Foundry

Capture California, the Game-2012

Adventure: 051, Site 117 – Knights Foundry

California Landmark Number: 1007

National Registry ID: 1975000423

Team: Thing One, Thing Two

Date:  September 27, 2012

Location:

Latitude: 38° 23.566′ N

Longitude: 120° 48.088′ W

Address: 81 Eureka St, Sutter Creek

Description:

Date Built: 1873

From the outside, the buildings look like hundreds of other corrugated tin buildings. The weeds are growing from neglect and it looks like the place has not operated for years. But what happened over a hundred years ago changed how foundries were built. Samuel Knight recognized the need in the early 1870's for gold mining equipment to be made and repaired. SO he opened a foundry. In doing so, he created a mechanism where water could be forced on a gear, causing it to turn. He produced 300 of these gears which would be found all over the West. Lester Allan Pelton created a wheel similar to Knights, but more efficient. When Knight died in 1913, he passed on the foundry to his employees, who operated until 1970 when the last employee-owner died. Currently the City of Sutter Creek owns the foundry, while waiting for a benefactor to help open the place as a museum.

NO. 1007 KNIGHT FOUNDRY - Knight Foundry was established in 1873 to supply heavy equipment and repair facilities to the gold mines and timber industry of the Mother Lode. Samuel N. Knight developed a high speed, cast iron water wheel which was a forerunner of the Pelton Wheel design. Knight Wheels were used in some of the first hydroelectric plants in California, Utah, and Oregon. This site is the last water powered foundry and machine shop in California. A 42-inch Knight Wheel drives the main line shaft, with smaller water motors powering other machines.
Location:  81 Eureka St, Sutter Creek
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places:  NPS-75000423



From HMDB:
Unlike other California State Historical Markers which are cast in bronze, this marker is cast in iron (steel?)and was done at the foundry.



References:

• Wikipedia
  
• National Registry of Historical Places-Documents and Photos
  
• Noehill
  
• Historical Marker Database (HMDB.org)
  
• Waymarking
  
• Knights Foundry Site
  
• American Society of Mechanical Engineers article
  
• NPS Article
  

Overall Landmark References:

• David Schmitt's California State Historical Landmark (Schmitt)
  
• Wikipedia: California's National Landmarks (WCNL)
  
• State of California's California Historical Landmarks (CHL)
  
• Wikipedia: California State Landmarks (WCSL)
  
• State of California Historical Resources (CHR)
  
• National Registry of Historical Places (NRHP)
  
• Noehill (NOE)
  
• Historical Marker Database (HMDB)
  
• WayMarking (WAY)