HARD (Historical Archaeological Research Design)

Hydraulic Mining

Hydraulic Mining at La Grange Mine, Trinity County, ca. 1940

Tailings Wheels

Tailings Wheels at Kennedy Mine, Amador County. The wheels (68 ft. tall) transported wastes. or tailings, for storage

Placer Mining

Placer mining on the American River, 1852

Placerville, 1866

Placerville looking east from the Cary House balcony, 1866. This photo was taken at the height of the Comstock mining boom, hence the large freight wagons en route to and from the mines

Car Touring & Camping

Tent camping from the back of a car indicates the growing popularity of auto touring. Apparently tent camping on the beach was not prohibited when this photograph was taken

Fenced Boundary, Oakland

This line of fence posts from an Oakland backyard indicates a user-defined space rather than a legal boundary depicted on maps

Hydraulic Mining
Tailings Wheels
Placer Mining
Placerville, 1866
Car Touring & Camping
Fenced Boundary, Oakland

HARD (Historical Archaeological Research Design)

Date
: 
January, 2006 to January, 2008
Period
: 
Historic
Subject
: 
Mining
Type
: 
survey
Context
: 
CEQA
Section 106
City
: 
Statewide
County
: 
Statewide
State
: 
California
Full Report
: 
A Historical Context and Archaeological Research Design for Mining Properties in California

HARD is the acronym for Historical Archaeological Research Design. Caltrans contracted with the Anthropological Studies Center at Sonoma State University to prepare archaeological research designs for mining sites, work camps, and town sites. Foothill Resources, JRP Historical Consultants, and PAR Environmental Services worked as sub consultants on this project. Caltrans employees joined the teams exploring each topic. We call them the “HARD teams” for Historical Archaeological Research Design teams. These three documents were submitted to Caltrans, who revised them and produced the final products.

Access to the report on Townsite Properties can be found here