REAMER STREET IN AUBURN

Excerpts from Sign Posts of Auburn
by Barbara Bryant (out of print)

Residence of G.W. Reamer,
Auburn, Placer CO, CAL.

Each one of her articles about the people for whom the streets in Auburn are named was carefully researched and checked for accuracy with public records and old diaries.

Location: From intersection of I-80 and Highway 49, travel east off I-80 to the Elm Avenue turn-off, go east on Elm Avenue, turn right at Tuttle Street, Reamer Street in on the right.

"They called him "Wash", recalled Jane Walters, a pioneer who was raised in Foresthill. . .some called him G. W. and some just called him George.. . .George Washington Reamer was born on September 11, 1827, in New Brunswick, New Jersey and was raised in his hometown. We know little of his schooling, but at some time he became interested in mining.

Wash got the "Golden Yellow Fever" after hearing about the discovery of gold in California and joined a group called the New Brunswick and California Mining and Trading Company. They sailed from New York on the bark "Isabel" on Feb. 3, 1849, arriving in San Francisco on Sunday, August 5 after a trip of 179 days around the Horn. "Wash, age 22, stayed in Sacramento for a short time. . .The Sacramento Valley climate did not agree with Wash, so in the spring of 1850, he sold his share of his mercantile business and headed for the clear air of the foothills. The Placer Herald, October 1, 1892, records this move to have taken place in 1854.

Wash worked the gullies, streams and gluches of the American River, owning several claims. . .

While he may have made rich discoveries mining these claims, he soon gave up the pick and pan and headed for the Forest Hill Divide to try his luck at "deep hill digging" as the miners called drift or horizontal tunnel mining.

. . .Wash reportedly, sunk sixteen prospect shafts in the area between modern Foresthill and Todds Valley. Wash filed a claim on August 3, 1852, establishing his Forest Hill mine and named it "The New Jersey", for his native state. . . To help finance his New Jersey mine, Reamer sold shares in his claim to enthusiastic investors. This was a common practice of the miners in the 1850's. Merchants and bankers in Sacramento, Marysville, Stockton and San Francisco not wanting to actually labor in a mine, would purchase shares by extending credit, usually in supplies to and owner of the claim, thus becoming share-owners or partners.

Wash and his crew worked for over six and a half years searching for the Mother Lode. . .In Dec. of 1852, a mud slide brought down the mountain on the Jenny Lind which was adjacent to the New Jersey revealing loose nuggets. . . .the discovery of prehistoric gravel riverbeds had been made at the Jenny Lind. . . .A bonanza of $2,000 to $2,500 a day was soon yielded from the gold ore. It was only logical that the ancient, gold-laden gravels running through the Jenny Lind would extend to the New Jersey. This inspired Wash and his partners to continue the search. . . . later this channel was found to extend from "Forest Hill on the south end, to the Malakoff diggings in Nevada County, and on through Yuba and Sierra Counties with the town of Allegheny marking the Northern extremity of the Blue Lead channel. Thus it extended across four counties.

. . .After several years of low yields for the New Jersey some of Wash’s financiers became discouraged and dis-continued credit to the company. . .they agreed to try one more experiment if that didn’t produce pay dirt, they would abandon the claim. They began to drill chimney shafts, called raise or upwards from the tunnel through the rock. It worked! Rich ore was found. Within six weeks, the indebtedness was paid and the claim became profitable. During the next seven years, the San Francisco mint recorded receipts totaling more than a million dollars from the New Jersey mine.

. . .Wash, in the meantime directed some of his assets and energy into his water systems. In 1868 he had purchased the Bear River & Auburn Water & Mining Company for $45, 509.67. The company consisted of several systems, purchased from individual miners, to bring water to their mining sites. The Bear River and Auburn ditches encompassed the principal ditches in this county in 1852. By October of that year the cost of constructing these canals was $300,000. The total cost was estimated to be $500,000 at completion.

In 1862, the prosperous miner was 35 years old. It had been 13 years since he had left his hometown and it was time for a visit. While in the East, Wash married Sara E. McDonald, a native of New York City. The Placer Herald, dated October 1, 1892 reports Feb. 1863, as the date of that union. . . .the Reamers remained in Foresthill for 10 more years. During this time he built two gravel mills, selling the various pulverized granite mixtures to the locals to supplement his mining income. In 1872, the family moved to Auburn. Sara, a sophisticated socialite from New York, enjoyed the larger town with its abundant social life.. .

On May 17, 1872, Wash Reamer purchased the American River Water & Mining Company, built a around November 1855 for the sum of $10,000. Records show that Reamer was working on the dam on the American River while waiting for his purchase contract to be completed. Later, this dam was to be called Reamer Dam. . .the water from the canals was sold to miners by the owners of the water company. The price charged for water from the first ditches in the county was one dollar per "miners inch", the amount of water that will flow from the ditch through a hole one inch in diameter, or 16.156 gallons per day. By 1856, the average price had dropped to fifty cents.

Every winter the dams and canals were damaged or washed out by heavy floods. Repair work was costly. Wash finally sold his holdings on April 19, 1875 to Frederick Birdsall for $42,500. Birdsall also owned a dam just below the Reamer Dam. Both dams were located where construction for the "new Auburn Dam" began in 1975. . .

In 1876 he purchased the North Fork Ditch Water Co. This venture was a financial disaster due to the destruction of the dam by high floods. Hoping to recoup his losses, he returned to the New Jersey mine, while still maintaining his home in Auburn. He continued to mine until his sudden death at the age of 65 from apoplexy. . .

The Reamers had three children, Annie, George, Jr. (who was called Junie for Jr.) and Lynn.

(Note: a portion of George Reamer’s life can be found in the 1882 Thompson and West page 135 pages 196-97 and page 200)