![]() By the 1890s, hardrock quartz mining had a revival, the “second Gold Rush,” because of mining technology improvements such as steel strand cables and electricity. By 1856, two-dozen mills were in operation in Tuolumne County of various types. In 1850, steam powered saw mills greatly improved production. Lumber produced was limited to a few thousand board feet cut in a day. ![]() Next came water powered saw mills, where the use of rivers and channels of water were used to move saw blades up and down through a system of gears and a waterwheel. Demand for timber to support underground work grew rapidly, and sawmills sprang up further from camps and towns higher into the mountains following the receding timber harvesting sites. Many man-powered sawmills were common in mining camps. In 1848, planks of lumber were made by hand sawing timbers with whipsaws. Lumber was becoming the primary building material for homes and commercial businesses taking the place of the temporary canvas tents and shelters used in the initial settlements. When placer mining played out and as hydraulic mining was being curtailed, underground hardrock mining expanded. Flumes were basic water channels made of lumber to transport gravity fed water down sheer canyons and foothills to the mining camps during the early placer and hydraulic mining days. Wood was a basic building material for gold mining devices such as the long tom, sluice box and was required for transport of water by way of large flumes. The timber and lumber industry was shaped in Tuolumne County by the early gold miners.
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