Napa-Nevada-Sierra County CA Archives Biographies.....Palmer, E. P. 1833 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 18, 2006, 4:28 am Author: Lewis Publishing Co. (1891) E. P. PALMER, viticulturist, near St. Helena. The pleasant home of Mr. Palmer is located on the edge of the foothills overlooking the town of St. Helena, and commanding an extensive view of the valley. His vineyard and ranch consists of 131 acres, part of it in the town on the level and running back over the hills almost to the White Sulphur Springs. He has forty acres set out in grapes and intends gradually to clear up and plant sixty or seventy acres more. The property lies in the thermal belt, above the frosts of the valley, and is very advantageously situated. Later on he will build a wine-cellar and manufacture his own wine, but at present sells his grapes to the wine-makers. Near the house is a small orchard for family use and a grove of pines, madronas and oaks, that give a romantic appearance to the spot. Mr. Palmer was born at Chester, Geauga County, Ohio, September 16, 1833. He was brought up on a farm and educated at the schools of the section, and later took a position in a dry-goods and grocery store at Painesville, Ohio. In 1852 he determined to come to this State and made the journey via Panama. He went direct to the mines in Nevada County, near Nevada City, and afterward to Sierra County, spending twelve years in all in this pursuit and meeting the usual ups and downs of a miner's life. In the spring of 1852 he was associated with Edward E. and Horace B. Mattison, Valentine J. Hathaway and Lewis T. Shanklin in a ground claim on Wet Hill, near Soggs' quartz mill, not far from Wood's Ravine, a mile distant from Nevada City. They had a forty-foot bank on the claim which they were picking down in the laborious method used in those days, and experienced great difficulty, when the idea struck Mr. Edward E. Mattison to direct a stream of water immediately upon the bank instead of picking it. He took a stick of wood about fourteen inches long, bored a hole through its length and riveting together a strip of canvas for a hose, directed the stream on the bank. Notwithstanding the primitive nature of the apparatus it succeeded well. Hundreds of miners in the section flocked to see the new method of mining, carrying away the idea; and the system of hydraulic mining now so widely used throughout the world was launched. So far as we can learn, this story of the origin of hydraulic mining has never been told before, and it is only just that the result of the discovery should be given to Mr. Mattison. He ran a foundry at Nevada City for some time afterward, but we do not now know where he is. Upon leaving the mines Mr. Palmer was engaged in the wholesale and retail grocery business at Marysville for a time, and then went into the staging business, constituting the firm of Green & Co., the lines running from Marysville and Nevada City to Downieville, and at the time of the Meadow Lake excitement to them. He finally sold out his staging interests and became a partner in the grocery firm of Starr & Palmer, at Vallejo. He shortly sold out his interests here, and going into Alameda County became the secretary and business manager of the Sweepstake Plow Company at San Leandro. When they moved to Benicia, in 1882, and incorporated as the Benicia Agricultural Works, Mr. Palmer became their secretary. In 1883 he purchased his property at St. Helena and moved his family to that place, resigned his position at Benicia and spent a year in improving his property. He then took charge as business manager and acting secretary of the Stockton Combined Harvester and Agricultural Works at Stockton, and remained with them until the fall of 1888. Since then he has remained at home, directing the development of his property. In 1865 he was married at Marysville to Miss Delia Green, the sister of his partner in the staging business. Mrs. Palmer is a native of Painesville, Ohio, and was a pupil of President James A. Garfield when he was a school-teacher. It should be stated further that Mr. Palmer was an old school and class mate of President Garfield at Chester, Ohio. They have two children: Charles E., now just entering his majority, and Etta M., ten years old,—both at home. Mr. Palmer possesses a fund of most interesting recitals of the early mining days, with their hardships and stirring incidents. Additional Comments: Extracted from Memorial and Biographical History of Northern California. Illustrated, Containing a History of this Important Section of the Pacific Coast from the Earliest Period of its Occupancy to the Present Time, together with Glimpses of its Prospective Future; Full-Page Steel Portraits of its most Eminent Men, and Biographical Mention of many of its Pioneers and also of Prominent Citizens of To-day. "A people that takes no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote descendents." – Macauley. CHICAGO THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY 1891. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/napa/bios/palmer814nbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/cafiles/ File size: 5.5 Kb