Knight Foundry, Sutter Creek, California

From 1970 to 1991, in addition to supplying new and replacement equipment to the mining and timber industries, it produced machine parts for other manufacturers of pumps and agricultural equipment. It also produced reproduction architectural iron work for the California state capit,61 restoration and restoration projects in Old Sacra mento. During this period the foundry was owned and operated by Carl W. Borgh.

Sutter Creek has always been a foundry town. The first foundry in Sutter Creek was operated by Coffin, Hitchings & Co. and was part of the Amador No. 2 stamp mill operation located on Spanish Street. By mid 1854 the foundry had moved up the creek several hundred yards and was operated by Frank Tibbits, previously the superintendent at the Lincoln mine.

This foundry was located at the intersection of Highway 49 and Badger Street, formerly known as Foundry Street. It appears there was a real need for the services provided at the Tibbits' Foundry, as he rapidly expanded the scope and products of his plant.

Tibbits died in 1869 and the works were sold to S.S. Mannon. At some point Mannon's became Donnelly's Foundry. Donnelly's Foundry survived into the 1870s and even overlapped with the Knight Foundry. Thompson & West (1881) tells us that the Donnelly works were at this time water-powered and that water turbines, commonly referred to as "water wheels" were one of their specialties.

Information, photographs courtesy of the Amador County Archives, The Historical Marker Database, the Chronicling America Database, and the Library of Congress