Knight Foundry, Sutter Creek, California

Knight Foundry continues to function as a foundry and machine shop, producing gray iron castings of every description for industrial and individual customers. Still using the 42-inch diameter wheel installed by Samuel Knight in the 1870s, the machine shop is powered by water falling over 400 feet from the ridge above Sutter Creek.

The Tanner Reservoir which supplies water to Knight Foundry was built in the late 1870s as part of the Amador Canal to supply water power to the mines of central Amador County. The Amador Canal, through a system of wooden flumes, ditches, and man-made lakes, carried water over 50 miles from the Mokelumne River to ensure a dependable year round power supply.

Apart from the main water wheel, small wheels throughout the site 'operate other machinery. A 24-inch wheel drives the air compressor and originally was used to power the blower for the air supply to the cupola furnace in the foundry room. Two 12-inch water motors power lathes and the table saw in the pattern shop. An 18 inch motor powers the planer in the machine shop. A 127 inch motor drives the grinder in the foundry; and others run the tumbler, the clay processing mill, the hoist for the drop ball, and the firewood table saw.

Knight Foundry, listed on the National Register of Historic Places and designated as a California Historical Landmark, operated continuously as a commercial foundry until 1991, when the owner reduced operations due to sagging economic conditions. In July 1992, Historic Knight & Co., Ltd. began developing programs both to keep the foundry operating and to promote historical tourism and educational uses related to the site.

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