Structure Type: built works _ industrial buildings - processing plant

Designers: [unspecified]

Dates: constructed 1884

Rancho Cuyamaca, CA

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The year 1884 marked the second phase of activity of the Stonewall Mine, a period that lasted until 1892. In late 1884, two new mine owners, Alfred James and Dr. J. E. Fulton, had purchased the property and spent the next several months building structures needed for mine processing. They experienced success by Spring of 1885, producing significant amounts of gold. An experienced mine owner, Robert Whitney Waterman (1826-1891) bought the claim and surrounding property in 1886. Waterman owned a productive group of 17 silver mines near Barstow, CA, providing him the capital to buy this prolific gold facility. Waterman was active in the state's Republican Party, and became Lieutenant Governor in the same year that he acquired the Cuyamaca property. Upon the death of Governor Bartlett from Bright's Disease, Waterman assumed gubernatorial power, a position he held until 1891. While Robert was busy handling state affairs in Sacramento, his son, Waldo Sprague Waterman (1860-1903), who had received a mining engineering degree from the University of California in 1886, took over supervision of Cuyamaca. For six years, from 1886-1892, the mine operated smoothly. Due to his father's death in 1891, Waldo and his family needed to settle up debts outstanding from Robert's estate. The Sather Banking Company took charge of the Stonewall Mine in 1892, marking the end of the second phase of mine operation.

The mine site lies within the Cuyamaca Rancho State Park. During their years of ownership, the Waterman Family erected a significant number of buildings at Cuyamaca. As noted in a State of CA State Parks site, this inventory included: "...two bunkhouses for single miners, cabins for married workers, a boarding house (that sometime in 1891 became a hotel), the Superintendent’s house, a school, a library, a general store, a cemetery, and support structures." (See Michael Sampson, "Recent Archaeological Investigations at the Stonewall Mine Site: Cuyamaca Rancho State Park,"Accessed 03/27/2014.)

PCAD id: 19151