Blake, Charles Thompson, 1826-1897

Blake was a Yale graduate from New Haven who travelled to Calif. to mine for gold with friend, Roger Baldwin, joining their companions Edwin Tyler and Charles T.H. Palmer. They established mining claims near Georgetown and Michigan City. Beginning in 1853, Blake was an agent for Wells Fargo Express Co.

From the description of Charles Thompson Blake letters and miscellany, 1849-1865. (California Historical Society). WorldCat record id: 122583421

Biography

Like thousands of others responding to the discovery of gold in the year 1849, Charles Thompson Blake boarded a ship at New York City bound for Nicaragua and the gold fields of California. Born the eldest son of Eli W. Blake of New Haven, Connecticut on Oct. 21, 1826, Thompson graduated from Yale University in 1847. Two years later he embarked on his journey to California with his friend Roger Baldwin. Their friends Edwin Tyler and Charles T.H. Palmer had preceeded them to California.

They arrived in San Juan de Nicaragua in late March, 1849 and spent four months crossing Central America. After securing passage in Realjo aboard the brig Laura Ann, Blake and Baldwin sailed for California. Despite suffering shortages of water, rancid food and blistering heat, all aboard arrived safely in San Francisco 76 days after departing Realjo. Stopping briefly in San Francisco, Blake traveled to Sacramento, bought supplies and secured passage to the gold fields near Georgetown. There, he and his three companions established claims.

The company of Blake, Tyler, Baldwin and Palmer remained together for several years, combining their efforts and meager profits to buy and sell claims as each exhausted its worth. These included both placer claims and coyote claims. During this period, Blake established himself in Michigan City, a small mining community east of Nevada City. Between 1852 and 1856, a severe drought struck California, and placer mining suffered. Blake and his partners realized that the future of mining in the Sierra would depend upon both capital and water. Thus in 1852, the company embarked upon a water project to bring water to the claims. They sold stock to raise capital, and dug 18 miles of ditches over the next five years.

But poor health plagued Blake on several occasions, and so in 1853, he took employment with Wells Fargo Express Co. as an agent. His duties included assaying gold dust and handling routine banking matters. A popular local figure, he was encouraged to run for State Assembly more than once, though he continually declined. Blake remained employed with Wells Fargo Express Co. for the next ten years in Michigan City, Yankee Jim's, Folsom, and in Oregon and Idaho Territory.

Despite his employment with Wells Fargo, Blake and his associates formed the Eldorado Water Company about 1854. The Eldorado Water Compnay controlled virtually all of the water rights in the Michigan City area. Also during this period, Blake corresponded with his father in New Haven regarding the Blake Rock Crusher, an invention which aided in mining quartz and in building roads.

In 1863, Blake went to Idaho working there on and off until 1871. He married Harriet Stiles, a long-time Connecticut aquaintance, in 1868. They lived for a time in San Francisco, moving to Berkeley in 1887. They had several children, Anson Stiles (b. 1870), Eliza (b. 1872) and Edwin Tyler (b. 1875).

In 1873, Blake bought an interest in, and became secretary of a macadamizing company in Oakland, California. The Oakland Paving Company, which used the Blake Rock Crusher, was presided over by C.T.H. Palmer. Following Palmer's death in Feb. 1897, C.T. Blake became president until his death in December of that year.

From the guide to the Charles Thompson Blake letters and miscellany, 1849-1865, (California Historical Society)