Year: 1859

About midway between Nevada and Grass
Valley, on the northwest side of the very ex-
cellent four. mile road which connects those
two fourishing cities, and in picturesque,
meadow like spot, stands a remarkably long
rope walk, wherein our recent fellow citizen,
George Shaw, associated with Nicholas Sc
bert industriously plies the somewhat novel
manufacture of rawhide cordage The pro-
cess is much the same as that employed in
the fabrication of the hempen article, except
that the strands are composed of strings Of
hide instead of yarn The hide is divested of
the hair, in the ordinary manner, and, when
sufficiently dry cut into circular shape and
laid upon large table, at one edge of which
there is a sharp cutting instrument, which
can be graduated so as to make the strings OF
any degree Of fineness. The string is attach


ed TO a reel which winds it off with great ra


piditv, the cutting being performed in exact


" the same way that we have seen shoe
strings made from circular piece OF leather.
This rawhde rope is new thing, and Messrs
Shaw and Sebert have had no opportunity of
sulieeting it to a scientific strength test but
the experience of the miners in their neigh
borhood, who have used it in their shafts and
machinery, is highly in its favor. 1t is pro-
nounced to be almost as tenacious as wire
rope and far more durable. AT Yreka, where
specimens of this rope have been in constant
use for a year, they are now in as good case,
apparently, as when first put to work 1t
never chafes, as is the case with wire and
hemp ropes, but acquires hard, black gloss
on its surface, which preserves it against the
effects of friction II is more flexible than
hemp or grass cordage, and works as well in
water as in air. At the Alta, No. 9, shaft
near Grass Valley, one of these ropes has been
in constant use, submerged in water all the
time, for more than three months, and is now
as pliable as when first made, and bids fair
to do good service for year longer AT
Live Oak Shaft, a Il inch rope, which had
been in constant duty, night and day, for five
months, becoming obstructed in its motion,
by some accident, actually withstood the
force of an eight horse power engine, without
starting a single strand or thread, and held
the machinery motionless until relieved.
The manager of the works thinks it good for
long term of future usefulness. The prices,
asked by Messrs Shaw and Sebert, consider
ing the character of the material they en-
ploy, are extremely moderate. Two inch
rope is 56 cents per foot-14 inch, AZ cents
inch 2S cents-and ] inch, IA cents. The
manufacturers guarantee their customers that
fifty per cent is gained to the purchaser by
investing his money in their article, rather
than those of grass or hemp, where the rope
is to be subjected to the constant working of
machinery.


When the intrinsic excellence of these raw
hide ropes, for mining purposes, is taken into
consideration, with the not less important
fact that they are manufactured from an arti-
Gle of home production, a feeling of patriot
ism is elected in their favor They are Cali |
fornian ropes, manufactured by worthy Cali
iornians, from Californian material and all
the money, employed in and about their
is retained in California. That
Messrs Shaw and Sebert may be handsomely
sustained, in their praiseworthy enterprise,
ought to be the hope and wish of every pub
lic-spirited Californian.