Charles Wesley3 Beedle (Granville T.2 John1 ) was born in Maine on 23 Oct 1837 {20}. He married Mary E. Holmes in 1869. She was a native of Bury, England. {20b}
In 1859 Charles Beedle went to Nevada County, California, where he has lived since; engaged in engineering, with exception of one year (1865-1866), spent mining in Montana. He lived at Gold Flat, where he had six acres of land. {20b}
Charles died on January 13, 1892 at Gold Flat, California, at 52 years of age.
Children of Charles W. and Mary E. (Holmes) Beedle {31}
Fred
Sadie A., b Oct 1876
Alice V., b June 1882
Granville L., b Apr 1888; d Apr 1977 Marin, California {20c}
On Sunday, July 23, 1876, this article was published under the heading of “Local Intelligence” in the “Grass Valley Union” on page 3, column 2.
“Chas. Beedle, on Wednesday, while hunting around on Gold Flat for the purpose of discovering a ledge found a boulder, which upon breaking open, was discovered to be literally speckeled with gold. There was at least thirty dollars in the piece broken off. Upon sinking down about three feet the ledge from which the boulder came was discovered. Mr. Beedle will thoroughly prospect it, and we hope to be able to record the development of another first-class mine ere long.”
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From the “Nevada City Daily Transcript” on November 1, 1876, page 2, column 5, the birth announcement for the birth of a daughter:
“Born In Nevada City, October 29, 1876, to Charles Beedle and wife, a daughter.”
(Apparently brevity and male chauvinism were in order then.)
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From a funeral notice found in Mary Holmes Beedle’s scrapbook:
Death of C. W. Beedle:
Chas. W. Beedle died about nine o’clock last evening at his residence on Gold Flat. The funeral will probably take place Sunday and will be conducted by Nevada City Lodge, No. 52, A. O. U. W., to which he belonged. The cause of death was cancer of the liver, from which he had long been a sufferer. For the last three months he had been confined to the house. Mr. Beedle was an engineer by occupation, and was an honest, industrious, temperate citizen and held in high esteem by all who knew him. He had resided in this county for more than thirty-two years. A widow and four children are left to mourn his death.”
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From the notes of Lynn Beedle:
“The funeral of the late Charles W. Beedle will take place tomorrow afternoon at 2:00p.m. at the family residence on Grass Valley Road. It will be conducted by Nevada City Lodge A. O. U. W. of which he was a member.” (From the Nevada City Transcript, 1/15/1992.)
“Why not declare the road between Shurtleff’s Store and the residence of C. W. Beedle impassable? It is the most horrible road in Nevada County and it would only cost $20.00 to put it in shape.” (From the Nevada City Transcript, 1/18/1892.)
From Mary Holmes scrapbook, dated 1892, an obituary clipping from the newspaper:
DIED. At his residence on Gold Flat, Nevada Township, Jan. 13, Charles W. Beedle, native of Maine, aged 52 years, 1 month and 21 days.
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It is believed that Charles W. Beedle was employed at the Empire Mine in Grass Valley, CA., as a mining engineer. The Empire Mine site is now a California Historic Park. (See : https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=499)
“Empire Mine State Historic Park is the site of one of the oldest, largest, deepest, longest and richest gold mines in California. The park is in Grass Valley at 10791 East Empire Street. In existence for more than 100 years, the mine produced 5.8 million ounces of gold before it closed in 1956. (5.6 million ounces of gold is equivalent to a box seven feet long, seven feet high, and seven feet deep filled with gold.) The park contains many of the mine’s buildings, the owner’s home and restored gardens, as well as the entrance to 367 miles (the distance, as the crow flies, from Grass Valley to Magic Mountain) of abandoned and flooded mine shafts. The park consists of forested backcountry and eight miles of trails – including easy hikes (for hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding) – in the park.”
A mining engineer was a very responsible position seeing as how this mine had 500 miles of shafts and stopes spread out a mile deep and 21/2 miles wide under the surface of the ground. Aside from the logistics involved in getting men up and down to the active work areas, it was necessary to pump out more than 15,000 gallons of water a day to keep the mine from flooding while operating. Pumping water up a mile in elevation is no simple task.
