Hello fellow researchers!
Anyone out there like a mystery? As part of my history research, I am
trying to determine the construction date/era of a building. It is a two
story brick structure that has an item I believe might be datable. The
construction people inserted three heavy cables that run from one side of
the building to the opposite side. Attached to each end of the three
cables, which are threaded only at the ends, are metal plates and nuts. I
have seen these on old brick buildings in Coloma, Old Sacramento, and
Columbia, and their purpose seems to be to hold the building together ,
arresting sagging or possible shifting of the building. The metal plates
are not perfectly flat but have a kind of wave in them that is 1/4 inch
deep. The metal is 1/4 inch thick and the plate is almost square in shape,
with the sides being 8 and 8 1/2 inches in length. The square nuts are 1
1/4 inches per side in length. At one end of the cable the nut was threaded
on, then it and the end of the cable were hammered on so it formed a bolt
head. The other end of the cable has the same metal plate but the bolt
hasonly been threaded onto the bolt, not hammered or finished. This second
bolt was the one tightened by wrench.
The overall building's first floor, which is 8 feet 8 inches high, is
square in shape, with the length of each side being 14 feet one inch. The
walls depth is universal, the width of three bricks 4 inches each, plus the
mortar. The ceiling of the first floor is divided into two equal sections
with each section an exact duplicate of the other. The ceilings are all
brick and are arched, so that they can help bear the load of the second
story. There originally was a doorway but it was almost completely
destroyed at one time so was bricked over. How I could tell the doorway
existed is there are still three bricks placed perpendicular to the rest of
the wall and they start what used to be an arch of bricks over the doorway.
The second story is round, yes round. and its diameter extends to the
first floors edges. The circular walls are the same depth as the first
floor and the height is approximately the same height. There is no roof on
the second floor.
What else do I know of the building? Well, the structure is a water
tower and was built in an area of Sacramento County that, up to the 1970's,
was ranch land, with some farming occurring. There was a railroad that ran
through the area, with the tracks plotted to 100 to 150 feet from the
structure. There is a creek running about 500 feet away, and the water
tower is on the top of a small rise, about 30 feet higher than the creek.
Questions.
1. Does anyone know when cable/plate structure supports appeared and/or
disappeared in building construction in general?
2. Which industry built the structure? The structure is fairly substantial
and expensive to build. Would a farmer or rancher go to the expense of
building it? Did ranchers or farmers even build water towers? I know
railroads built water towers but they were usually built of wood and later
metal. I have researched in Connecticut, New York, and Illinois for similar
structures. Only in Connecticut were there enclosed brich water towers, but
they were taller, had a different first floor floor plan, hexigonal is
shape, and very, very rare, occuring on only one railroad in only one
section.
3. How old is the building? Someone I know who knows a lot but not
everything, estimated in 1978 the building was a good 70 years old.
4. There was an old way station house built in the early 1850's that,
according to both oral and written local history and old maps, was away from
the water tower I estimate to be 1/2 to 1 mile. I do not know when this old
way station house disappeared. Could the way station owners have built the
water tower? Both freight and passenger wagons/buggys stopped at this way
station alot every day and they had to water the horses. I have been told
that this way station was also used as a boarding house of sorts.
Well, I guess I have wetted your appetites enough with my mystery
building. If anyone knows or knows of someone who might help, I would love
the information. Thanks to all!
David Fairall