1959 MASSIVE ARCHIVE OF CONSTRUCTION REPORTS, FINANCIAL STATEMENTS, WASTE MANAGEMENT PLANS, ETC. RELATING TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF RECREATION AREAS AROUND LAKE BERRYESSA, COLLECTED AND COMPILED BY ITS HEAD ENGINEER

On offer is a large archive of Civil Engineering information on the development of Lake Berryessa Recreation Area. In 1953 funds were appropriated by congress for the construction of the Solano project including construction of Monticello Dam on Putah Creek. It was completed in 1957 and lake Berryessa was created. This offer is for an incredible piece of Lake Berryessa and Napa County, California history. In this archive is a treasure trove of information from one of the Civil Engineers who may have worked on or put it together. This man is most probably the one to whom almost all the letters are written to one man, engineer Roy E. Ramseier. The very first letter in the archive is from “Ellis & Clemons, Inc. General Contractors,” and is written to Mr. Ramseier stating that, “If bids are being accepted on the underground work for Berryessa Park Subdivision at Lake Berryessa, Napa County, we would welcome information on obtaining plans and specifications and bid data on the same.” Ramseier was most probably the project lead engineer and is personally responsible for putting this archive together. He seems to have at that time been soliciting different reports, financial statements, development reports, and more for the construction of Lake Berryessa recreation. There is a tremendous amount of paper, drawings, reports, manuscript notes, financial information, bulletins, letters, and more that make up the 4 pounds and 13 ounces of paper included. The pages are loose with no ring binder. Some of the company's letters includes Ellis & Clemons, Inc.,Basalt Rock Co. Inc., three 1959 letter from Heid & Heid signed by Robert Heid, Fairbanks, Morse & Co., Napa Department of Public Health, A. R. Van Woerkom, The Permutit Company New York, Wallace & Tiernan Incorporated and Argonaut Constructors. There is information on Berryessa Water Company cost of development and installation, balance sheet, copy of work done to Mr. Jack Streblow, President of Berryessa Land Company, Rules and Regulations of Berryessa Waste Disposal Company. This archive is tremendously comprehensive. The end of the folder has booklets, bulletins from Chicago Pump Company Barminutor, Permutit Gravity Filters, Permutit Boiler Feedwater Treatment, Permutit Precipitator, Super clean air filter system, swing diffusers and other booklet as seen in the photos.. What is incredible about this archive as well is how well all of the material is preserved. Almost all of the pages are in G+ to VG condition. The handwriting and typing is legible throughout each and every page. There are the occasional pages that have some ink fading or a bit of discoloration, but for the overwhelming amount of material here, it’s been preserved tremendously. (background: Lake Berryessa is the largest lake in Napa County, California. This reservoir in the Vaca Mountains is formed by the Monticello Dam, which provides water and hydroelectricity to the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. The lake is over 20,000 acres (80 km²) when full. It is approximately 15.5 miles (25 km) long but only 3 miles (5 km) wide. It has approximately 165 miles (265 km) of shoreline.) OVERALL: VG; Manuscript; Folio - over 12" - 15" tall; KEYWORDS: HISTORY OF, LAKE BERRYESSA, MONTICELLO DAM, PUTAH CREEK, NAPA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, 20TH CENTURY CIVIL ENGINEERING, ROY E. RAMSEIER, CALIFORNIA CONTRACTORS, DEVELOPMENT OF RECREATION AREAS, PUBLIC AMENITIES, BERRYESSA PARK SUBDIVISION, POST WORLD WAR II PUBLIC WORKS, AMERICANA, HANDWRITTEN, MANUSCRIPT, DOCUMENT, LETTER, AUTOGRAPH, WRITER, HAND WRITTEN, DOCUMENTS, SIGNED, LETTERS, MANUSCRIPTS, HISTORICAL, HOLOGRAPH, KEEPSAKE WRITERS, AUTOGRAPHS, PERSONAL, MEMOIR, MEMORIAL, ARCHIVE, DIARY, DIARIES, JOURNAL, LOG, ANTIQUITÉ, CONTRAT, VÉLIN, DOCUMENT, MANUSCRIT, PAPIER ANTIKE, BRIEF, PERGAMENT, DOKUMENT, MANUSKRIPT, PAPIER OGGETTO D’ANTIQUARIATO, ATTO, VELINA, DOCUMENTO, MANUSCRITTO, CARTA ANTIGÜEDAD, HECHO, VITELA, DOCUMENTO, MANUSCRITO, PAPEL