General History (for detailed chronology, see Historical Timeline below)
Nathan Weston Spaulding
Nathan Weston Spaulding, a true renaissance man, was described as “the father of a large family... a picture of health and vigor, being tall and stately, six feet three inches high, and weighing two hundred and thirty-five pounds. A true friend, a good citizen, a man of good judgment and of quick perception as an inventor.”
Born in Maine in 1829, N.W. Spaulding, as he was known, apprenticed with both his father and his uncle as a practical mechanic and a millwright. In 1851, just 22, N.W. went to the California gold fields via the Isthmus of Panama. While he was not successful mining gold, he used his skills in building whipsaws to cut lumber to flume the Mokelumne River, built a hotel in Campo Seco, constructed two bridges over the Mokelumne. In 1859, he moved to Sacramento where he opened a saw repair shop, and invented the adjustable saw-tooth and a scale for measuring logs.