Sutter-Yuba County Biographies


This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


 
 
JAMES O�BRIEN
 
An honorable place among the representative citizens of Sacramento Valley was 
accorded the late James O�Brien, who was identified with the mining interests of 
California for over half a century.  When he came to the State in 1853, like the 
great majority of emigrants of that time he brought nothing to presage the 
successful career which was to be his; but with the courage of youth, the 
optimistic nature inherited from his Irish forefathers, and the ability to grasp 
and make use of the manifold opportunities presented, he overcame all obstacles 
and compelled fruitful returns for his efforts.  A native of County Cork, 
Ireland, Mr. O�Brien was born May 28, 1830, and when fourteen years of age was 
brought to the United States by his parents.  They settled in Westfield, Mass., 
and in that locality he was employed at farming for about nine years.  Resolving 
to take a part in the stirring scenes being enacted in California, he left 
Massachusetts in May, 1853, and came to the Pacific Coast by the Nicaragua 
route, arriving in San Francisco on July 6 of the same year.  He made the trip 
thence to Marysville by steamer, after which he went to Baron�s Bar, on the Yuba 
River, in Yuba County.  He spent the summer in the mines and the winter seasons 
in prospecting.  For four years he remained so occupied and in the meantime 
became interested in the irrigation project of this section, and built the 
Oroville ditch by contract.  In 1858 he built the Boyer ditch, a distance of 
twenty-five miles, extending from Deer Creek to Smartville, and the following 
year built the Excelsior ditch, from south of Yuba to Smartville, a distance of 
about thirty-four miles.  In the fall of 1859 he contracted and built the 
Knights Landing road to Putah Creek, extending across Yolo County, and in this 
way was largely identified with the development of this part of the State.  In 
the fall of the next year he came to Smartville, Yuba County, and bought mining 
property, and shortly afterward was associated with Prof. William Ashburner and 
Messrs. Walker, Baker and Hague, of San Francisco, in the building of the 
Pactolus tunnel, at a cost of $80,000.  Of the ten shares, Mr. O�Brien was the 
owner of five, and was accordingly made superintendent of the mine, which he 
operated successfully for some years, after consolidating with the Excelsior 
Water & Mining Company.  With the added responsibility he continued in the 
position for a period of four years, when the property was sold to Eastern 
capitalists.  About 1880 the Sawyer decision stopped mining by the hydraulic 
process, thereby causing Mr. O�Brien considerable loss.  Withdrawing to a large 
extent from mining operations, he then turned his attention to farming.  
Purchasing a tract of 6200 acres of land along the Yuba River, in Yuba County, 
he began ranching and stock-raising.  The dredging operations at Hammonton and 
Marigold are conducted on some of the land formerly owned by Mr. O�Brien.  He 
also became interested in the Nevada and Marysville Water & Power company, which 
is now the Yuba River Power Company, the builders of the Bullards Bar Dam and 
the projectors of several other large projects.
In October, 1860, Mr. O�Brien was united in marriage with Miss Mary Kirby, a 
native of Ireland, whom he had met before emigrating to the West, and who made 
the trip to California to become his wife.  She died on November 13, 1894, 
leaving a family of eight children.  Mr. O�Brien was a Democrat in his political 
convictions, and with his family was a communicant of the Catholic Church.
 
History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, 1924
p 1091