An interesting late 19th-century mugshot showing a person of Chinese descent, identified as Ah Tom. The back of the card notes the man’s crime as, “hydraulic,” presumably referring to the practice of hydraulic mining, which was outlawed in the state in 1884. The notation on the back of the card also remarks that he was sentenced to 300 days in the Yuba County jail.

Large- scale hydraulic mining operations began in California in the Sierra Nevadas in 1852. This practice lasted until 1882, when a wheat farmer filed suit against the North Bloomfield Mining Company on behalf of local farmers over the agricultural impact of the practice in the Central Valley of the state. The judge ruled in favor of the farmers, placing regulations on the mining industry and prohibiting the dumping of debris in waterways. The case is considered the nation’s first environmental law.

From the estate of Ron Lerch.