Angels Camp, California is best known because of its annual jumping-frog contest inspired by a Mark Twain story, but there’s more to the town, including these two veteran steam engines that once hauled immense loads of ore, logs or anything else that required extreme pulling and pushing power.
Despite her name, Beth is the younger of the two tractors, built around 1904 and used by several different owners before retiring around 1940. You can get some idea of her size from this old photo in her prime, with humans on her for scale.
Jenny—Just Jenny—is much smaller, but more of a pioneer. Jenny arrived in California in the 1870s, straight from Ohio, and spent over thirty years on various jobs before retiring in 1904, around the same time Beth was built.
Jenny’s last few years were spent with her front wheels replaced by railroad wheels, able to move on tracks as well as on the road.
