Between 1860 and 1867 Howland, Angell & King were operating the Miners' Foundry and Machine Works in San Francisco, makers of sawmill machinery and steam engines, including "Hicks' steam engine". The founders and owners were W. H. Howland, H. B. Angell, and E. T. King. By 1866 Cyrus Palmer had joined as partner, by 1868 the name had become Howland, Angell & Co., and by 1876 it was Angell, Palmer & Co.

Information Sources

• Ad in 1860-04-04 Sacramento Daily Union "NEW ESTABLISHMENT. Miner's Foundry and Machine Shop, First street, between Howard and Folsom, San Francisco. / Howland, Angell & King, manufacturers of / Steam Engines, Flour, Saw and Quartz Mill Machinery, etc. Iron and Brass Castings of all kinds... Having been engaged in [this trade] in San Francisco for the last eight years... / Howland's Patent Rotary Quartz Mills. Our Mr. Howland's contract with the 'Pacific Foundry' for the exclusive manufacture of these valuable mills having expired... We also manufacture KING'S PATENT SHINGLE MACHINES, cutting one thousand per hour, the best in use, and KNOX's AMALGAMATORS...."
• 1868 Appendix to the Journals of the Senate and Assembly California Legislature , in a section on awards presented at the 1867 Annual Fair of the State Agricultural Society. "We award a first premium to Hicks’ patent steam engine, entered by Howland, Angell & King, of San Francisco, for simplicity of construction, economy in space, facility for transportation and the little experience necessary to operate it, and recommend it for use in mining, hoisting, saw mills and other places where simplicity of design and small liability to get out of repair are considered advantages." Elsewhere in the report: "Howland, Angell & King, San Francisco, for Hicks’ steam engine and iron castings, all made by themselves at the Miners’ Foundry, for which they had been awarded two first premiums... Your Committee were divided in opinion as to the respective merits of the exhibitions of Thomas Hansbrow and Howland, Angell & King. As both were very valuable your Committee finally made award as follows: Gold medal of the department to Thomas Hansbrow for general exhibit; and as there was an extra gold medal belonging to the Society, recommend that it be given to Messrs. Howland, Angell & King for the Hicks engine manufactured by them." Also, "We award a premium to Messrs. Howland, Angell & King, for the best iron casting." Their "Hydraulic hose covering" was a First—Diploma.
• 1866 A General Directory and Business Guide of the Principal Towns in the Upper Country of California has a two-page ad for this firm that adds Cyrus Palmer's name to the list of principals.
• A search for more information on Hicks' steam engine was not very enlightening. There was a Hicks' Steam Engine Co. in Richmond, VA and a Hicks Boiler Works in Providence, RI, both of whom made steam engines at about the same time as (or shortly after) the 1867 display of the Hicks engine from the Miners' Foundry. A William C. Hicks of Hartford, CT, received an 1855 and 1865 patents for steam-engines, and we suspect he is the most likely designer of the Miners' Foundry "Hicks' engine".