Mining Archaeology in the American West: A View from the Silver State

Illustrations

Illustrations Images 1. Miners at Cortez, early 20th century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2. Mining landscape, Bodie, California . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 3. Standard Mill at Bodie, California . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 4. Billie Mine Portal, Death Valley, California . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 5. Bullwheel at Bulwer Mill site, Bodie, California . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 6. An arrastra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 7. Map of arrastra archaeological site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 8. The Tenabo Mill in 1900 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 9. Lime kiln next to the Tenabo Mill. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 10. The Mayflower Mine site, Bullfrog Mining District, Nevada . . . 24 11. Hoist engine at the Pioneer Mine site, Bullfrog Mining District, Nevada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 12. Virginia City, Nevada, from Cedar Hill, 1870s or 1880s . . . . . . . . 26 13. House site at Shoshone Wells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 14. Mine waste dump and tramway at Arctic Mine, Cortez Mining District . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 15. Cyanide vats, Bodie, California . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 16. The Tenabo Mill site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 17. The “Nevada Giant Ledge” in the Cortez Mining District . . . . . . 33 18. Placer deposits, Malakoff Diggings, California . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 19. The “glory hole” at the Montgomery-Shoshone Mine, Bullfrog Mining District . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 20. Lavender copper pit, Bisbee, Arizona . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 21. Abandoned dredge between Tok and Eagle, Alaska . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 22. “Giant” water nozzle used in hydraulic mining at Malakoff Diggings, California . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 23. Illustration of Burleigh mechanical rock drill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 24. Air compressor at Caledonia Mine, Gold Hill, Comstock Mining District . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 25. Mine shaft and collapsed headframe, Joshua Tree National Park, California . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 26. “Rat-holing” scene: miners, burro, and ore car . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 27. Underground workings at the Consolidated Cortez Mine, 1920s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 28. Adit at the Arctic Mine, Cortez Mining District . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 29. An 1876 lithograph by T.D.Dawes of square sets on the Comstock Lode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 30. Shrinkage stoping at Cortez, 1920s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 31. Windlass at Rawhide, 1908 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 32. Underground at the Gold Bar Mine, 1905 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 33. Whim at Bodie. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 34. Gallows headframe at the new Gold Bar Mine, 1906 . . . . . . . . . . . 50 35. Gallows headframe at the Forman Shaft, Gold Hill, Comstock Mining District . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51 36. Hoisting cages, Bullion Mine, Gold Hill, Comstock Mining District . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 37. Cornish pump at the Union Shaft, Comstock Mining District, 1879 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 38. The Gold Bar Mine site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 39. Horse whim at the original Gold Bar Mine, 1905 .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 40. The original Gold Bar Mine site. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 41. Map of the original Gold Bar Mine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 42. Blacksmithing feature at the original Gold Bar Mine . . . . . . . . . . 58 43. The new Gold Bar Mine in 1908 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 44. The new Gold Bar Mine site. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 45. Map of the new Gold Bar Mine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 46. The Homestake Mine in 1906 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61 47. The Homestake Mine site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61 48. Map of the Homestake Mine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 49. Concrete machine pads at the Homestake Mine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 50. The main shaft at the Homestake Mine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 51. An arrastra, Joshua Tree National Park, California . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 52. An 1860s lithograph of a stamp battery at Gould and Curry Mill, Comstock Mining District . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 53. Ruins of an 1870s stamp mill at Tuscarora, Nevada, in 1911 . . . . 67 54. Illustration of a Blake rock crusher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 55. Illustration of Krom rolls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 56. Allis-Chalmers tube mill at Consolidated Cortez Mill, Cortez Mining District, 1920s .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 57. Frue vanners at the Kinkaid Mill, Virginia City, Nevada. . . . . . . . .71 58. Illustration of Fagergren flotation cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 59. Elevation and flow sheet of Black Hawk Flotation Mill, New Mexico . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 60. Patios at the 1864 Gould and Curry Mill, Comstock Mining District . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 61. Elevation of the Taylor Mill, Mineral Hill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 62. Illustration of Wheeler amalgamation pan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 63. Illustration of settler. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 64. Interior of California Pan Mill, Virginia City, Nevada, in 1882. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 65. Ruins of 1871 Monte Cristo Mill near Rawhide, 1914 . . . . . . . . . . . 80 66. Illustration of Bruckner cylinders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81 67. Illustration of Stetefeldt shaft furnace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 68. Remains of leaching vats at the Tenabo Mill site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 69. Bruckner cylinders and furnaces at the Tenabo Mill site . . . . . . . 85 70. Butters Mill on the Comstock Lode, 1906 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 71. Interior of Butters Mill, showing agitation tanks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 72. The 1909 Sanborn fire insurance map of Montgomery-Shoshone Mill, Bullfrog Mining District . . . . . . . . 87 73. Milling flow sheet for Montgomery-Shoshone Mill . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 74. Montgomery-Shoshone Mill site. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 75. Illustration of Dorr thickening tank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 76. Archaeological remains of Dorr thickener. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 77. Illustration of Trent agitation tank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91 78. The Homestake-King Mill site, Bullfrog Mining District . . . . . . 92 79. The Homestake-King Mill in 1908 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 80. Map of the Homestake-King Mill...