4. Stamp Mill

In front of you is a stamp mill. It was used to crush rocks and then the pulverized rock was mixed with water and run through the sluce. The heavy metals fall to the bottom where they could be recovered. Slucing is still used today.

The stamp mill uses a motor to drive a belt to turn a cam at the top. This cam raises up the stamps and then it falls off the cam causing it to come crushing down. The stamps can be individually engaged. Some large stamp mills had up to 10 stamps.   This is one of the few fully restored mills in the US. 

To the left is a hit or miss engine from the early 1900's. It is unique because it does not use air flow to control the speed of the engine like modern ones do, instead it uses spring loaded weights on the flywheel. If the engine is running too fast the weights disengage a rod that is connected to the spark and prevents it from firing. This slows the engine down until the weights re-engage the spark. When running it had a very unique sound because of the random firing of the sparkplug.

In the left rear look at the steam boiler. It malfunctioned and blew the side out of 1/4 inch steel, sending bricks flying over a mile. This was used at Hull mine which is on this property.

The forge and mining cage are all orginal from this mine.

Hanging on the hook in the right rear are a pair of 1901 JC Penny pants. Its the first year they made these.