It could be argued that the hoist was the heart of a shaft; working tirelessly day and night transporting rock, copper, tools, equipment, and people in and out of the depths. It kept the shaft in operation, and the mine making money. Without it neither could happen. But the hoist had needs of its own, the most notable was it’s appetite for steam. Without steam the hoist was just a static drum, and could neither keep the shaft in operation or make the mine money. Steam is the lifeblood of the hoist and heart that keeps it pumping lies in the boiler house.

Most hoists we have discovered as of late are seemingly their own island – set apart from the rest of the mine; alone in the wilderness. The truth was that hoists relied on a boiler house to supply their need for steam, and we should have found remnants of such structures near all our hoists. (at least near steam hoists) At North Kearsarge, we may have found our first.

It was the concrete “box” that perked out interest first, sitting right outside the north wall of the hoist building. About half the hoists length and width, it rose about six feet tall and had not windows or doors to speak of. Climbing on top of it, we found it to be hollow. Along the top a few old rails crossed the gap, and the inside was filled with trash and debris. Exiting out its west wall was a large pipe, possibly for water (or steam?). It was broken off about two feet past the wall, and we couldn’t find any more signs of its along the ground.

Sitting next to the concrete box stood an even larger set of ruins, at least as large as the hoist building. Climbing over a short wall that flanked the old road, we found ourselves standing on a concrete platform. Most of the concrete was covered in dirt and debris, with even a few trees sprinkled around for good measure. Tripping over a metal bracket of some sort on the floor I almost fell into a short slit cut into the floor. Lining both sides were more of the brackets, looking like they once held a piece of equipment of some sort. Perhaps the boiler itself?

If this part of the building held the boiler, there must be a fuel source nearby as well. For this area, that mean coal, sitting in a pile nearby or a bunker of some sort. Moving further along we quickly come to a second slit, well more like a trench really. The trench was lined with poor rock walls, and at first we though we were looking at a second building. But at either ends of the trench were a pair of walls, making it the same building. Leaping over it, we landed on a dirt floor instead of concrete. This part of the building was not as large as the first, and had much more debris and trees growing atop of it. Leaning down I look through the rocks sprinkled about. They were black, and small in size. Perhaps the coal we were looking for?

If this was a coal bunker that fed the boiler, there would have to be a railroad trestle nearby to feed it. The boiler house that still stands at Quincy has a similar trestle, that brought train cars directly into the building and over a series of coal bins. This coal bunker (if it was one) might have something similar. Standing on the bunkers back wall, we looked around nearby for remnants of such a trestle – and found them.

Sitting nearby was a metal beam protruding from the ground, bent down over itself. We quickly spotted another one, and then a series of concrete pilings laid out in two parallel lines. We jumped down from the wall and followed them, straight back to behind the hoist building and to a large earth embankment. Only this embankment wasn’t natural, the wall that faces us was built from poor rock. Climbing on top of it we could see that its gradually sloped back down to road level. Turning to look back where we had come, we could see the line of footing stretching out from us towards the coal bin beyond. We had found the trestle. We had also found the coal bunker, and the boiler. Eureka.