Comments on: Sitting Atop a Rock Pile

By: timbers

timbers — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:56:53 +0000

Thanks to Gordy for the photo links. I really like this shot from on top of the poor rock pile…

By: Gordy Schmitt

Gordy Schmitt — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:55:03 +0000

Ok both of thos work, the lower one gives all the photos available, the Baltic is the 2nd photo

By: Gordy Schmitt

Gordy Schmitt — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:53:53 +0000

I’ll never understand why a link can change from when you copy and paste, but we can try this one.
http://libraryphoto.cr.usgs.gov/htmllib/btch267/btch267j/btch267z/bbs00189.jpg

And see if this one will also work
http://libraryphoto.cr.usgs.gov/cgi-bin/search.cgi?free_form=af;search_mode=noPunct;start=200

By: Joe Dase

Joe Dase — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:21:41 +0000

I would guess that its an anchor point for a snatch block, they probably used a tugger at some point to replace the human in the tram system…

By: explorer

explorer — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:04:06 +0000

The trestle Idea made sense for me too. Its interesting that there are four individual piles sitting there between the No. 2 and No. 3 shafts. (basically on top of the old No.1) There must of been some tram system to carry the rock around to the individual piles, which this guy could of been part of. But looking at it makes me believe it was some type of tie down, but for what I don’t know. (That iron look sticking out the top is odd)

BTW Gordy that link doesn’t seem to be working, at least not for me.

By: Gordy Schmitt

Gordy Schmitt — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:38:58 +0000

A conveyor system back then was two rails with a small wood or steel cart full of rock pushed by a man or maybe pulled by cable and dumped.
But here is a Baltic Mine photo, if you get the largest version, you can really zoom in, in fact if you do zoom in next to the wood trestle next to the mine, you can see a guy pushing a dump cart back to the main trestle.
I don’t know the relation of the cement foundation to the old mine, but my guess it had something to do with the trestle between shafts.
This photo is around 1922
http://libraryphoto.cr.usgs.gov/cgi-bin/show_picture.cgi?ID=ID. Butler, B.S. 189

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:18:41 +0000

Could it be a base for some sort of conveyor system? To carry the poor rock to the top of the pile? I’d hate to be the guy that had to carry all that poor rock to the top of that massive pile!