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Posted: Wed Oct 26th, 2016 02:00 am |
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41st Post |
Chriss H
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The book "Stamp Milling for Gold Ores" by Thomas Arthur Rickard is now on Google downloads archive here;
https://archive.org/details/stampmillinggol00rickgoog
Those Western Scale Model books look great, I've been on a list for notification if they ever come back in stock from Rusty Stumps.
On another note I found a couple of old out of print magazines (Light Iron Digest) and purchased them off eBay from the UK, the premier issue #1 has a nice rendering of Gilpin Tram Boxcar by M.J. Mechling 11-28-98 in 3/16" and Vol. 1 No. 4 The Gilpin Tramway article by our own Keith Pashina on pg. 8 
____________________ _______
Chriss
I'm a Colorado mining district afficianado. Planning a layout in HOn3 based on the Gilpin County area.
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Posted: Wed Oct 26th, 2016 08:22 am |
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42nd Post |
Keith Pashina
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Chriss,
Rickard's book on the Stamp Milling of Ores is a nice book, with great illustrations. Thanks for listing the link. I noticed it was on GoogleBooks, but several years ago I purchased it from a dealer as a PDF of CD (forget who it was).
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Posted: Wed Oct 26th, 2016 08:39 am |
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43rd Post |
Keith Pashina
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Some Notes Modeling the Hidden Treasure Mill

The Hidden Treasure Mill would be a very interesting, but challenging, mill to model. It is quite sizeable, and HO scale, would occupy a space of about 16” x 18”. On a model, there are the main tracks to Black Hawk that cross under, and perpendicular to, the upper spur entering the mill for unloading ore. On a model layout, building two levels of track in this configuration takes up a lot of space, and I have never figured out how to build this mill into one of my layouts. Maybe one of you readers can include this mill in yours.
Studying the photos provides a lot of interesting details, which if modeled, would give a mill model a lot of character and interest.

Looking at the previous photo, there are many interesting details to be seen, several of which would add some real charactor to a model. Some of these highlights are flagged in the sketch above

On the west, or creekside of the mill, enlarging the previous photo reveals some interesting details. In the center of the stone wall, is a pair of doors - one large and one short. These doors were used to unload coal from C&S gondolas into the mill. There appears to be a wooden platform that may have swung down to bridge the gap between the doors and the gondola.
I don't know how the two railroads handled coal loads being unloaded at the mill - the C&S had to spot the gondola here, to be adjacent to the boilers, but then blocked the 2' gauge tram access to Black Hawk. There may have been some informal cooperation between the two railroads to keep the traffic flowing!

At the east end (hill side) of the mill, a large enclosure looms over the mill. This enclosure housed the large waterwheel, used in the spring and other times when there was good water flow. This was an unusually large wheel for the area, and I believe this is an overshot wheel (the water runs onto the top of the wheel, not the bottom, to turn it). This enclosure may be covered with tarpaper - the exterior looks "wrinkly".
Note the water flume entering at the backside on the right. This flume is supported on a spindly trestle.

There are several details here that would bring a model to life.
First, note the very simple wagon bridge over the creek at lower left - mere planks and no guardrails.
Next, note the variety of building construction in the mill, indicating the mill was built in phases. The main mill structure is stone, but the addition on the south side (between the spur and mainline), appears to be a tin clad wood addition. This is neatly painted, and the window trim outlined in white (or other light color). The lean-to like building at right appears to be over wood planks, that may or may not have been painted. This structure was identified as a tailings house - more on that later, when I'll discuss ore processing.
Third, note the clutter around the mill. There are timbers, what look like boxes and barrels, and other unidentified items.
Last, note the doorway at the southwall of the stone building - there is a wooden entryway built out from the wall, probably to help block the cold winter winds out of the warm and moist mill interior.
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Posted: Wed Oct 26th, 2016 08:46 am |
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44th Post |
Keith Pashina
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Another look at the south wall of the Hidden Treasure Mill. There is a brick chimney on the roof - this would have been for a coal-burning stove to help heat the interior. Also, the roof has several small skylights.

The mill interior was a busy, cluttered space. This photo was taken when the mill was at peak production, and at least 50 stamps are visible - it was reported that this mill had 75 stamps at one time, later reduced to 40, then finally 10.
In front of the stamp batteries are amalgamating tables and Gilpin County Bumpint Tables.
So what does all this stuff do in a mill? What is the machinery's purpose, and how was the raw ore processed into a concentrate?
That will be the subject of the next group of posts, where we will explore Gilpin County ore processing equipment and processes (and probably in excruciating detail!).
Keith
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Posted: Wed Oct 26th, 2016 08:46 pm |
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45th Post |
Herb Kephart
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Can't begin to imagine the noise level with all those stamps running. Probably yelling into someones ear wouldn't work, Working in there must have been painful--and destructive to hearing very quickly.
Herb
____________________ Fix it again, Mr Gates--it still works!"
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Posted: Wed Oct 26th, 2016 11:18 pm |
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46th Post |
pipopak
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WHAT DID YOU SAY??
Jose.
____________________ Junk is something you throw away three weeks before you need it.
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Posted: Thu Oct 27th, 2016 12:44 am |
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47th Post |
oztrainz
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Eh?? I can't hear you - the darn stamp mill is running
____________________ Regards,
John Garaty
Unanderra in oz
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Posted: Thu Oct 27th, 2016 12:59 am |
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48th Post |
Chriss H
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Can anyone recommend a kit I could bash or a ready to run models of the Gilpin Tram ore cars in HOn3? After a lot of searching I'm thinking I may need to scratchbuild, and I'm not sure I'm up to par in that area yet, as I've been out of modeling for far to long, a kit is reasonable for my current skill level.
____________________ _______
Chriss
I'm a Colorado mining district afficianado. Planning a layout in HOn3 based on the Gilpin County area.
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Posted: Thu Oct 27th, 2016 01:53 am |
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49th Post |
Keith Pashina
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Chriss,
I would check with Railway Recollections (http://www.railway-recollections.com), and the proprietor is Barry McClelland. He offered cast resin models of the GT ore cars in two versions - the 2nd major phase that replaced the early cars, and the final version, which had an additional horizontal stiffener on the hopper body.
These cars were offered a few years ago, and I am not certain if still available today.
There was another small manufacturer that offered some laser cut cars a few years ago - he was based in California, and the models seemed to have come and gone very quickly - I never have seen one, but they might be worth tracking down.
Keith
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Posted: Thu Oct 27th, 2016 02:46 am |
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50th Post |
Chriss H
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Thank you Keith, I see that all of the dealers listed either no longer carry them or don't have websites, I have contacted Barry directly.
____________________ _______
Chriss
I'm a Colorado mining district afficianado. Planning a layout in HOn3 based on the Gilpin County area.
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