Large Scale Central

Not trains but an old mine mill

General Discussion
#1

I was thumbing through one of my favorite picture collections the Barnard-Stockbridge collection at the University of Idaho http://www.lib.uidaho.edu/digital/barstock/all.html and came across a photo of the Hercules Mill in the Burke, Idaho area. It is just a neat building. I believe it is a stamp mill but I am not an exert on such things. But it has just a cool look. Thought I would share.

http://digital.lib.uidaho.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/bar-stock/id/125/rec/28

http://digital.lib.uidaho.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/bar-stock/id/98/rec/27

http://digital.lib.uidaho.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/bar-stock/id/94/rec/30

Sorry about not putting the actual photos up for some reason they only produce parts of the picture. I would have to down load them then upload them so I figured I would post the link.

#2

#3

OK Joe how the heck did you do that. Every time I tried to capture the image location and then paste it in the URL box it came up with only a portion of the picture. But thanks.

#4

Devon, check the box “constrain proportions”.

It does look like a stamp mill.

#5

It might be an entire mine with a stamp mill attached down hill. At the top is the lift tower where the raw material is dumped into the main building. The rest of the mine (crude crush, stamping, etc.) could be the middle buildings. They might have started with raw ore and shipped out the finished product (without the smelting process, which probably would have been done elsewhere) at the bottom of the picture. Just a guess based on some knowledge. the place seems remote, so they would have tried to get as much done as possible nearby, in my opinion.

#6

I do know for a fact that the smelting was done elsewhere. This is 1907 and I don’t believe any smelter was up anywhere in the area at this time and if there was one it would have been several miles down canyon. Now as to the mine itself I believe it is up hill quite a distance. You can see in the bottom picture the long shoot coming down, I believe that was a tram but at any rate other pictures of the area show the mine and lift being up there. Can’t say for sure but I think that’s what we are seeing.

Edit. I looked at the original link where you can blow it way up and the writing does say “mill and tram”.

#7

Devon Sinsley said:

OK Joe how the heck did you do that. Every time I tried to capture the image location and then paste it in the URL box it came up with only a portion of the picture. But thanks.

MA=GIC (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)

#8

Just like this

Pretty simple

#9

Well my computer at home must have been possessed. I had no trouble on the work computer. weird

#10

check the box that says “constrain proportions”

#11

It is checked automatically. at least on my computer.

#12

#13

Note the cows tongues on the office porch posts.

Edit cause the engine shed (foreground) is an addition. Note the window elements and carry the line. Re Edit cause I forgot match the dormers to the bottom windows and think.

#14

Ummmmm

#15

That’s a great mill. There are two types of trams in these photos. One is the very steep incline coming down the mountain. Note that most of the incline is covered by a snow shed. The part that is not covered is on a trestle, so I’m guessing it’s high enough off the ground that it doesn’t need cover there.

I see that four of the five lowest windows on the front of the mill, have diamond-shaped windows directly above them. Never seen that before, I wonder what the purpose was?

In the second photo, you can see an aerial tram going away from the mill and down into the canyon. I’m guessing this aerial tram was used to transport processed ore out of the mill, to some point where it could be shipped to the smelter. It doesn’t seem likely that ore would be hauled uphill to the mill.

Also in the second photo, at the bottom, you can see part of a flume. I wonder if this was to bring water to the mill, or just divert runoff around the mill?

#16

OK Ray you got me looking closer and trying to put together what I know about the area and what might be going on. Burke, Idaho sits in a very narrow canyon called Canyon Creek. The site was built literally over the confluence of Canyon Creek and Gorge Gulch. Still today the confluence is somewhere under the town (whats left of it, maybe 10 full time residents). Burke was the end of the line for the railroad in all phases of it; narrow and standard gauge. The Hercules was about 1/2 mile up Gorge Gulch which is also a very narrow canyon. It was about midway up this small drainage. There was no form of transportation at least in the early days from Burke to the mill. Also there were mines farther up the canyon. So looking at this and knowing the area I think I can tell whats going on. One the flume I think is diverting the creek. Some of the mines and mills did use water for power not sure about this one. after looking at different pictures of the mine it is definitely up the hill so that tram is taking the ore down. There are other cuts in the hills and while I am sure some are to get stuff up to the mine I wonder if other tramways were used to get ore down to this mill from some of the other mines. I would bank on the idea that this was the only mill up gorge gulch. Your probably right that the other tram going down hill is probably taking processed ore down to Burke. The terminus of the railroad would be at the mouth of gorge gulch so there must have been a facility for loading it there. I bet if I surf pictures I could identify such a facility. It would certainly make sense to me why the RR tracks went through the Tiger Hotel because the only thing beyond it would have been the ore coming down from the Hercules. all the other major facilities where below the Tiger Hotel. So why go to so much trouble to build a hotel over a set of tracks that went nowhere. No smelting ever took place in Canyon Creek. So it was all raw ore taken down and out a smelter in Kellogg Idaho or elsewhere.

Tiger Motel Burke Idaho. No I love it this photo is usually accompanied by a tagline that say 1888. While the original Tiger Boarding house was built in 1888 this one was built I believe after the 1923 fire but don’t hold me to it. At any rate that is a very strange 1888 horse and wagon on the right.

Edit: in the first photo you can see a covered tram going off to the right up the mountain which would be up canyon.