Grass Mountain Nightrider Snowmobile Club
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Standing above the cavern in the Gilman mine where the ball and rod mills are housed. The mills are on an incline for gravity feed down to the loading docks.
At the center right of the photo, steel rods are stacked for use in the rod mill.
2) Repair shop
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Beth McIlnay, Lucille Riggle and Everett Limatta (far right) are standing in the repair shop in the Gilman mine.
3) Repair area
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From far left: Chuck Colby, Berniece Chadwick and Davy Burnett. Jean Flaherty is at far right.
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The loading tipple is at far left where products would be transferred to railroad cars for shipment. The "Bull Gang" managed loading and maintenance in the Eagle River canyon. Robert E. Riggle was Bull Gang chief at one point.
The stairway at center goes into a mine entrance at about the 17 level. There are 80 feet between levels in the Gilman mine.
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The lathes were for working steel. They could straighten bent drill steel, put new ends on the rods and send them back for reuse. The Gilman shop reused as much equipment and supplies as was possible.
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At 16 level, the ore train would dump rock into the large pit (Grizzly) at the bottom of which was located a jaw crusher. The crusher would send the ore into the ball mill and rod mill where the ore was pulverized to a fine powder.
Inside the ball mill, there would be ore and steel balls, approximately 10 in. in diameter. As the mill rotated, the ore was crushed by the balls. Eventually, the balls would wear down and Bob Riggle remembers his dad...
9) Repair shop
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More steel milling machiner in the repair shop. The lathe at center is approximately 20 feet long.
10) Zinc dryer
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The dryer building for zinc is at the far right. The zinc slurry would be heated and dried, leaving a very fine zinc powder. The powder was shipped in sealed box cars as it was so fine it would blow away in an open car. The rail line for shipping runs through the Eagle River Canyon (Belden area) so the final products for shipping were finished at this level.
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At right is the ball mill. At left is the rod mill. The mills are on an incline for gravity feed down to the loading docks.
At the center right of the photo, steel rods are stacked for use in the rod mill.
12) Surface tram
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The surface tram from Belden to the top of the mine complex at Gilman during a tour of the Gilman mine. The Grass Mountain Nightrider Snowmobile Club organized the tour. Durbin McIlnay would have been mine superintendent at that time.
There are 28 photos in this series taken by Bob Riggle, the only color series of which I'm aware. Should you question the captions or have further information, please let us know.
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Drills and lathes in the repair area. Welders and machinists were employed by New Jersey Zinc to maintain and recycle equipment. During the 1950s, there were three shifts working each day to maintain production levels.
