2007 SIA FALL TOUR REVIEW—ELY, NV Lmost 100 SIA Members and Friends Journeyed When Highway Improvements Favored Buses Instead
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Volume 36 Fall 2007 Number 4 2007 SIA FALL TOUR REVIEW—ELY, NV lmost 100 SIA Members and friends journeyed when highway improvements favored buses instead. The to Ely for the 2007 Fall Tour. Ely is quite remote location meant that NNRY had to be fairly self-suf- remote; a T-shirt in a local shop said “Ely – 200 ficient with respect to maintenance and repair of the rolling AMiles to the nearest Wal-Mart”! The tour was stock, so an extensive collection of specialized shops was organized by the Nevada Northern Railway developed in the East Ely yard. (NNRY) with the theme “Booms, Busts, and Rebirth.” A worldwide decline in the price of copper, along with Though founded earlier, the town of Ely started to grow environmental restrictions on the smelter, led to a decision when new methods for extracting copper from low-grade by Kennecott Copper to close the Ely operations, including ore were developed in the early 20th century. Just outside of the NNRY, in 1978. A group of local citizens thought that town there is an extensive deposit, which has been active- there might be some possibility of operating a tourist rail- ly mined for over 100 years. In 1905, construction began on road, and after various negotiations, false starts, and lots of a railroad to move ore to a smelter being constructed at hard work, today’s NNRY was born. As noted in the 2006 McGill, about 15 miles from the mines, and to bring in sup- press release from the U.S. Department of the Interior plies and equipment from a junction with the Central announcing the designation of the NNRY as a National Pacific at the new town of Cobre (copper in Spanish), Historic Landmark, “Nevada Northern. is the best-pre- approximately 115 miles from Ely. NNRY also transported served, least altered, and most complete main yard complex blister copper from the smelter for further electrolytic refin- remaining from the steam railroad era.” ing in the East via the Central Pacific interchange. As the Although events didn’t get underway until Thursday, mines grew, so did traffic on the railroad; as many as thirty some SIA members came in early and enjoyed various ore trains per day moved between the mines and the attractions in Las Vegas and along the way to Ely. It was a smelter. NNRY supported passenger traffic until 1941, pleasant surprise to run into many of them when we got to (continued on page 2) In This Issue: • Industrial Museums—New Formulas • SIA Preservation Grant Assists Research on Millville’s Past • Electro-Pneumatic Block Signal System s o • 2008 SIA Conference t o h p l Preview—San José l a , y e l u • Call for Nominations of a C c SIA Officers M y a J Steaming-up the NNRY wrecking crane. Published by the Society for Industrial Archeology Department of Social Sciences, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, Michigan 49931-1295 FALL TOUR REVIEW (continued from page 1) the historic Hotel Nevada Wednesday evening. When it was built in 1929, the six-story hotel was the tallest build- ing in Nevada! It was a popular stop for celebrities going from Hollywood to Sun Valley, Idaho. We met Andrea Westland, the local event manager, on Thursday to help get everything ready for registration. She’d joined the project recently, and was instrumental in putting together a very well planned event. After things settled down at registration, a small group went out to the Ward Charcoal Ovens State Historic Park. There we met Nate Thomas, a Forest Service archeologist, who’d written about the ovens as part of his master’s thesis. The Ward mining district was a silver boom-town. When the San Francisco firm of Martin White Co. acquired the mine, they built six beehive ovens to produce charcoal as fuel and as the reduc- Hamilton “boneyard.” ing agent in the smelting process. Alas, the ore body wasn’t very deep and was played out shortly after the ovens were used for shelter and storage until acquired by the state. As completed. Nate estimated that they operated about two Ward went bust, many of the residents moved across the years. They were exceptionally well constructed and were valley to the Taylor district for the next boom-bust cycle. After a quick visit to the White Pine Museum, we went over to the Postal Palace, a WPA-built post office that is now an event center for the Hotel Nevada, for dinner and The SIA Newsletter is published quarterly by the a slide show by Fred Frampton, State Archeologist for the Society for Industrial Archeology. It is sent to SIA Forest Service, on the White Pine mining district, the site members, who also receive the Society’s journal, IA, of Friday’s tour. published biannually. The SIA through its publica- Friday was a crystal clear day, allowing us to appreciate tions, conferences, tours, and projects encourages the the vistas along the forty mile journey to the starting point study, interpretation, and preservation of historically for touring the White Pine mining district. This was the significant industrial sites, structures, artifacts, and site of numerous silver mines, including the spectacular technology. By providing a forum for the discussion and Treasure Hill strike. Our group began at the Belmont Mill. exchange of information, the Society advances an awareness and appreciation of the value of preserving our industrial heritage. Annual membership: individual $50; couple $55; full-time student $20; institutional $50; contributing $100; sustaining $150; corporate $500. For members outside of North America, add $10 surface-mailing fee. Send check or money order payable in U.S. funds to the Society for Industrial Archeology to SIA-HQ, Dept. of Social Sciences, Michigan Technological University, 1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, MI 49931-1295; (906) 487-1889; e-mail: [email protected]; Website: www.sia-web.org. Mailing date for Vol. 36, 4 (Fall 2007), Dec. 2007. ISSN 0160-1067. If you have not received an issue, apply to SIA-HQ (address above) for a replacement copy. The SIA Newsletter welcomes material and correspon- dence from members, especially in the form of copy already digested and written! The usefulness and time- liness of the newsletter depends on you, the reader, as an important source of information and opinion. TO CONTACT THE EDITOR: Patrick Harshbarger, Editor, SIA Newsletter, 305 Rodman Road, Wilmington, DE 19809; (302) 764-7464; e-mail: [email protected]. Deep Ruby Mine headframe. 2 Society for Industrial Archeology Newsletter, Vol.36, No. 4, 2007 SIA Fall Tour group photo, Ely, NV. This was a crushing and concentration mill that is in Director, and Andrea had a special treat for us. Through the remarkable condition, despite being abandoned in the generous support of the White Pine Four Wheelers, we were 1930s. Ore came from a mine up the hill, and was trans- able to get to Treasure City and some of the other ghost ported by an aerial tramway. From the small size of the tail- towns accessible only by 4WD vehicles. Carved into the ings dump, the mine must have played out pretty quickly. steep side of Treasure Hill, buildings typically had one or Nate Thomas and Sean Pitts, from the East Ely Railroad more floors difference in elevation between the streets run- Museum, a Nevada State Park, described the operation of ning along the hill. Forest Service geologist Donna Fredrick the mill and accompanied us throughout the day. came along and answered some of our questions about the The very rapid growth and equally rapid decline of these geology and minerals of the area. She had also written much silver boom towns was exceptionally well illustrated at our of the SIA tour guidebook. Our final stop was the ruins of next stop, the ghost town Hamilton. When silver was dis- an unnamed stamp mill. Until newer technology (notably covered here in 1868, the population of the area was about ball mills) supplanted them, these cam-driven stamps eight. The newly opened transcontinental railroad was only pounded ore into the fine powder that the flotation process about 115 miles north, so people from all over the U.S. requires. The resulting concentrate can then be smelted could get to Hamilton, and over 10,000 of them did by with charcoal or other reducing agents. 1869. Alas, though exceptionally rich, the lode on Treasure After washing off the dust, it was time for a ride on the Hill wasn’t very big and didn’t lead to a massive ore body Ghost Train for dinner. Steam locomotive 40 was on point, like that of the Comstock Lode on the other side of the and provided a wonderful opportunity for photographs in state, so by late 1873 only about 500 people remained in the dusk. We’d overwhelmed the capacity for a sit-down Hamilton. After a fire wiped out many of the buildings, the dinner, so were treated to food inspired by the diverse eth- White Pine County seat moved to Ely. There’s still a bit of nic communities that were drawn to the mines: calzones, contemporary mining going on in Hamilton, and there was gyros, and pasties. The ride took us out to the Robinson a marvelous “boneyard” of mill equipment. mine area, about 10 miles from the East Ely yard, and back. After lunch, Mark Bassett, the NNRY Executive We awoke on Saturday to see it snowing! It was just a light (continued on page 5) We’re Looking for Conference & Tour Locations! Bode Morin is the new SIA tours and conferences coordinator and will be looking at old favorite and new locations for upcoming fall tours, study tours, and con- ferences.