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Volume 045-4 - October 1991 (8 pages)
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Page: of 8
* Cornish pump is
dump when they arrive at the top. The museum also has
alarge drawing of the head frame of the North Star Mine.
HEAD FRAME WITH DUMPING ORE CART
All movement in the mine was controlled by a man
in the hoist house on the surface. He was signalled by
bells to lower orraise the ore cars. Signals were standard
in all California mines.
Under the head frame were the ore bins in which the
good ore was stored. Waste material which did not
contain gold was rejected at this point as much as
possible.
One of the biggest problems in mines was the removal
of water. This problem limited the depth of the early
mines for a long time, until the Cornish pump was
introduced. This was
actually a pumping
system; a way todrive
numerous pumps
inside the mine. The
surface part of the
Cornish pump at the
Sneath Clay mine is
now installed outside
the museum andis the
largest, operational
Cornish Pump in the
United States. A
discussion of the
round in the NCHS
Bulletin for April
1979, CORNISH PUMP
27
The Cornish pumps were driven by steam engines or
by Pelton wheels. The Pelton wheel, patented in 1880,
became an important power source when wood, needed
for stoking the boilers of the steam engines, became
scarce. The
invention of
the Pelton
wheel is
described in
the NCHS
Bulletin for
April 1961.
Back of the
museum, one
can see two
Surface
pumps which
came from the
Golden
Center mine.
They are
plunger
pumps, each
with three
cylinders.
We will now follow the miners underground. The
first tunnel display shows two miners, drilling holes in
which black powder for blasting will be inserted. The
THREE CYLINDER PUMPS
exhibit shows single and double jack drills, picks and
shovels used at the site. Light was provided by candles,
held by candle picks stuck in the wall. Later carbide
lamps were used. The miner who is kneeling wears a
cans miner's cap; it served mainly to keep his head
clean.
While drilling, the hole filled with debris which had
to be taken out at regular intervals to keep the drill from