Enter a name, company, place or keywords to search across this item. Then click "Search" (or hit Enter).
Volume 065-3 - July 2011 (6 pages)
Go to the Archive Home
Go to Thumbnail View of this Item
Go to Single Page View of this Item
Download the Page Image
Copy the Page Text to the Clipboard
Don't highlight the search terms on the Image
Show the Page Image
Show the Image Page Text
Reset View and Center Image
Zoom Out
Zoom In
Rotate Left
Rotate Right
Toggle Full Page View
Flip Image Horizontally
More Information About this Image
Get a Citation for Page or Image - Copy to the Clipboard
Go to the Previous Page (or Left Arrow key)
Go to the Next Page (or Right Arrow key)
Page: of 6
NCHS Bulletin July 2011
ae De \ ae
SPE ee
(Left) The stone aqueduct over Wolf Creek that brought water from the Empire mine to power the Pelton wheel appears in the
lower right of an early view of the North Star mine and power house. (Right) A recent photo of the aqueduct, which now serves
as a bridge between the museum and the beautiful Glenn Jones picnic ground on the opposite side of the creek.
sure at the power house was 335 pounds per square inch.
The cost of the pipeline was $27,000.
The size of the Pelton wheel became complicated because Mr. Foote wanted a much larger wheel than Lester
Pelton was willing to build. A low-pressure wheel 14 feet
in diameter had recently been made for the Murchie mine,
and Pelton and Foote finally agreed on an 18.5-foot diameter Pelton wheel. This wheel and two piston-type air compressors cost $7,400. A stone aqueduct to carry the pipeline
across Wolf Creek cost $1,400, and the masonry and brick
building to house the power plant was constructed for
$7,300. The wheel weighed in at about 10,000 pounds and
generated 226 horsepower. The design of the entire project
was done by A. D. Foote and two consultants, E. F. Cobb
and E. A. Rix, and the entire project was a great success.
In July of 1896 North Star mine superintendent R. R.
Roberts resigned and A. D. Foote was installed in his place.
At that time the inclined shaft at the North Star and some
of the workings had gone below the 1,600-foot mark. In
order to provide better accessibility to the ore bodies it was
decided to sink a vertical shaft about 4,000 feet north of
the mine collar. The shaft sinking was finished in March of
1902, when it intersected the inclined shaft at 1,630 feet below the collar. The new vertical shaft was called the North
Star “Central” shaft.
To support the new shaft there had to be a new hoist, a
crushing plant, a 40-stamp mill and a new cyanide plant, all
of which had to be built near the shaft, which was very close
to the Allison Ranch road. Because the 18.5-foot-diameter
Pelton wheel was not big enough to supply enough compressed air for the new mining and milling equipment, the
decision was made in May 1898 to construct and operate
a 30-foot-diameter wheel and still larger air compressors.
The existing power plant was enlarged to house the
wheel, and enough room for machine and blacksmith shops
was provided. The new building addition included a 6-footwide temporary slot in the roof so that all the parts of the
new wheel could be placed during the winter months. The
two low-pressure cylinders and the two high-pressure cylinders were mounted at 45-degree angles to the cams on the
main shaft. The compressed air had a pressure of 90 pounds
per square inch and the wheel turned at 65 revolutions per
minute while it produced 1,000 horsepower.
We should mention here that Mr. Foote didn’t have anything against electricity—he just believed it was not yet
completely safe to use in every possible circumstance. In
any case, A. D. Foote was right in using compressed air,
and the two Pelton wheels operated very satisfactorily until
1933, when they were finally replaced by electric motors.
Pelton wheels, on the other hand, have continued to be used
worldwide in the hydropower industry, with only very slight
variations in design. Fortunately, the 30-foot wheel was
saved from destruction by concerned citizens, and it is still
on display today,
All gold mines on the Mother Lode were shut down during WWII but were reopened afterwards. Unfortunately, the
fixed price of gold had not been increased after 1933 and
operating costs had escalated. The mines were closed permanently in 1956 and the surface facilities were scrapped
shortly after. In 1959 the North Star power house was labeled an attractive nuisance; after most of the building
had been destroyed, the Newmont Mining Co. deeded the
remains to the city of Grass Valley. (The Empire and the
North Star mines had been purchased by Newmont Mining
Company as its first mining operation in 1929.)
A local woman, Mrs. Phoebe Cartright, conducted a campaign to “Save the Wheel’ with the help of Lila Brockington
Shanly. Mrs. Shanly’s bequest to the City of Grass Valley