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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.
4) 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 Iron Mask Mill at Belden, at the bottom of the Eagle River Canyon. The Eagle River is in the foreground; Gilman is at the top of the canyon.
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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...
11) Repair shop
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More steel milling machiner in the repair shop. The lathe at center is approximately 20 feet long.
12) 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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Belden as seen from Gilman. On the left are the loading tippel, steam room and dryer. Loading tippel is extended over the railroad cars to be filled with ore. A surface tram carrying ore ready for loading is visible behind the loading tippel.
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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.
15) 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.
17) Derailment
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Rail cars knocked off the tracks in the winter, circa 1951-52 at Belden. Other cars are lined up in the background awating loading. The dryer is the large building behind the railroad cars.
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A surface tram used to move ore and equipment is on the left coming into Belden from Gilman at the top. Loading tippel, steam room and the dryer buildings are pictured in the lower right.
19) New zinc dryer
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Quinton Sagrillo performing maintenance on the new zinc dryer. Sagrillo was a dryer operator for New Jersey Zinc.
Sagrillo served in World War I and then lived in Telluride and Denver. He and his wife Rose then managed the State Agricultural Farm Experiment Station at Avon for four years. He accepted employment with New Jersey Zinc, working there for 20 years before retiring in 1959.
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Quinton Sagrillo or Frank Jones or Mike Chockie lubricating part of the zinc dryer at Belden.
