Belden, Colorado
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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) Belden
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A close-up of facilities at Belden, some abandoned. Across the Eagle River, the power plant is visible at left.
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Lucille Riggle is seated at Bob Riggle's desk in the warehouse. Bill Burnett is at left rear; Alberta Limatta is at far right.
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The 10 x 10 in. timbers above the tour group show a typical means of support in a drift. These timbers are probably from the Fleming Lumber Co. in Red Cliff, which produced a great deal of mine timber.
9) Repair area
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From far left: Chuck Colby, Berniece Chadwick and Davy Burnett. Jean Flaherty is at far right.
10) Belden
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Facilities at Belden, some abandoned. Mine buildings are at right, midfield. The Eagle River is at the right and railroad tracks are at the bottom
12) Loading tipple
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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...
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This is the bottom of 18 level where water has been allowed to infiltrate the lower levels beneath it.
18) Belden
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Facilities at Belden, some abandoned. Gilman is visible at the top of the cliff. Mine buildings are at right, midfield.
19) Repair shop
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More steel milling machiner in the repair shop. The lathe at center is approximately 20 feet long.
20) 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.
