26. Farm Equipment

INSIDE
Pumps, tram drive, cable and car, head frame, the Shorty Shaft Mine (complete with sound), ore cars, Sullivan air compressor, stamp mill by Baker Iron Works (Los Angeles), electro-magnetic separators, a Wilfley table, and an arrastra (a primitive mill for grinding ore, used by most of the small prospects and mines.)
ORIGIN
Most of the equipment was used early miners in the local mountains. Both stamp mills were manufactured on the West Coast.  Some of the machines endured a period of time when they were as “yard art,” before being donated to the Museum.

HISTORY
The big red stamp mill was used until 1941, then stored in the old Rudolph Mill structure north of Laws at the base of the White Mountains.  When the mill was eventually torn down much of its equipment was saved, including a 20 horsepower engine and the red stamp mill, and were all donated to the Museum around 2011. The Wilfley table, head frame winch, stamp mill flag pole, and various tools and hardware were donated by the Ives family, longtime owners of the United Mill and the Cometti Mine. The tool shed was an historical outbuilding used for storage by the Museum, replaced by a structure more resistant to dust, and is currently on display near the mill and used for storage of tools and hardware. Near the tool shed is a replica outhouse.
< Home >

   

Return to Tour
 

 

"Preserving the History of Owens Valley and the Eastern Sierra"