The First Level
The monolithic Gay stack that stood impressively above our heads seemed to be on its own. Besides a cement “flu” that arched down from the stack to the ground, no other buildings or ruins could be seen around it. Stamp Mills relied on steam power to drive the stamps, and that steam was supplied by coal fed boilers – to which the smokestack should have been connected. But we couldn’t see anything.
Moving around the perimeter of the stack I finally noticed something in the woods: a pit. It was about ten feet wide by about thirty feet in length. Cement and poor rock walls created a pit about five feet in depth. It was perhaps a basement to a missing building, since a possible doorway seemed to be formed out of poor rock on the far side. We weren’t sure and moved around it only to find stumbling upon a greater find.
I found myself tripping over a short sandstone wall in the woods, about two feet in height. It was relatively intact and ran straight through the woods in both directions. Catching myself before I fell, I noticed a cement floor peaking out from under a layer of leaves and dirt. Following it through the brush we suddenly found ourselves looking out over an expansive ruin of terraces, dropping down onto the stamp sands at its base. This step stair design made it clear what we had found – the stamp mill.
Stamp mills relied on gravity to do as much work as possible to move the copper rock around the facility. This was accomplished by mixing the copper rock in a water solution. This water solution naturally flowed down hill, as did the rock particles mixed in it. Stamp mills took advantage of this by creating a step stair design that placed each separate stage of the process on its own floor, allowing the downhill flowing water to wash the rock between steps.
When finished, this water solution was then sent down launders to be dumped into the lake, stamp sand and all.