It looks like one of the old Hecla shafts is still standing, would be almost right in the middle of the photo, I would imagine, its the one farthest south. That photo its hard to see the stuff. I had purchased this and several other of the Kraft series. Many years ago, you could buy these photos in 8×10 size at many of the “tourist stores”.

Any news on the fate of the removed equipment?

What about the hoist building itself?

As far as the pictures go;

the counterweights are for the brake mechanism.

The drums in the fore-ground in the second picture probably belong to the older hoist, as the main shaft has been torched which would have made getting it back up the shaft easier.

The fifth picture down shows the carrier for the main bearings, the cup would have held the main shaft of the hoist and anchor the hoist to the foundations.

Great pictures! Too bad the old girl is leaving the area though, it means there are only three or four hoists left in the area, not including the two that are in museums…

I wasn’t sure how much of the original plant was left standing by C&H, so I thought it possible. There was a substantial surface plant at the shaft originally, very similar to most of C&H’s other shafts. From the Copper Handbook:

“Shafts 13, 14, and 15 have large stone engine houses, with a steel engine house at No. 16. Shafts 13 to 17, inclusive, have Nordberg first-motion double conical drum hoists operating 10 ton skips in balance, good for 5,000′ depth each… shafts 13,14,15,16, and 17 have permanent shaft-rockhouses of the same general design as the conglomerate workings”

This would be around 1908. The surface plant must of succumbed to scrappers some time before that ariel image was taken.

http://digarch.lib.mtu.edu/showbib.aspx?bib_id=623989#

“E” street is the last street on the left side, going up and own in the photo, this was from 1947, about 10 more years for the new shaft.

Thanks for the kind words about the site, and I’m glad you stopped by. Sorry about thinking you were mistaken about these hoists being removed, obviously I shouldn’t be so quick assume things. I was rather surprised when I saw the parts sitting out there, but it was interesting to see none the less. Glad you brought it to our attention so I could get some shots before they’re taken away.

I’m also not sure why I assumed those shiny metal cups were for a piston, it doesn’t make sense when you look at them in relation to the green bases. Bearings for the hoist drum makes much more sense. Thanks to both you and Gordy for setting me straight. I think I was hoping somehow that an original hoist from before the current surface plant was installed here had somehow survived. I don’t know.

The shiny metal cups on the green bases would probably be the bearings for the hoist drum. It looks to be a babbit style bearing, which is basically just a lead based alloy.

The hoists look like someone is going to salvage them for use. They probably set the peices out that way so a crane can load them up to a number of trucks for transport. The drums themselves are probably pretty heavy and might each be a seperate load.

It is also highly possible that the parts may not be for a new instalation, but for spares for an existing hoist that someone has.

This is a very nice site. Thanks for all the information that can be found here.

Steve

Here’s a link to a pic I took of it on Flickr. On the lower right there’s a “map” link.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jfactor1/2569021433/#