Re: Gold Mines and Mills in the Old West

Brian Norden Wrote:
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> . . .  Also a few years ago there was a book
> about ore refining in the west that was pub-
> lished out of Florida.  Found this in a muse-
> um store in Nevada while traveling (I think
> in the mining park in Tonopah).


I am VERY lucky to have a rare book as well, Brian -

Several years ago I inherited from my unofficial foster father K. B. Hall, a former president of the Southern California chapter of the Pacific Coast Geological Society (and owner of the K. B. Hall Ranch in Upper Ojai, CA - see [ngdiscussion.net]), a copy of the 640-page fifth edition of M. Eissler's 'The Metallurgy of Gold.  This massive tome goes far beyond merely describing the complex chemical processes used to extract gold from various ores prior to and during the late years of the nineteenth century, it also goes into great detail concerning the selection of equipment and the laying out of processing facilities typical of those used throughout the west (and probably worldwide).  Here are just a few of the hundreds of fascinating illustrations:






At one point I was planning to make a fairly complete HO-scale model of such a mill (IIRC, a highly detailed kit was available several years ago), but the years have caught up with me and my hands are way too shaky now, even though I have plenty of time on them.

- Roosso



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/29/2019 06:05PM by Russo Loco.