The Pumphouse (Bay of Plenty) Traditional Cache
The Pumphouse (Bay of Plenty)
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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The Cornish Pumphouse is a relic of the original mine in Waihi - the richest gold mine in New Zealand (1878-1952)
Built around 1904, from a design used in the tin mines of Cornwall, England, the structure housed steam engines and pumping machinery. The pumps were needed to cope with the ever increasing quantities of water as the mine workings followed the gold-bearing quartz reefs to a final depth of 600 metres.
Constructed by Hathorn-Davey, the horizontal Cornish pump was the pride of the New Zealand mining industry. The pump had a stroke of 4 metres and continuously dewatered the mine workings at a rate of 7000 litres per minute via No 5 shaft, which was situated adjacent. No 5 shaft had a depth of 399 metres.
The pump was used until 1913 when the Waihi Gold Mining Company completed the first hydro electric power station on the Waikato River at Horahora (now below the waters of Lake Karapiro). The power was brought 80 kilometres to the mine on wires supported by 469 steel towers. Electric centrifugal pumps deep in the mine were then used for dewatering.
The pumphouse was kept in working order until 1929 as the miners did not trust electricity. By the early 1930s the building was stripped of machinery and left derelict as the mine continued to operate.
Historic underground mine workings threatened the stability of the ground beneath the pumphouse and investigations from 2004 concluded that the only way to protect the historic building was to relocate it to a safe site. In 2006 internal bracing was installed to strengthen the structure and earthworks were carried out to construct the relocation causeway.
In an acclaimed feat of engineering, this iconic building - weighing 1840 tonnes and standing three storeys high, was moved in its entirety to its present site during the third quarter of 2006.
The cache is on the Pit Rim Walkway. Gates may close at night and when blasting in the mine is about to go off.
Great views into the working of the mine and seats nearby.
Please hide well again after finding.
Muggles can appear from a few tracks leading to the site.
More info on the mine can by had from the Info Office across the road.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Wbva.
Treasures
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