The Baldwin Mine had begun full operation in 1875 with high
expectations. Two months later, (see "Baldwin Mine" Cache) the mine was shut
down. For most of the next 24 years the mine was closed. At one
point the mine was continuously idle for 17 years.
In 1899, Captain J.L. DeLaMar, tried his luck at the Baldwin
Mine. After securing the mining rights he had a 40-stamp mill
constructed to process ore from the mine. DeLaMar belived that by
employing a new process using cyanide to extract gold from the ore,
the mine could be profitable.
A stamping mill consisted of a line of "stamps", actually
vertical rams, arranged in a row. Each stamp weighed about 1000
pounds. By using a camshaft, the rams were systematically raised
and allowed to drop on ore that was placed under them. In larger
operations such as this a conveyer was utilized to feed the ore
under the stamps. The thunderous "galloping" sound a bank of 5
stamps produced was literally deafening. Now multiply that times
the eight banks of stamps. People in the mill must have felt it
too. Sound insulation? What's that? Workers had to put bees' wax in
their ears to prevent total hearing loss. Back then, if you lost
your hearing, you lost your job. It is reported the sound could be
heard throughout the valley.
Even when using the cyanide process to refine gold from the ore,
the mine and mill were shut down again by 1903. Others would
attempt to operate the mine and mill but by the 1930's the mill was
closed for good. The mine however, would be opened sporadically
until as late as the early 1950's.
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| The mill in operation in 1900. You can see the
two roadways leading to the mill. The lower road was a general
service road. The upper roadway was a track bed for the ore carts
that transported ore from the mine. |
Another photograph (date unk.) showing the 4
cyanide tanks along the front of the mill. The mill was powered by
huge Corliss steam engine whose boilers used pine and pinyon wood
for fuel. Noticeable in this photograph as in many of this period
is the absence of trees. In 1921, the mill was converted to
electric power to reduce operating costs. |
The only known photograph (date unk.) of the
interior of the mill. This is the upper level where the cam shaft
and the "S" cams that lift and drop the rams. You can see the
collars that are affixed to the rams resting on the cams. |
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| The mill site today. The foundations for the
stamps are just about all that is left of the mill. |
A close view of one of the foundations. |
The reamins of the beam shown in the photograph
of the mill's upper level. |
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| There are no known photographs of the mill's
lower section. This picture of a similar stamp mill will give you
an idea of how it looked. |
This photograph of the idle mill was taken in
1932. You can see the electric power lines that were run to the
mill in 1921. The Southern Sierras Power Company was contracted to
run the 24 mile line from Lucerne Valley at a cost of $35,000. This
was the first electrical power line in Bear Valley. |