Sdaupanner Loc: South Dakota /New England

The Vintage tin left behind in mine site was many time the leftover parts that were not used to either run or set up a mine, the motors were the work horses of the mining industry for they ran most of the equipment in the mine. The crushers were run with the motors, the hoists, Pumps for water and for compressed air that ran things like the widow makers and the pumps to clear the shafts of water. So any way here are a few shots of the different mines and their Vintage Tin and it is by no way inclusive of all of the vintage tin in the Black Hills of South Dakota. In closing if you folks have any old VT around you please post what you have got and thank you for looking.

Sdaupanner Loc: South Dakota /New England

The mine that the pictures were taken in was to the east of Old Keystone off of the Playhouse Rd. It is one of several mines in that area that can be gotten to with just a short walk or a drive in the case of the above mine. The name of the mine is The Big Chief mine and it is just a short ways from the road on the Right Hand side as you head towards Iron Mountain Rd.,

Chet Loc: Louisville, KY

Great series, sure it served it's purpose.

Sdaupanner Loc: South Dakota /New England

Keep Watching I will be adding more of the Vintage Tin here in the Black Hills so every body may find something that will tickle their funny bone I hope.

Sdaupanner Loc: South Dakota /New England

This is the Wade Gold Mill in Hill City. Under stand this is not a gold mine, it is a mill that was used to run Placer Material or I guess it is the material that was at one time in the bottom of the Creek Bed, now years later (Millions of years) it has been pushed up and the area is now 20 to 40 feet higher than the creek bed this is also in a manner called high banking. This is material taken from a Placer Claim then they transport it to the mill in Hill City, this is then run through a set of sluices then out the building to a settling pond. The pictures I have here are taken from the museum along the tour. This old vehicle was cut down and the motor when it was running it powered a hoist. The second picture was a rear end out of a car and that ran several different operations on one gold machine. The old Timers were an inventive group and at a time where there was very little that could be bought they made most if not all of the equipment they needed and changed it as the process called for it.

It is not a great picture but it is kind of what I was talking about the hood can be seen in this photo.


Rear end of a machine used for getting gold out of hard rock ore.


This is another shot of the rear end in use on the Home Made Ball mill .... it was time to do a clean up when gold started to show up in the sluice. If in the reading of this someone would like to see more pictures of the Ball Mill I have a whole series of the machine, let me know and I will post them.

Paul B. Loc: North Carolina

:thumbup: Great set of photos,thanks for shareing.

Sdaupanner Loc: South Dakota /New England

This is another mine on the out skirts of Hill City on the way to Deerfield and it was a pretty good gold mine and also a pretty good sized one. The mine was called The Gold Hill Mine and it has quite a few pieces of Vintage Tin though not all of Autos. This mine was rebuilt in the last two years so that others could see some of the workings of an old mine. I do believe it is on the Historic Places and it is on USFS land. They had an old car that I would say they used the frame and motor for one thing or another and left the fenders and body tub kind of like they were going to put it back together. They also had two stationary steam engines one of these was transported to Wades Gold Mill as a Display and the other was left in place as it was on its platform left to rust. Another thing that was interesting was the Building that housed the Gates Cone Grinder the frame work was still present when these pictures were taken and at that time so was the cone grinder as it can be seen hiding in the frame work but there now with the restoration may be nothing left or maybe they found more to add to the display. I will visit it this summer and add to what I already have for pictures and add to this post any that come up of interest.

The old car parts just as they were on the old car.


This steam engine is almost the same as was used in the old steam engines.


And the platform that was used to hold it in place was made of laid up rock .


This is the structure that the Gates Cone Grinder was housed in like it was hidden away and if you did not look for it it would go unnoticed.


Here is the cone grinder even in this picture it is really hidden.


Where the guy is, is at the feeder shute for the treating of the grindings were let into the lower mill. We took about 5 buckets back home with us and we panned them out and found several small flecks of gold not much for 25 gallons but if they were running 20 tons a day I am sure that they saw a lot more.

Sdaupanner Loc: South Dakota /New England

I enjoy mining it is a hobby I do not do Hard Rock but I do Placer mining and have done so for the past 36 years all over the USA. I am in with 2 other guys and we have a Gold Claim in Rockerville Gulch which just this last few yerars has turned up a 4 almost 5 ounce nugget we did not find it but a guy who has a claim there found it and the value of the nugget today is somewhere around 50 to 150 thousand dollars. It is not the gold weight but the size it has so he said a historical value. Thank god I don't get gold fever because I would never get any sleep....anyway keep a watch and I will be adding more mining Vintage Tin as the days and weeks go by. Thank you for looking;-}

The name of the Nugget is the Ice Box Nugget I think that you can see articles in the Rapid City Journal if you are interested. DGB

Sdaupanner Loc: South Dakota /New England

Here are a set of pictures taken at the Empire Gold Mine to the east of Hill City and more than that they are a pretty far stretch back in the woods. There were I think 3 mines in the same area or relatively close to one another 1) the Golden Slipper 2) Empire Gold Mine 3) The Joe Dollar . The Golden Slipper is near the Highway and the other two are about a mile or so back from the road they have a road to take to get to them but as with a lot of old forest roads they are closed by lock and bar so to is this one. Now it was about 9 or 10 years ago we had a little path built right into the side of a mountain but of course they found this and dug a 4 foot deep trench all the way across it. But before they did this I went to the two other mine site and took a few pictures. The pictures that follow were from the Empire Gold Mine and the piece shown was kind of an experiment that went wrong. I think it was a cyclone mill or something to that effect but in the first pictures it look small but a friend of the wife and mine who was about 5 1/2 feet tall was trying to run around the out side and I don,t recall him ever being successful at it.

This was like a bit of a top and as it spun the light (waste) material was to go over the top lip and the heavy material was to go into the Dunce Cap portion well I guess it was a plan that went wrong.

Wildspirit Loc: Dallas, Texas

Great information along with great photos.

Wildspirit Loc: Dallas, Texas

Love the description, the knowledge, the nostalgia, and the pictures!!

Sdaupanner Loc: South Dakota /New England

It comes from being a prospector for the past 35 years I have been all over the USA and Canada it has been fun but I have still to have be bitten by the gold fever .... or the gold bug it is a hobby and as long as nobody get into it for the money they think they are going to make they won't be disappointed at the end of the day. I have spent way more on equipment than I have ever got out of the ground in a year. the amount per year on average is about 1,000 to 3,500 in a years time so do it for the fun of it and one will never be disappointed. The mine pictures are just a few of different mine site that are scattered through out the black hills of South Dakota just in this area alone there are over 900 mine sites and mining camps some for gold some for silver and some for things like Rose Quartz and Garnet and many other minerals the hills have it all just about but not really in paying amounts in anyone place.