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C to C 2020
Day 6 - Friday, July 17, 2020
Mollie Kathleen Mine Tour
| Today's
destination is the Mollie Kathleen mine tour at Cripple Creek
Colorado. While we're in no rush, there won't be much time to waste. Up
and packed we were on the move. We continued on, up the "forest service
road" where we saw the UPS truck last evening. The road and scenery
were nicely enjoyed - smooth and quite scenic. This found us back on
asphalt about 1/2 way between Lake City and Gunnison. We made the stop
in Gunnison for food and fuel before moving east. From there it was
non-stop to Cripple Creek. At Cripple Creek we purchased tickets and had 30 minutes to wait for our tour. We walked about the area as well as took a few videos of the lift mechanics (nicely painted). The tour is good and worth the stop. After the tour we drove around the large, surface mine and headed towards home with a quick drive through dinner at Woodland Park. The I-25 drive was uneventful (no significant traffic jam). While you can scroll through the whole page, you may also jump to a specific section: 0) Web page start 1) Beautiful valley ride 2) Mine tour - pre-tour walkabout 3) Mine tour |
| A clear sky morning - nice for packing camp. |
| Popping out of forest land into private land -
a nice ranch with green grass. |
| Nice riding. |
| Sign me up! Much lower traffic flow than the valley houses near Lake City of yesterday. |
| US-50 between Gunnison and Monarch Pass |
| Nearing Victor / Cripple Creek Could that be Pike's Peak in the background? |
| Cripple Creek |
| Mining relics |
| `wonder if this was the original cable and
drum for the hoist? |
| Headlift mechanical room The Chrysler V8 is backup to the electric motor. The tour guide said that the standard lift speed is two minutes for the 1000 feet lift. When the V8 Hemi is used, it takes 16 minutes - but he says - it's geared low and has fantastic torque. Curious, I checked HP specs for a 1953 331 Hemi and I see numbers in the 180 to 250 HP range. The electric motor is listed as 150 HP. Why the possibly more powerful engine takes longer than the motor - curious. |
| Next to the lift room is the air compressor
room. These supply air pressure into the air lines in the mine. |
| ONE wire rope affixed to the cars. It's only,
at least, 1000'... It does look that the top car has a brake should the cable fail. |
| Video Lift operation |
| Plenty-o-cams to keep an eye on things. Of note "A-CH10" is the canary flame. If there's enough oxygen to keep the flame lit, there's enough oxygen for people. |
| Video Yellow scoop |
| Video Red drill |
| Holes drilled and filled for blasting |
| Video Walking |
| Looking UP at where ore has been removed. |
| Video Vertical Drill |
| To the right of the ladders is a slide. The
slide has a cable where tools could be hauled up, siding in the slide. |
| Video Tool lift |
| The mine train - the yellow tank is filled
with compressed air (120PSI typical working pressure). Below the tank
is the motor much the same as a classic steam driven locomotive. |
| Video Mine Train |
| A workshop in the mine |
| Video Rail bike |
| The lift assembly for the heavy buckets. |
| Video Bucket empty |
| Panorama Click for a larger version |
| Info sign Newmont |
| Info sign Newmont |
| Video Open Range Cattle |
