Wind-battered catwalk lights between the shaft house and headframe/rockhouse building.
history under ground
headframes
An experimental shaft dug in the 1950s and its Hoist House.
This is a great example of a combination rock house; the silos below used to fill trains with ore dropped from mine cars pulled to the top of the structure.
As my friend Jonathan would say, “on a human scale.”
This rockhouse was added below the shaft to load Gilpin Tram cars.
Frontenac, as seen from the Missouri Flats area.
Cheratte lives on in the shadow of its abandoned coal mine, although most of the shops are abandoned and many of the city’s landmarks have fallen into disrepair. Like other Belgian mining towns, those who have stayed in the town have kept up their apartments, so much of the company-building duplexes and homes are in great condition.
Look both ways, people.
Timbers overlap where mine cars plunged, a strange wooden fence traced the center of the beams.
The mine is sandwiched between village townhomes.
At the top of the Head Frame, over the silo, a space is hollowed-out for ore cars to dump their load before going back underground in search of copper.
The ruins of the the Hubert Mine over the ruins of Nevadaville. Its ore was taken through the town to a mill below it.
Looking at the town from a highway turn-off. This is how most people see it.
There isn’t an unbroken window in the entire historic complex as of 2013.
From the catwalks below the hoisting motor in Shaft No. 1.
An experimental shaft dug in the 1950s and its Hoist House.
Taken from under the headframe.
An unshielded heaframe and single pulley.
Looking at the headframe for Shaft 3 from the tower for Shaft 1. Below is the roof of the Dry House. It was hard to remind myself that these building have been abandoned longer than I’ve been alive.
Grand Army, as seen from a Gilman Tram grade.
National Mine and its rockhouse (?) as seen from Mammoth Hill. From this angle, I am fairly certain this was a crushing and sorting house. The bottom looks like it has two aerial tram doors as well.
I liked the color of her hair against the rusty rock house and blue winter sky.
Mammoth Mine overlooks Central City from atop Mammoth Hill. In the distance you can make out Coeur d’Alene Mine (red), which operated from 1885 through 1940.
Looking through skylights of the payroll office toward the Cheratte No.1’s tower. This is where workers would wait in line to receive pay, surrounded by the mine workings.
Looking at the concrete headframe from street level. Acros 100 in Pentax 67
The modern shaft stands above the north side of Gilman.
From left to right: shaft building, headframe, rock house, hoist house.
When I revisited the mine in 2013, the hoists were scrapped and sitting by the road.
On the National Mine property are two shafts, both serving the same workings. This one seems to have gotten some upgrades in the 1960s, judging from the condition of the metal.
A bridge crosses the main street of the village; one that goes nowhere. Ambiguity intended.
A hydraulic ‘bridge’ couple lower onto the tracks to bring mine cars into the shaft house, presumably for repair. I haven’t found this system anywhere else, but it makes a lot of sense.