Western Great Basin - October 2020

[ski3pin]

Here's a quick trip we made over into western Nevada. We had to change plans and also cut the trip short. We still had our full quota of fun and a good time.

The story and photos are now posted to our blog and you can find it at this link -

Western Great Basin - October 2020

Hope you enjoy!

 

[AWG_Pics]

Great trip report. You made the best of a smoky old crazy 2020. I have seen cheese graters with fewer holes than that building! Love them coyote serenades!

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Well, a Happy Birthday to The Lady! I forgot to check my calendar and wish her the best.

Looks like you made lemonade out of Smokey lemons on the trip, and you’ve narrowed down the archeological site by knowing more about where it isn’t.

Thanks for letting us tag along!

 

[geologyjohn]

Happy Birthday to the boss Lady.
Thanks for posting this trip/blog. I think that I have only been on top of Glass Mtn once, and that was in either 1983 or 1984. Myself and another USGS geologist had our pilot carry us and our Geodolite up to the bench mark to shoot lines Casa Diablo, Mono Craters, Mt. Laurel, etc. The helicopter (Bell Jetranger or Hughes 500) crapped out on the summit, and we had to abandon it and hike cross country down the east side. It was a fun hike in soft volcanic ash, and using our radios, we were able to get another USGS dude to pick us up out there. Possibly near your petroglyphs site ;-)

 

[Vic Harder]

Two images caught my eye:

1) The house with the big chunk of corrugated roofing out front. From a distance, in these more modern times, that big chunk could have been solar panels. Made me take a 2nd and 3rd look

2) The pipe with what looks like a ring gear on it. What was that? Did that pipe turn somehow?

Thanks for the TR... wonderful to tag along with you!

 

[ETAV8R]

Been a while since I've checked out your blog. Read this TR and the article in Desert Magazine. Wonderful stuff.

 

[Taku]

Nice trip overall, keep out of the PM2.5 smoke!

 

[searching for nowhere]

Thanks for another great trip report.
Wishing that you stay healthy and your trips continue.

 

[Ronin]

I've been to Glass Mountain near Medicine Lake Ca and haven't heard of this one. Another place to add to the list. What an awesome camping spot overlooking Fish Lake Valley. That feral horse looks pretty fat and sassy!!

 

[Foy]

2) The pipe with what looks like a ring gear on it. What was that? Did that pipe turn somehow?

Thanks for the always splendid TRs!

The ring gear as well as the races on either side of it ("bands" riding on rollers) caught my eye, as well. Looks like a motor or a belt-driven gear would have been turning the "pipe". The rig looks like a rod mill although the chute and what appears to be a heating apparatus on the uphill side mystifies me. A rod mill is a steel or iron cylinder containing many long hardened steel rods. Chunks of raw ore and some water are fed by gravity into the upper end of the cylinder and a power supply and gearing rotate the ore and the rods. As they rotate, the rods come crashing down upon the ore, crushing it to finer and finer size. I understand that rod mills, ball mills, and for certain stamp mills made quite the racket at the old mine/mill sites.

My mining experience was always in finding the darn stuff (orebodies) rather than knowing how to process ore, so milling, concentrating, and smelting or retorting in the case of mercury has always been a "black box" thing for me.

Great looking pics and the old article from just a year after I was born was terrific!

Foy

 

[ski3pin]

<snip>

2) The pipe with what looks like a ring gear on it. What was that? Did that pipe turn somehow?

Thanks for the always splendid TRs!

The ring gear as well as the races on either side of it ("bands" riding on rollers) caught my eye, as well. Looks like a motor or a belt-driven gear would have been turning the "pipe". The rig looks like a rod mill although the chute and what appears to be a heating apparatus on the uphill side mystifies me. A rod mill is a steel or iron cylinder containing many long hardened steel rods. Chunks of raw ore and some water are fed by gravity into the upper end of the cylinder and a power supply and gearing rotate the ore and the rods. As they rotate, the rods come crashing down upon the ore, crushing it to finer and finer size. I understand that rod mills, ball mills, and for certain stamp mills made quite the racket at the old mine/mill sites.

My mining experience was always in finding the darn stuff (orebodies) rather than knowing how to process ore, so milling, concentrating, and smelting or retorting in the case of mercury has always been a "black box" thing for me.

Great looking pics and the old article from just a year after I was born was terrific!

Foy

I was doing research on this just as you two were posting. Good eyes and great question. I'll add this information to our blog post. It is a Gould Rotary Kiln Furnace for melting and then condensing mercury. It was asbestos and brick lined and rotated, powered by a Model A Ford engine.

From the Desert Magazine article -


[SIZE=18pt]"Equipped with a 30-ton Gould rotary kiln furnace, the present plant transforms raw ore into molten quick-silver in 30 minutes or less, and is capable of handling 25 to 32 tons of concentrates in a 24-hour shift. Costing $65,000 to install, a mill of this type is economical to operate and re-covers from 95 to 98 percent of the quicksilver, said Walter. Only one man to a shift is required to oversee its operation; the Model A Ford engine that revolves the brick-and-asbestos-lined rotary kiln burns only a gallon of gasoline per hour; and the heating unit, which maintains a temperature of 1200 to 1600 degrees F. in the roasting drum, burns from seven to nine gallons of diesel oil per ton of ore in the course of 24 hours operation.'[/SIZE]

Further information I found on the Internet -


Gould Rotary Furnace and Condensing System

 

[ski3pin]

Great trip report. You made the best of a smoky old crazy 2020. I have seen cheese graters with fewer holes than that building! Love them coyote serenades!

Thanks A.W.! Yes, what possesses people to shoot vehicles, buildings to bits? Yup, we do our best to make the best of things.

 

[ski3pin]

Well, a Happy Birthday to The Lady! I forgot to check my calendar and wish her the best.

Looks like you made lemonade out of Smokey lemons on the trip, and you’ve narrowed down the archeological site by knowing more about where it isn’t.

Thanks for letting us tag along!

Julie thanks everyone for the happy birthday wishes. As per the arc site, we pulled out all our notes and are starting over. We know we'll find what were searching for. We just don't know how many trips it will take.

 

[ski3pin]

Happy Birthday to the boss Lady.
Thanks for posting this trip/blog. I think that I have only been on top of Glass Mtn once, and that was in either 1983 or 1984. Myself and another USGS geologist had our pilot carry us and our Geodolite up to the bench mark to shoot lines Casa Diablo, Mono Craters, Mt. Laurel, etc. The helicopter (Bell Jetranger or Hughes 500) crapped out on the summit, and we had to abandon it and hike cross country down the east side. It was a fun hike in soft volcanic ash, and using our radios, we were able to get another USGS dude to pick us up out there. Possibly near your petroglyphs site ;-)

Thanks for the nice comment geologyjohn! Something tells me we might know a couple of your USGS associates. Yes, there are tremendous views from the top of Glass Mountain and helicopters, well they're helicopters. Kinda like snowcats. Always have another way to get home.

 

[ski3pin]

Two images caught my eye:

1) The house with the big chunk of corrugated roofing out front. From a distance, in these more modern times, that big chunk could have been solar panels. Made me take a 2nd and 3rd look

2) The pipe with what looks like a ring gear on it. What was that? Did that pipe turn somehow?

Thanks for the TR... wonderful to tag along with you!

Thanks for the kind comment Vic! It would be you who would be seeing solar panels!

 

[ski3pin]

Been a while since I've checked out your blog. Read this TR and the article in Desert Magazine. Wonderful stuff.

ETAV8R, thanks for the nice comment and those Desert Magazine's provide wonderful stories!

Nice trip overall, keep out of the PM2.5 smoke!

Thanks Taku, we're trying, we're trying to stay out of the smoke.

 

[ski3pin]

Thanks for another great trip report.
Wishing that you stay healthy and your trips continue.

Thanks for the nice comment, we appreciate it. And thanks for the kind wishes. Here's to everyone staying health and enjoying safe adventures.

 

[ski3pin]

I've been to Glass Mountain near Medicine Lake Ca and haven't heard of this one. Another place to add to the list. What an awesome camping spot overlooking Fish Lake Valley. That feral horse looks pretty fat and sassy!!

Thanks Ronin! Yup, that stallion was standing proud with several nice mares to keep him in line.

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

Thanks Ski.Yes quit a year.
At first read of your post title I though you were headed to the
Glass Mt. in the Lava Beds area.

Lots of mining history you take us to. The mercury plant reminds me of the one in my area.
New Idria ,the area has been closed off for many years but back in the early 70's I would ride
my dirt bike there. The mining was closed then but the area was open for off road riding.

The town of New Idira looked like every one just picked up one day and left.
Every thing was still there being a company town it was school,stores,homes.
A very interesting slice of history.

Nice looking wild horses.

It's fun to explore the remains of mans industrial works when they are abandoned.

Thanks for the trip.
Frank

 

[Vic Harder]

Further information I found on the Internet -


Gould Rotary Furnace and Condensing System

Amazing stuff. I wonder what kind of "bearing" they used that would support a very hot and heavy rotating assembly like that!