What kind of supplies would an 1880s mine need to function?

[rogueranger1993]

On my current WiP route, I have several silver and coal mines, and since I am setting up all of my industries to be interactive, I'd like to know if anyone has any ideas, or better yet, prototype knowledge on what those kinds of mines might need to be supplied with to support their production. Dynamite seems obvious, though I'd probably have to make that load as it doesn't exist on the DLS currently. I have considered lumber for use as beams and frames, also. Is there anything else?

Also, just as a secondary question; where would my smelter get the limestone it needs for the refining process? Would that come from a separate mine/quarry, or would the silver/coal mines be able to produce it as a secondary resource? My chosen setting is the Elk Mountains of Colorado, north-west of Crested Butte.

 

[rick1958]

You mentioned the two big items I can think of. Maybe a drum of keroscene for the lanterns. Digging suppplies e.g picks shovels etc. If you have a camp, you'll have to feed the workers.

 

[Pencil42]

Assuming something more than a simple hole in the ground:

Something for fuel to run the boilers for power (probably either cord wood or coal, depending on what is cheaper). You'll likely need power to hoists / elevators; pumps to drain the mines from groundwater, etc.

You'll also need machinery of various type - to repair / replace as parts wear out, or to add capacity.

Miscellaneous stuff - rails / ties for the ore carts, ropes / cables, etc....

Hope that helps!
Curtis

 

[HillbillyHobo]

Moonshine or good Whiskey.

outside area of late 1800s mining building - Bing images

Some pics of old mines.

 

[Dinorius_Redundicus]

Limestone and coal would most likely be quarried or mined separately from where the metal ore is mined and concentrated. The smelter could be at the metal mine, but might also be at a separate location.

A high-level factor, in terms of the supplies needed, would be whether the mine is underground or an open-cut (surface) mine. An underground mine would need a lot of support beams for the tunnels and shafts. I imagine the types of digging and hauling equipment were different too, given the size constraints of u/g mining compared to surface mining.

While steam power was big back then, horse-drawn wagons would have been common. So a lot of horse related supplies too.

 

[wreeder]

Mining in that part of Colorado in 1880s would have been hard rock mining where the tunnels would have been narrow with an arched roof. They would have used timber only where the roof had caved in already. The mine entrances would have been high on the mountains but as they followed the seams could descend hundreds of feet downward. They were high up in the mountains because that is where erosion would have exposed the gold or silver seam on the surface. This was very primitive mining, not the nice straight tunnels and shafts of coal mines. They followed the seams has it twisted and turned into the mountain. Supplies would have been brought up to the mine entrance by mule trains. Mines existed in clusters around a town where the train came through which means the supplies would be delivered there and the mines would buy as needed.

 

[HiBaller]

A picky note: a "shaft" is vertical and the horizontal or slightly inclined term is "drift." At the top of a shaft is usually lifting gear (pulleys, steam engine, chains, and such). I just learned that the "ceiling" is called the hanging wall.

This great page is full of terminology: mining stuff

Bill

 

[wreeder]

Thanks Bill.

Here is a nice page on the mining history of the Crested Butte area.

https://westernmininghistory.com/towns/colorado/crested-butte/

 

[rogueranger1993]

Thanks for all the info, guys!

So, to give a bit more detail on my setup, all of the mines on the route have facilites that need power, which would be coal, and all of the mines are underground types. I have two coal mines and four silver mines in the mountains on the route, plus a separate stamp mill/smelter down in the valley. I just want to make the mining industries a little more interactive than simply collecting ore and taking it to the smelter.

 

[wreeder]

https://www.historycolorado.org/sit...d, Oregon, a distance of about thirteen miles.

 

[rogueranger1993]

Thank you for the article wreeder, it is a very useful source and a great read.

 

[wreeder]

You're welcome. The entire site is fascinating to me.