HAER CA-291, Keane Wonder FINAL · 2012. 11. 20. · aerial tramway of this vintage can be seen....

PHOTOGRAPHS

PAPER COPIES OF COLOR TRANSPARENCIES

REDUCED COPIES OF MEASURED DRAWINGS

FIELD RECORDS

HAER CA-291CA-291

KEANE WONDER MINEDeath Valley National ParkPark Route 4 (Daylight Pass Cutoff)Death Valley JunctionInyo CountyCalifornia

HISTORIC AMERICAN ENGINEERING RECORDNational Park Service

U.S. Department of the Interior1849 C Street NW

Washington, DC 20240-0001

WRITTEN HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE DATA

FIELD RECORDS

HAER CA-291HAER CA-291

ADDENDUM TO:KEANE WONDER MINEDeath Valley National ParkPark Route 4 (Daylight Pass Cutoff)Death Valley JunctionInyo CountyCalifornia

HISTORIC AMERICAN ENGINEERING RECORDNational Park Service

U.S. Department of the Interior1849 C Street NW

Washington, DC 20240-0001

HISTORIC AMERICAN ENGINEERING RECORD

KEANE WONDER MINE

HAER No. CA-291

Location: Park Route 4 (Daylight Pass Cutoff), Death Valley National Park, Death Valley Junction, Inyo County, California Date of Construction: 1904 Present Owner: National Park Service Present Use: Interpretive site, Death Valley National Park Significance: After fifty years of tenacious but comparatively unprofitable gold mining

activities in Death Valley, the Keane Wonder strike in 1904 became the heart of Death Valley’s most prosperous two decades of gold mining. One of Keane Wonder Mine’s most impressive and intact technological features is the aerial tramway, which is the most intact original feature of the mine and sets Keane Wonder apart as a unique historic mining site in the region today, just as it did when it began operating in 1907. Although aerial tramways have been a fairly common, well-established, and necessary part of mining operations throughout the world, the scale of the Keane Wonder tramway made it unique in the Death Valley region. It remains as one of the few places in the Mojave Desert where an intact aerial tramway of this vintage can be seen.

Historian: Gianfranco Archimede, 2001 Project Information: Recording of the Keane Wonder Mine was completed in 2000-2001 by the

Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) as part of a cooperative agreement with Michigan Technological University’s Industrial Archeology Program and Death Valley National Park.

The field work, measured drawings, historical report, and photography

were completed under the direction of Richard O’Connor, Todd Croteau, and Dana Locket, project leaders. The recording team consisted of HAER architects Dana Lockett, Todd Croteau, Roland Flores, Pete Brooks, and architect technician Amy B. James (University of Arkansas). Gianfranco Archimede produced the historical report and large-format photographs during the summer of 2001.

KEANE WONDER MINE HAER No. CA-291

(Page 2)

A. Death Valley: A Sense of Place Commonly-held perceptions of the desert reveal that it is probably the most often misunderstood and underestimated of natural environments. As described by W. Eugene Hollon in the Great American Desert,

The average American thinks of a desert as a vast expanse of shifting sand, and he associates the word itself almost immediately with the Sahara. But there is more to the desert than sand. Actually, only limited sections of the arid regions of the world offer depressing scenery of this sort. Most desert land is composed of rocky plateaus channeled by dry water courses, basins surrounded by mountains, deep valleys and canyons, cactus, sage, soap weed, yucca, and rolling plains carpeted by a thin cover of grass.1

The association of Death Valley with dramatic stories of survival and death grew out of increasing interest in the area as a gold mining region. Many of the pioneering groups that endured tragedies crossing Death Valley also popularized stories of gold ledges and lost mines they had encountered along their own ill-fated journeys. This was appropriate given the overwhelming social climate of “gold fever” that spread throughout the new state of California and the nation in the 1850s and 1860s. California was quickly established as a destination particularly linked individuality, independence, and golden dreams of overnight wealth. As more became known about the valley geographically, such as the facts of its extreme dryness, heat, and depth, the names given and the stories told about experiencing Death Valley matched the extreme nature of the place. With such a foreboding and gruesome reputation, it is a wonder anyone would be interested in Death Valley at all. If the ‘49ers put Death Valley on the map, then it was mining that kept it there. Since the first commercial mining venture in the valley at Salt Spring in 1850, Death Valley (and the Mojave Desert at large) has been a major mineralogical region drawing the attention of investors from around the world. In the beginning, there could be only one reason to bring men and machines into such a place—the prospect of wealth. Gold and silver were the primary incentives at first, following the current of the California and Nevada booms of the 1850s through the 1870s.2 It was not until the 1880s that Death Valley’s most abundant and most valuable minerals were exploited, however. The acres of salts that lay exposed on the valley floor, products of eons of concentration and evaporation of soluble minerals, were harvested and processed into borax. Borax was easy to produce and had a market for hundreds of commercial and domestic applications.3 Mining activity necessitated infrastructure, such as passable roads and railroads, a reliable water supply, electricity, markets, and general goods and services. Death Valley became a typical mining landscape in terms of its remote location and development issues. As the harsh 1 W. Eugene Hollon, The Great American Desert Then and Now (New York: Oxford University Press, 1966), 10. 2 Richard E. Lingenfelter, Death Valley and the Amargosa: A Land of Illusion (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986), 23. 3 See HAER No. CA-301, Twenty Mule Team Borax Wagons for documentation of the wagons used to transport borax from Death Valley.


(Page 3)

environment was brought under at least a semblance of control through this development, it became more of a tolerable, promising place for wealth seekers. The barren landscape of salt and sand was recognized for its productivity and commodity value as more investments and people poured in, so that the “hundred different uses [of borax] made a market for that versatile salt, and thus made Death Valley a treasure vault.”4 The arrival of the automobile in Death Valley in the early twentieth century helped popularize the place as a destination for adventure-seekers, vacationers, and naturalists. With the ability to move through such a vast landscape quickly and more safely than in the past, the automobile allowed more people to experience Death Valley simply for its natural wonder and “mythological” character. Roadways developed quickly at this time as Death Valley experienced its most significant mining boom. Mining towns that developed just outside of Death Valley on all sides were connected through the valley, especially to Rhyolite on the east side, where there was a major rail head. The simultaneous development of the automobile, a significant mining boom, and adequate roadways in Death Valley were major occurrences that made the place accessible to more people with a wide variety of interests (both honest and fraudulent). Whether these were fortune-seeking prospectors looking for gold, corporations capitalizing on Death Valley’s “hellish” reputation to create consumer intrigue, or scientists wanting to discover new truths, Death Valley was opened to them on a scale that had never before been realized. The transformation of Death Valley from the reality of its namesake to a place of national significance is intimately tied to its mining legacy. A number of Death Valley’s mining entrepreneurs, such as William Eichbaum, Frank Jenifer, and Christian Zabriskie, to name just a few, saw the opportunities in tourism. Their business connections and first-hand knowledge of the area not only helped them develop tourism ventures, but also their personal involvement with mining insured that the valley’s historic mining landscapes would be promoted as valuable places to visit. While historic gold mining and its particular romanticism played a major role in this transformation, a more direct link is the real wealth generated by Death Valley’s most abundant resources: borates and talc. The multinational Borax Consolidated Ltd. took Death Valley tourism as serious business since they owned much of the Death Valley lands through mining claims. Their interest in encouraging tourism was instrumental (and essential) to the continued growth of national interest and fascination with Death Valley. Tourism was also a profitable way to put some of their worked-out mining claims and town sites to good use by converting them into hotels and even establishing an opera house at Death Valley Junction. The company was the major player in the construction of the Furnace Creek Inn and spun national campaigns that were “the reeducation of the nation to the Jekyll-Hyde transformation of the valley from ‘gruesome, death-dealing desert to health-giving winter resort’ to….‘the land of fascination, romance, and beauty, the most romantic American desert, the most weird, heroic spot on earth’.”5

4 Lingenfelter, 173. 5 As quoted by Lingenfelter, 455.


(Page 4)

The “borax men” located and named many of the tourist spots in the valley, such as Dante’s View, the Devil’s Gold Course, and Twenty Mule Team Canyon, built roads to them, and organized bus tours and airplane trips. With all these investments in tourism by Consolidated Borax and others, the idea of having Death Valley recognized as a national park began in the mid-1920s. This status would assure that further land development would not be allowed, but visiting crowds numbering in the millions would. The government would be obliged to invest, maintain, and protect Death Valley, and those who were already in on the growing tourist trade would be guaranteed a permanent interest. National Park Service founder and first director Stephen Mather had previously been a pioneering Death Valley publicist for Consolidated Borax. Although Mather went to Death Valley in January 1927 to discuss the idea at the new Furnace Creek Inn, he was not able to make the recommendation to Congress out of a conflict of interest. It was his successor, Horace M. Albright, who took on the challenge in 1929. Albright was from Inyo County, where Death Valley is located, and had past connections with the borax interests there, so he too was concerned about conflict of interest accusations. It was the “borax men” and others in the group of entrepreneurs who, with Albright’s support, drummed up public interest in Death Valley. A slew of books and newspaper articles were published across the country, with titles like Death Valley, the Facts and Death Valley Men. It was also at this time that the radio show “Death Valley Days” began, which went on to become one of the longest running radio shows on the air, with fourteen years on radio and eighteen more on television.6 President Hoover signed the bill that created the 1,601,800-acre Death Valley National Monument in February 1933, just three weeks before Albright’s term was up.7 As Richard Lingenfelter eloquently states at the close of his book, Death Valley and the Amargosa: A Land of Illusion,

Death Valley was at last a certified national wonder. The terror of the West was officially caged, safe for all to see, and millions would come to see it…Best of all the National Monument helped save the valley’s great illusions of elusive riches and unfathomable mysteries and lurking deadlines, feeding and guarding them but leaving them plenty of room to run wild, so that they too are still there to see—in the mind’s eye.

The vision of Death Valley as a national icon came to fruition in its official status as a National Monument, but its history does not end there. The fascination and popularity with the place continued to generate both national and international interest, which further solidified the value and importance of its sense of place, culminating yet again in a change of its official status. Today, what began as the Death Valley National Monument in 1933 is now the 3.3-million-acre

6 Lingenfelter, 465. 7 Lingenfelter, 455-468. Lingenfelter consulted a number of sources while investigating the formation of the Death Valley National Monument. Following his research, the perspective he presents is apparently his strongest sense of what drove the idea forward and finally clinched it: the commercial interests of the ‘borax men’ and their company that already owned many of the prime lands, and the others who had invested in tourism ventures. While Mather felt he was unable to bring a nomination to Congress without widespread public support, after Albright took over, Consolidated Borax launched a widespread campaign through many avenues to “create” public identity with the valley.


(Page 5)

Death Valley National Park, visited by about 1.2 million people in 1999. It is the largest national park in the contiguous United States, second only to the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park in Alaska.8 B. A Regional and District Perspective of Historic Gold Mining in Death Valley 1. Establishment and Importance of Local Networks Members of the original emigrant parties organized commercial gold mining ventures in Death Valley shortly after their fateful crossing in 1849. Tales and legends of lost mines and rich ledges created and propagated by these emigrants stirred the imagination of enough Los Angeles investors to send some of the men back into the valley to prove their claims. These early operations recount a typical history of strike excitement, preliminary financial backing by outside investors, the establishment of camps near the promising claims, a period of development work, and finally a bust. The challenge of mining profitably in such an extreme desert environment was compounded by the lack of on-hand resources, roads, railroads, and nearby processing facilities. Insufficient funding needed to overcome taxing transportation expenses, and, in many cases, the small quantity of profitably extractable mineral, generally resulted in failure. For good reason, the majority of these pioneering ventures were located in the Panamint Mountains or in Panamint Valley, south and west of Death Valley itself. These avoided the problem of navigating and hauling through Death Valley, which would have compounded costs and risks immensely. Supplies were brought east from California’s coastal region and ore shipments out of the area traveled west back toward the coast. By staying west and south of the still treacherous Death Valley, access to rail and resources from the Los Angeles area was possible and more cost effective. The collapse of the silver market in the 1890s left the California and Nevada mining industry in a financial slump, sending prospectors back into the hills in search of gold. Several successful Death Valley strikes were made and developed between 1890 and 1900, notably on both sides of the valley. The three Montgomery brothers played a significant role during this period and afterward and are credited with starting Death Valley’s great gold boom of the early twentieth century. 2. Jack Keane’s Wonderful Strike After fifty years of tenacious but comparatively unprofitable gold mining activities in Death Valley, the Keane Wonder strike in 1904 became the heart of Death Valley’s most prosperous two decades of gold mining. Unlike the other strikes previously mentioned, Keane Wonder was actually located in Death Valley, high in the Funeral Mountains. The strike followed in the same tradition of local networking described above. Jack Keane, an unemployed Irish immigrant miner from Ballarat, set out in January 1904 to prospect for silver in the Funeral Mountains on the east side of Death Valley. Keane was headed for the unsuccessful 1870s Chloride Cliff silver claims hoping to find that something had been missed.9 He learned of the Chloride Cliff through 8 National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, “Death Valley General Management Plan,” April 2002, 2. 9 Linda W. Green and John A. Latschar, Historic Resource Study, A History of Mining, Death Valley National Monument (Historic Preservation Branch, Pacific Northwest/Western Team, Denver Service Center, National Park


(Page 6)

local sources, and like the Montgomerys who struck the World Beater by prospecting in the area around old Panamint City, Keane followed the same pattern. He talked Domingo Etcharren, “the one-eyed Basque butcher of Ballarat,” into joining him and, of course, into bringing along the grub. The pair located a silver-lead prospect they called the Whip Saw before Etcharren decided to turn back, while Keane opted to stay on until his supplies ran out. As Etcharren left the scene, he pointed out a quartz outcropping that he suggested Keane investigate. Keane found the outcropping rich in gold and after staking the claim and grabbing some samples, he rushed to Furnace Creek to telegraph Jack DeLamar in New York to send out an expert to investigate. Keane then went on to Ballarat to give Etcharren the news. Within twelve days, DeLamar’s expert, Hartwig Cohen, had investigated the claim, and five weeks later, Keane and Etcharren had DeLamar’s $10,000 down payment check for a one-year option to buy the claim for $160,000.10 What followed was a local rush to the Keane Wonder area with 500 men on-site by July 1904. The most promising secondary claim that came out of the rush was made by Johnny “behind-the-gat” Cyty and his partner Mike Sullivan with the Beg Bell, from which they collected $25,000 on a $250,000 option from an investor. Cyty would go on to become a major character in the area and caretaker at Keane Wonder in its final years. However, the most dramatic event of the Keane Wonder rush came late in August when Ballaraters Shorty Harris and Ed Cross arrived on the scene. Finding that all the good ground around Keane Wonder was taken, they pushed on to the other side of the Funerals, out of Death Valley, and across the Nevada border, where they struck their soon-to-be-famous Bullfrog. They named their strike Bullfrog because of the mottled green color of the ore, reminiscent of a bullfrog’s back. At this point, the events sparked by the Keane Wonder rush had unwittingly tapped into the larger social momentum of gold mining in the region, fueling a fever that had begun in 1901 with James Butler’s Tonopah strike. The development of Keane Wonder was now closely tied to the Bullfrog rush that ensued, the greatest gold rush that the Death Valley region would ever see.11 To appreciate the scale and significance of the Bullfrog rush and how Keane Wonder was tied to it, a few historic details concerning these events are helpful. Jim Butler of White Pine, Nevada, broke the twenty-year slump that ensued after the Comstock Lode ended in the 1880s. During that period Nevada lost one-third of its population, and gold and silver production dropped from $47 million at its peak in 1878 to less than $3 million in 1900. Butler discovered the Tonopah strike on May 19, 1900, while out rounding up burros that had strayed from his overnight camp near Tonopah Spring. The Tonopah strike went on to produce $20 million by 1907 and a grand total of $250 million in its lifetime. In 1906 alone, Tonopah mines paid $2.2 million in cash dividends and gave rise to a rush that soon after led to the 1903 Goldfield strike, which then fed the Bullfrog rush in 1905.12

Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, March 1981) [hereafter cited as Historic Resource Study]. Green and Latschar suggest that Keane was drawn to the area from Ballarat inspired by Tonopah and Goldfield gold rushes, which is in conflict with Lingenfelter’s account given here. 10 The Rhyolite Herald, November 3, 1905, 8. 11 Lingenfelter, 275-276. 12 C.B. Glasscock, Gold in Them Hills: The Story of the West’s Last Wild Mining Days (Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1932), 246.


(Page 7)

While Tonopah produced $1.7 million in its second year, 1903 was slow and the town consequently found itself with an unemployment problem. Although hundreds of claims had been staked, leasors were scarce and development slowed. This drove prospectors out to look for new claims, and, in May 1903, a fateful strike was made near Rabbit Spring, some 40 miles south of Tonopah, and the famous Goldfield rush began.13 Within one month the original claims were sold for $10,000, and the good news brought prospectors in from all around. Goldfield’s population soared to 5,000 within the first year. After just three years of development, Goldfield mines were producing $130,000 every twenty-four hours and the population had reached 15,000.14 Two years after the first shipment of ore from Goldfield and four years after the first shipment from Tonopah, the area had a railroad, piped water supply, electricity, and stock exchanges. The population of Goldfield reached 20,000 in 1910, and it produced $11.2 million. Both Tonopah and Goldfield boasted rich, high-grade deposits that captured the attention of capitalists and rekindled the gold fever that would take them into the 1920s.15 3. The Great Bullfrog Rush, Rhyolite Boom Town, and Regional Connections The Bullfrog ensued during August 1904 with the same energy that had electrified the Tonopah and Goldfield rushes a few years earlier. The fervor generated by these two strikes was still strong when Shorty Harris and Ed Cross had their Bullfrog samples assayed in Goldfield, just after staking their claim. The samples assayed between $665 and $3,000 a ton in gold. This incredible news spread so fast that by the end of August, just three weeks later, the Bullfrog Mining District was organized with 2,000 claims staked over an area of 30 miles.16 Bob Montgomery, one of the brothers previously mentioned, staked his Shoshone claim during the Bullfrog rush. His strike was so rich that it became known as “the greatest discovery ever made in the desert,” creating all the more excitement and rivalry in the Bullfrog district. The town of Rhyolite was closest to Montgomery’s Shoshone and by June 1905, it boasted 2,500 inhabitants, fifty saloons, and the town’s first newspaper, The Rhyolite Herald. The nearby Beatty town site also hung on, especially because of the availability of water there, and it claimed title to the district’s first newspaper, The Beatty Bullfrog Miner. These and other newspapers churned out the valuable propaganda that promoted the district and the rivalry between the camps. Rhyolite carried the boom with the tremendous success of the Montgomery Shoshone, which shipped its first ore to the smelters at Salt Lake City in February 1905. As the mine continued to ship its ore throughout the spring, Montgomery and his partners looked for a worthy buyer in hopes of further developing the mines with a large mill and cyanide plant. They were successful in August 1905 when Charles Schwab, the well-known steel magnate, offered $1.5 million for 51 percent of the Shoshone stock. After Schwab’s personal visit to the property, a deal was struck that made Montgomery a multi-millionaire after receiving an unknown amount over $2 million. Montgomery continued to invest in gold mining and oil ventures with his

13 Glasscock, 77. 14 Glasscock, 219. 15 Glasscock, 58, 174, 184, and 309. 16 Lingenfelter, 207; a map of the Bullfrog claims can be found in Lingenfelter, 206.


(Page 8)

newfound fortune, most notably developing the Skidoo mill in the Panamints that would rival Keane Wonder in total production and stamina.17 Mines in the Bullfrog and surrounding areas rose and fell, but the Montgomery Shoshone kept the district alive. It produced about $1 million in gold until 1908 when stocks crashed due to the unexpected news that of the $5 million in ore that supposedly remained, there was actually less than $400,000 worth. In 1911, the mill was closed, dismantled, and sold due to a lack of profit. Although the Shoshone had produced $1.5 million gold, it never paid a cent in dividends to investors. All profits went to pay off Schwab’s personal loans towards the mine’s development—this was the crippling blow that sent Rhyolite under for good. By 1910, only 600 people remained in Rhyolite and over the next five years, the town declined, becoming totally deserted by 1916. 4. Keane Wonder’s Social Status: Death Valley, Bullfrog and the World Although Keane Wonder is located just 23 miles from Rhyolite and was not formally considered part of the Bullfrog district, it served as the anchor of its own informal district called the South Bullfrog. This name is seen in many of the local newspaper reports on Keane Wonder. The Bullfrog newspapers and stock exchanges listed Bullfrog stocks but did not include Keane Wonder in that group. Informally, however, they reported on the Keane Wonder with great regularity, often with front-page news regarding bullion shipments, development work, and new strikes. The Keane Wonder produced consistently enough to warrant the attention and respect of Bullfrogers and investors alike. In April 1906, The Bullfrog Miner reported:

KEANE WONDER BONANZA: Practically millions in sight, making this probably one of the greatest milling propositions in the country—The possibilities of the Keane Wonder are startling when the truth is known of the wonderful showing—with the immense amount of ore on the ground, this should prove to be a bonanza in the production of precious metal. The Keane Wonder is situated about twelve miles from the town of Bullfrog in the Funeral range of mountains, on the Death valley slope. While it is in the south Bullfrog district, it is only a few hundred feet outside the confine of the Bullfrog district, so practically this is another mine to be added to the bonanza list, already large and growing, in the Bullfrog country.18

Although it was one of Death Valley’s largest gold producers, closely rivaled only by Montgomery’s Skidoo on the opposite of the valley, Keane Wonder was a small to medium scale mine, producing just under $1 million in gold over its nine years of operation. It was most directly compared with the pace and production of Schwab’s Montgomery Shoshone because of its proximity to the Bullfrog district. As mentioned above, the stalwart Montgomery Shoshone was the benchmark of the Bullfrog district with a total production of $1.5 million over its six years of operation, therefore out-producing the Keane Wonder. However, of the many mines that came and went in the Bullfrog district, the newspapers gave the “heavyweight” titles to the

17 See HAER No. CA-290, Skidoo Mine for more information. 18 The Bullfrog Miner, April 6, 1906.


(Page 9)

outlying Keane Wonder and to the Shoshone in terms of their reports on the district’s activities.19 An example of this is a local “race” between the two mines to be the first in the area to get their stamp mills up and running. In July 1907, The Bullfrog Miner reported:

A 20-stamp mill with the capacity of from 80 to 100 tons a day is now installed and will be ready to steam up just as soon as the aerial tramway is completed. Machinery for this was shipped from St. Louis a few days ago and is expected on the ground at once…The company [Keane Wonder] has been running a race with the Montgomery Shoshone to see which will be the first to start its milling machinery in operation. It is about neck and neck. The Montgomery has been delayed, also, on account of the non-arrival of its electrical apparatus, and it is possible that the two plants will be started at about the same time.20

Continued delays in erecting a tramway prevented the mill from operating until late in October 1907. Although Keane Wonder lost the race, Superintendent Homer Wilson made it clear in newspaper interviews that his mill was prepared to go in July and that the Shoshone did not have to build an aerial tramway. Keane Wonder’s “social status,” the way it was perceived and compared to its contemporaries, was dynamically affected by its location on the border of two interconnected but geographically separated areas. On the larger geographical scale of historic gold mining in the west, this distinction is not particularly relevant. Mining activities are interconnected across geographical regions, states, and countries on a global level in terms of financial markets, technology, culture, and migration. On the smaller scale of social geographical distinctions, however, Keane Wonder’s location formally put it within Death Valley’s understood border outside the Bullfrog district. Another aspect that reinforced this distinction is its proximity to the California-Nevada state line. The Bullfrog district was defined within Nevada, a different state and county than Keane Wonder, which was formally a Death Valley mining site on the border of a larger district. It can be characterized as having a “border status,” where it could easily participate and benefit from its proximity to the financial and social climate of the Bullfrog district on the opposite side of the geopolitical border, while also claiming its connection to Death Valley’s local mining districts. The Bullfrog newspapers offer good examples of this. Not only did they run the more sensational stories of Keane Wonder’s success and development as front page news, but also they ran inside news on the comings and goings of Homer Wilson, the mine’s manager, and of important mining professionals who went out to inspect the mine. This may hardly be surprising because Keane Wonder bullion valued as high as $40,000 rolled into Rhyolite about once a month to be deposited or shipped out to a smelter. That amount of gold would make any mining camp sit up and pay attention to who was responsible for bringing it in. One story reported on the near-death experience of a teamster on his way back to Rhyolite from a Keane Wonder run, and another of harsh working conditions and lack of water in the summer months when even the

19 This assessment is made after the author’s careful review of several of the Bullfrog district’s newspapers between 1905 and 1917. Consistency and tone of reporting, as well as the placement of Keane Wonder reports were taken into consideration in this assessment. 20 The Bullfrog Miner, July 6, 1907.


(Page 10)

silverware was too hot to handle.21 It can thus be said that the people involved at Keane Wonder were socially recognized and connected to the Bullfrog district. The Bullfrog rush put Keane Wonder in a favorable position in terms of its financial and technological development. Before the rush and during its beginnings, however, attention was focused on the Bullfrog, resulting in a slow start for Keane Wonder. It was Homer Wilson and his associates who began the major developments at the mine in 1907 with a twenty stamp mill and impressive aerial tramway. The mill machinery came in on the new Tonopah & Las Vegas railroad into Rhyolite, as did all the other supplies to the mine. A wagon road was set up directly from the mine to Rhyolite, and frequent, regular runs were established. The choice of a Sterling 125-horsepower oil-burning steam engine to power the mill was dependent on its proximity to Rhyolite for fuel, where Wilson set up a 25,000-gallon supply tank for this purpose.22 The mile-long aerial tramway and cyanide plant added in 1909 were also brought in by rail. Keane Wonder was electrified by a gas-powered generator, had a telephone, and, for a short time, hired a steam tractor to haul supplies in from Rhyolite. Its proximity to Rhyolite made this possible, establishing technological and financial links to Rhyolite in addition to the social connections explained above. The Death Valley region’s historic mining ventures resulted in a local social network that influenced the Keane Wonder strike. It played an important role as a pioneer and anchor to the nearby Bullfrog mining district, connecting Death Valley to a regional resurgence of significant Nevada gold rushes that occurred at the same time. Keane Wonder’s physical location on the border of two geopolitical regions gave it a unique status from which it benefited socially, financially, and technologically. Its record of consistent production throughout its years gave confidence to other smaller operations in the Funeral and Black mountains, therefore playing an important role in the development of the Death Valley region. Today, Keane Wonder is part of Death Valley National Park (DEVA) and the ruins of the Rhyolite ghost town are under the purview of the Bureau of Land Management. Regardless of their proximity, the geographic distinction is further emphasized by this legal separation of land control. In credit to DEVA, the interpretive information provided to tourists defines the connection between Keane Wonder and Rhyolite, encouraging visitors to make the trip outside the park to Rhyolite in order to realize Keane Wonder’s connection to that place. C. Keane Wonder’s Historic Landscape While the Bullfrog rush put Keane Wonder in a favorable position for its first phase of financial and technological development, the attention paid to the Bullfrog rush caused a slow start for Keane Wonder. Luckily for Jack Keane, his claims were leased out to Joseph DeLamar within five weeks of his strike and just prior to Harris’ nearby Bullfrog strike. DeLamar was dependent on Ballarat for supplies, some 60 miles away, and faced a paucity of horses, mules, and wagons, which stalled his development efforts. He brought in some machinery, built an assay and general

21 The Bullfrog Miner, April 8, 1909. 22 Historic Resource Study, 274.


(Page 11)

office buildings, and kept between fifteen and thirty men employed with exploratory tunnels until his lease expired in April 1905.23 After investing $35,000 and finding only an estimated $600,000 of ore, he offered to buy the property for less than the $160,000 option previously agreed upon. Keane and Etcharren held out rather than selling short. As Keane remarked, “it is the man who wants to quit at the first discouragement, and refuses to put a few more dollars into the ground for fear of never being able to get it out, who is responsible for most of the failures in mining.”24 They resumed work on the property themselves that fall and made a small shipment of high-grade ore to the Selby smelter that paid them $28,000.25 With this amount, they were able to hire half a dozen men and continue their work until a buyer appeared. Their plan was to continue making small shipments of high-grade ore in order to keep the mine’s development moving along. Toward that end, they constructed a wagon road to the town of Bullfrog that was 4 miles closer than Rhyolite.26 Meanwhile, investors attracted by the Keane Wonder and Bullfrog rushes began to purchase and develop nearby properties such as the Big Bell, Keane Wonder Extension, and the old Chloride Cliff. In January 1906, Lucien Patrick and E.H. Wedekind out of Goldfield took a one-year option on the Keane Wonder similar to DeLamar’s and immediately announced plans to construct a twenty stamp mill and aerial tramway. Although the locations for these were surveyed, and $1 million of ore was blocked out, they quit their work after several months for unknown reasons.27 By this time, Keane Wonder was touted as “liable to be one of the largest on the desert in the near future” and “one of the great gold mines of the world,” and it was no surprise when a Goldfield speculator appeared in early March as soon as Patrick quit his option.28 John F. Campbell bought the Keane Wonder properties outright for $250,000 and formed the Keane Wonder Mining Company with Jack Keane as president and Etcharren as secretary. In payment, they received $50,000 in cash and the rest in controlling stock interest. The new company incorporated late in March with a capitalization of 1,500,000 shares and set its headquarters in Campbell’s Goldfield office. The stocks rose quickly, beginning at 42 cents and reaching $1 each by June.29 At this point in 1906, the Keane Wonder properties consisted of twenty-two claims covering an area of 240 acres. They stretched 1 mile from the foot of the Funeral Mountains on the Death Valley side northward and steeply upward into the mountains. Previous development work consisted of over 1,000' of tunnels, drifts, and uprises that revealed a large amount of ore valued at $20 to $25 a ton in gold for an estimated total value of $1 to $3 million. Road development made the mine accessible to the Bullfrog district through Daylight Pass. It was popularized that 23 Engineering and Mining Journal, August 25, 1904, 318; March 23, 1905, 598. 24 The Rhyolite Herald, September 22, 1905, 4. 25 The Rhyolite Herald, September 22, 1905, 1. 26 The Rhyolite Herald, November 3, 1905. 27 Historic Resource Study, 268. 28 The Rhyolite Herald, January 6, 1906, 8; April 6, 1906, 7. The newspaper reported that Crule, the English engineer-author of Great Gold Mines of the World, named the Keane Wonder as one of the world’s great gold mines after his inspection of it in winter 1905. 29 Historic Resource Study, 270; The Rhyolite Herald, March 2, 1906, 1; June 8, 1906, 9.


(Page 12)

every claim had free milling gold on it that could be panned straight off the surface and that there was plenty of nearby water and wood available.30 One of the lower claims at the foot of the mountains did contain a spring, but its water was certainly not abundant and was highly mineralized. Lack of water would always be a problem at the mine, and the idea that trees existed within a few miles of the site is erroneous. However, one of the greatest benefits of Keane Wonder’s ore bodies was that its mining required virtually no timbering, referring to the practice of using wood for internal mine supports, due to the nature of the ore.31 The ore was either a schist or white pink to yellow quartz matrix, a typical characteristic of the California desert region. The quartz was readily identified in surface outcroppings and ledges on the steep slopes of the Funeral’s predominant formation of mica and argentiferous schist rock. The formations laid in flat stratas “piled one upon the other. The capping is lime, under which lies hornblende schist, quartz and mica schist in succession named.” This type of ore was considered “free milling” because the precious metals would readily separate from its quartz or schist matrix simply by crushing it. These were considered lode deposits, but there was speculation whether Keane Wonder’s ore ran in veins or the more typical pocket deposits of the region. The quartz ledges cropped horizontally into the mountainside on either side of the deep canyon that ran through the claims. Mining was easily accomplished by tunneling horizontally into the quartz from the steep slopes or simply quarrying right at the surface, eliminating the need for hoisting mechanisms and vertical shafting. Both the schist and quartz rock were easily broken in tunneling, but the walls and ceiling remained highly stable. These characteristics contributed to what was the cheapest and most efficient method of mining: horizontal tunneling from the surface with little need for internal timbering or hoisting. Milling was also an efficient operation because as much as 80 percent of the metals were released from the matrix simply by crushing. Conveying and handling of the ore was also easily accomplished with tramways and gravity. These and the sheer abundance of ore were perhaps the most significant factors that made the Keane Wonder lode a highly profitable prospect.32 When the Keane Wonder Mining Company took over the property, only five of the twenty-two claims had been explored. Campbell had every intention of moving ahead with the mine’s immediate development when the unexpected occurred. In April 1906, San Francisco experienced a devastating earthquake and fire that profoundly impacted the mining industry in general. Campbell’s fortune was destroyed with the fire, and the National Bank, whose president E.H. Wedekind, was Campbell’s partner in Keane Wonder, went bankrupt. All development plans for the Keane Wonder came to a halt, and Campbell was forced to find a buyer for the property, which he accomplished soon after in June. Homer Wilson, then president of the Sildman Consolidated Mines, was from San Francisco and had made his reputation as “one of the boldest and most successful operators” in California’s famous Mother Lode district.33 He spent two months investigating various properties in Tonopah, Goldfield, and the Bullfrog districts. The Rhyolite Herald reported, “He says they have been mining and milling ore on the Mother Lode for two years, and everything above $2.00 was profit, showing how cheaply ore 30 The Rhyolite Herald, April 6, 1906, 7; March 30, 1906, 8. 31 The Rhyolite Herald, June 8, 1906, 7-9. 32 The Rhyolite Herald, June 8, 1906, 7-9; April 6, 1906, 7; March 30, 1906, 8. 33 Lingenfelter, 278.


(Page 13)

can be treated when the right system is used. He says what is called low grade here [in the Bullfrog] his company would term nigh grade, and believes that eventually anything above $5.00 ore will be mined at a profit.”34 On August 10, it was announced that Wilson and a partner from Denver named J.R. Elgan had purchased the Keane Wonder Mining Company’s controlling stock interest for an unknown price. Both Jack Keane and Domingo Etcharren finally sold out their interest in Keane Wonder. Etcharren bought a store in the nearby mining town of Darwin and was not heard of again. Keane invested his portion in almost fifty claims in the Skidoo area located in the Panamints on the west side of Death Valley. In a few months, he ended up in jail after he shot and seriously wounded a constable in Ballarat after a drunken celebration. Upon his release he returned to Ireland where he resurfaced in the papers again in fall 1907 after returning to jail on a seventeen-year sentence for shooting and killing a man.35 Homer Wilson’s success in gold mining came from his belief in personal management. He personally set out to make Keane Wonder a major producer and even moved his family to live at the site in 1908. Wilson’s tenure at Keane Wonder was instrumental to the mine’s longevity and consistent production even in the face of a financial panic that threatened to shut down operations in 1908. His development and planning on the ground, in procuring new equipment, and in representing the mine to the media and in the financial markets was responsible for the major developments of the landscape at Keane Wonder. Wilson’s work on the property began in November 1906 when the construction of the twenty stamp mill and aerial tramway was announced. He stirred up excitement in the press by announcing that his equipment would become the first running mill in the Bullfrog district. The Tonopah & Las Vegas Railroad arrived in Rhyolite on December 14 and was a major event in the development of these plans as all equipment and parts rolled in via rail beginning in late December 1906 and throughout 1907. The mill and cyanide leaching plant were installed at the base of the Funeral Mountains about a mile distant and 2,000' lower than the major tunnels in the Funerals themselves. The location was chosen for its proximity to a promising water source on the property, which was a requirement of the milling and leaching processes. Water was piped to the mill and held in a 25,000-gallon storage tank where it flowed to the mill by gravity or was pumped up to the mines. An extensive gravity-powered aerial tramway measuring 4,700' long brought the ore down to the mill in buckets. The cyanide leaching plant installed in 1909 was situated close to the mill, but below it, to put gravity to use in conveying the tailings from the mill. Photographs, maps, and a site survey show the location of numerous ancillary buildings that were also constructed. Given the existing documentation, it is not often possible to ascertain the years that specific buildings were erected; however, it is possible to note building episodes according to the periods of major construction. The first development phase took place between December 1906 and November 1907 and involved the construction of the stamp mill, aerial tramway, water pipeline, cookhouse, and

34 The Rhyolite Herald, June 29, 1906, 1. 35 Historic Resource Study, 270-271; The Bullfrog Miner, September 14, 1907.


(Page 14)

bunkhouse for the workers. Keane Wonder also expanded its property holdings during this initial building phase. Work on the water pipeline led the company to buy additional property and the small town site at Keane Springs, located towards the top of the Funerals 7 miles away from the mill. Additional properties adjoining the company’s original claims were also purchased to provide right-of-way for the aerial tramway, bringing the total holdings to twenty-six claims over an area of 450 acres. According to the historic documentation, there were at least two buildings and probably numerous tent sites located near the upper mines that were built during DeLamar’s early development work. The first equipment to arrive late in December 1906 was the mill’s power plant, an 85-horsepower Corliss oil-burning steam engine. As the mill foundations were excavated in January, a nearby shaft dug to find water turned up more gold ore. The mill framework, ore bins, mortar blocks, and a “boarding house of some pretensions” were set by the end of April. At this point, twenty-five men were employed on this work, amounting to a payroll of $3,000 per month.36 Although the mill was installed and ready to operate by July 1907, setbacks on the arrival of tramway materials delayed its initial operation until October. The mill was constructed to accommodate forty stamps, twenty of which Wilson planned to install after the success of the initial twenty stamps had been assured. The Leschen Brothers Company of St. Louis carried out simultaneous work on the aerial tramway consisting of two terminals and twelve cable support towers between them. By August, millwright E.P. Chilson reported that seven towers were in place, and, in early September, Keane Wonder’s superintendent D.W. Lyon reported that eighteen men and five millwrights had erected all twelve towers. The last shipment of an overall total of 1.5 million pounds of material for the tramway was hauled from Rhyolite during this month. Upon completion of the tramway, the mill was set into operation on October 27, and Keane Wonder’s first amalgam clean-up valued at $40,000 arrived in Rhyolite on November 12. The final cost of the mill was an estimated $85,000.37 Keane Wonder’s second development phase in 1908 consisted of several rich new ore strikes, attempts to alleviate a perpetual water shortage with shafts and a new pipeline, and the addition of several structures. The new mill operated slowly at first to make adjustments and assays according to the ore. Although it was not running at full capacity, a clean-up in early December 1907 brought in $16,000 just after twelve days of operation and later that month another came in at $6,000. It appeared that the mill was well on its way to producing Homer Wilson’s projected goal of $1,000 a day. Production continued steadily throughout 1908 with monthly or bi-monthly clean-ups, and estimated processing costs were reported at between 30 cents and $3 per ton (an incredibly low figure). The mill still operated at about half its capacity due to the

36 The Bullfrog Miner, April 12, 1907, 1. A later report on July 7 in The Bullfrog Miner gives more information on other capitalists invested in Keane Wonder with Homer Wilson. These included W.B. Ritchie of New York City; G.H. Goodrich of Norwalk, Connecticut; and Wallace McGregor as engineer. Another report on September 7 names R.M. Rogers of Chapman & Co. bankers and brokers from New York City as vice-president of the mining company. 37 The Bullfrog Minder, April 12, May 10, July 6, August 17, September 7, and September 14, 1907; The Rhyolite Daily Bulletin, November 7 and November 12, 1907; Historic Resource Study, 275-276.


(Page 15)

perpetual water shortage, recovering only 62 percent of the ore’s gold. A new pipeline was ordered in April to hopefully alleviate the water problem and the clean-up for that month rendered $30,000. In addition, new ore bodies were discovered, prompting Wilson’s announcement that there was “enough ore in sight to wear out the twenty stamp mill that we now have in operation on the property.” The new 3,800' pipeline and its pumps were laid in June, but the encroaching summer heat limited even that new system. Nonetheless, the Keane Wonder continued to produce bullion throughout the 124° F summer heat when working conditions were simply miserable and water was scarce. The company also managed to add four new buildings to the landscape, including a two-room office building, a new cookhouse, a small ice plant, and a 16' x 42' residence for Homer Wilson and his family. Late in August, Wilson reported that “biggest strike in the history of Keane Wonder has just been made” when an 18'-wide section of ore was discovered. Mill clean-ups continued regularly through the end of the year. Keane Wonder’s total production for 1908 amounted to $140,092.36 according to figures released by Wilson, which set its average monthly production at $11,674. This was far below Wilson’s projection of a $1,000 per day production level, but it was enough to distinguish Keane Wonder as Inyo County’s largest gold producer of 1908.38 The lack of water and intense summer heat in 1908 slowed both production and the installation of the cyanide leaching plant proposed by Homer Wilson from the beginning of his tenure at Keane Wonder. The local newspapers reported on this plan on and off throughout 1907 and 1908, but construction was put off until an adequate water supply at the mine was certain. Grading for the plant began in November 1908 and equipment was ordered from Los Angeles in December. Fifty men were at work as this new construction phase began at Keane Wonder. The equipment arrived throughout January 1909 and although there were delays in receiving it all, the plant was completed and operational on March 18. The plant was located about 1,000' southwest of the mill at the juncture of two ravines where approximately 20,000 tons of tailings were stored in anticipation of cyanide processing. Retaining walls built across these ravines impounded the wet tailings that were conveyed from the mill. This created leach fields where wet tailings settled, leaving water on the surface that was pumped back up to the mill for reuse in the stamp batteries. The plant changed the landscape considerably through its size and operation. It consisted of eleven tanks, including six 25'-diameter leaching tanks, each 5' tall, two solution tanks, two settling tanks, and one water tank, along with several buildings. Tailings from the leach fields were conveyed into the large tanks by tramcars. After leaching, the tailings were emptied from the bottom of the tanks and were conveyed by launders for redeposit into large tailings piles south of the leaching plant, which could process up to 200 tons daily when operating at full capacity but was actually run at 100 tons. At this rate, it would take several years to process the stored tailings alone and monthly gold output could be doubled as total recovery approached 94 percent. On April 24, The Bullfrog Miner reported a $27,000 clean-up, the biggest in the

38 Historic Resource Study, 287-295; The Bullfrog Miner, April 18, May 9, June 6, June 20, July 11, August 29, September 5, and October 17, 1908; The Mining World, September 19 and November 28, 1909, January 17, 1909.


(Page 16)

Bullfrog district for that period, except for the Montgomery Shoshone, and the largest for Keane Wonder to date.39 Although both the mill and the new cyanide plant were not running at full capacity due to continued water scarcity, 1909 proved to be a productive year for Keane Wonder. A new ore body was opened in May, for which a new hoisting plant was ordered, and monthly production totals approached Wilson’s goal of $1,000 per day. The character of the Keane Wonder’s mining operations was changing from the previous methods of tunneling and quarrying to shafting, which required hoisting equipment. With the new hoist, Keane Wonder had a total of twelve power plants on the property: a 150-horsepower steam boiler and 126-horsepower steam engine, and one 25-horsepower, two 13-horsepower, two 10-horsepower, two 5-horsepower, and three 2.5-horsepower gas engines. June brought news of yet another big strike with the headline in The Rhyolite Herald reading “New Ore Body of Such Immensity that Big Production is Assured for Years To Come. Makes this Property Take Rank as One of Nevada’s Greatest Mines.” July’s production reached $22,000 and August’s was $18,000. At this point, Keane Wonder’s monthly payroll was $8,000 paid to forty-five men. Smaller strikes were made in the fall and ten more workers were added to the payroll in November. Wilson announced that Keane Wonder’s total production for 1909 was $220,000, nearly double that of the previous year. Although the monthly average of $18,000 was short of Wilson’s goal of $1,000 a day, 1909 was still a very successful year. Wilson estimated that since the mill opened in 1907, Keane Wonder processed 25,000 tons of ore at 94 percent efficiency (thanks to the addition of the cyanide plant). The net profit for two years of rather steady production amounted to about $47,000.40 In 1910, Keane Wonder applied for patents on twenty-seven of its claims totaling 413 acres. February’s clean-up after twenty days’ run amounted to $20,000 and was the first time that Wilson’s $1,000 a day goal was achieved. The next several months were even better, turning out from $20,000 to $25,000 per month. The Historic Resource Study reports that the Tadich brothers of Rhyolite ran a general store at the site that turned a good business from the seventy-five men who were employed at the mine. Also, the Keane Wonder boarding house was listed as an Inyo County polling place for the 1910 fall elections, and one of the Keane Wonder workers was elected as an Inyo County representative to the Democratic convention held in August. The local papers reported that bullion shipments continued “as usual” and the estimated monthly output for the year increased from the previous year to $20,000. Once again, Keane Wonder was listed as the largest producing gold mine in Inyo County.41 Production continued to boom in 1911, and with the closing of the great Montgomery Shoshone mine in May, Keane Wonder became the last producer of the region, which earned it the distinction of being the first and last producing gold mine of the Bullfrog rush. The future of Rhyolite was in serious jeopardy with the closing of the Shoshone, and it entered its bust cycle

39 Historic Resource Study, 294; The Bullfrog Miner, December 8, 1908, January 9, March 20, and April 24, 1909; Engineering and Mining Journal, November 28 and December 12, 1908; The Rhyolite Daily Bulletin, December 28, 1908, January 27 and March 1, 1909; The Mining World, April 17, 1909. 40 Historic Resource Study, 294-306; The Bullfrog Miner, August 14 and September 4, 1909; Engineering and Mining Journal, January 9 and December 11, 1909. 41 Historic Resource Study, 306-308.


(Page 17)

toward a rapid decline over the next several years. Newspaper coverage of Keane Wonder and of other mining activity also declined rapidly despite Keane Wonder breaking all its previous production records in June. A fifteen-day clean-up of $30,000, an average of $2,000 a day, was brought in for a total of $50,000 that month. The mine produced well throughout the summer. In October, Home Wilson purchased the Big Bell claims that had fallen into bankruptcy for a mere $1,600. This property was located north of the Keane Wonder mines in the Funeral Mountains, and Wilson sent in a team of miners to begin exploratory work. Production remained steady at about $30,000 per month for the rest of the year, allowing Keane Wonder to tie with Skidoo as Inyo County’s largest gold producer for the fourth year in a row.42 Although Keane Wonder produced and expanded consistently between 1907 and 1911, it was clear that the end was in sight beginning in 1912. Wilson began to explore the claims that had laid dormant since 1905 in order to build up the ore reserves, and by late January, the cyanide plant was shut down because it had finally finished processing all of the accumulated tailings. Since it was not profitable to run the process on a partial basis, it was necessary to build up the tailings again. The main cable of the aerial tramway broke in late February and set back operations a full month at a cost of $10,000 to install a new one. Wilson used the downtime to retool the equipment in the mill. After the mill and tramway were back online, it was evident that ore reserves were almost exhausted, and the stockholders began to search for a buyer. Keane Wonder was sold late in April to a group of Philadelphia capitalists for $600,000. The arrangement was for Homer Wilson to stay on as the general manager until the new owners investigated the feasibility of several improvements, such as the addition of twenty more stamps to the mill and the conversion from oil to electric power. The mine continued to produce throughout the summer, although no improvements were made. On August 22, the Inyo Register announced that the Keane Wonder mine and mill were shut down because all of its ore bodies had finally been worked out. Wilson’s development efforts did not bring new strikes, and the pillars of the old workings were “robbed” for their last remaining ore. This left them open to inevitable collapse with little chance of being reopened in the future. The final clean-up of the mill brought $10,000, and there was talk of reopening again in the fall, which never happened. Keane Wonder’s most successful mining days came to an end after eight years of development and production, which was “longer than any other mill in the surrounding Bullfrog territory, or any mill on the east side of Death Valley.” In 1911, the California Journal of Mines and Geology conservatively estimated that Keane Wonder produced $682,000 in gold between 1907 and 1911. Adding the $75,000 produced in 1912, Keane Wonder’s total production figure reached just over $750,000. There are few accounts of what happened at Keane Wonder over the next several years, especially because the newspapers of the Bullfrog district closed. Apparently a few small strikes were made on previously undeveloped claims, and the mill operated sporadically. Homer Wilson was elected president of the new Keane Wonder Mining Company in 1913 and continued to talk about imminent prosperity and expansion of the stamp mill and cyanide plant, just as he had in previous years. Affairs could not have been well, though, for in November 1914, the

42 Historic Resource Study, 308-310.


(Page 18)

property was put up for sale at the Inyo County’s sheriff’s auction for failure to pay $503.23 in property taxes. Homer Wilson was again allowed to stay on as the superintendent of the mines and mill for the new owners, the Francis Mohawk Company. This time an improvement was actually made with an addition to the cyanide plant that brought its capacity to 300 tons per day. What exactly was done to the plant is uncertain. Production and development work began in fall 1915, but came to an end after only six months when the ore ran out. The mine was shut down in May 1916, followed by the cyanide plant in July. A new superintendent was then appointed, and Homer Wilson ended his nine-year tenure at the Keane Wonder. The Francis Mohawk Company planned to reorganize and then continue development efforts to open more ore, but these plans were never realized, and the property sat idle throughout 1917. According to a report on Keane Wonder issued by the California State Mineralogist in 1917, the property had produced $1,100,000 in gold bullions between 1907 and 1916 but the ore bodies were now exhausted. This was an increase of about $350,000 from Wilson’s overall estimate given through 1912. Even though operations were sporadic from 1912 to 1916, this increase amounted to an average annual production of $87,000 per year.43 Keane Wonder reached the end of its productive period in 1916 and lay quiet for many years after. The company must have expected to return some day as the machinery was left intact, the mill was locked up, and a well-known local miner named John Cyty was hired to look after the property. In 1922, Cyty escorted Edna Perkins, “one of the very few writers of western lore who can be trusted,” through Keane Wonder and invited her to stay overnight in Homer Wilson’s former home. She found the building too far gone to be comfortable and camped outside instead. She described the Keane Wonder site as a collection of deteriorating buildings, many of which were close to complete ruin, with an array of broken pipes and scattered debris. The mill building was the only one that remained in good shape. After nineteen years of abandonment, the Cohen Company bought and leased mining rights to the Keane Wonder and Big Bell mines in 1935. Most of their efforts concentrated on the Big Bell where prospects were better, and they were successful there until 1937. No efforts were expended on the Keane Wonder claims except for a brief attempt to rework the tailings at the cyanide plant. George Ishmael bought the Keane Wonder mill in November 1937, dismantled it, and sold the stamps and machinery in Los Angeles. Apparently, he left only the heavy timbers of the lower tramway terminal intact. The last attempt to revive mining operations at Keane Wonder came in 1938 with the sale of the property to E.L. Cord, an automobile manufacturer, who leased it to two Denver miners, W.D. Leonard and George Schriber. They refurbished the aerial tramway to make it operational and repaired some of the camp buildings at both the mill and mine sites in preparation of developmental work. By July 1941, a new 150-ton mill was practically completed on the site of the old mill. This operation was also short-lived, however, when in March 1942, all machinery with the exception of the aerial tramway was moved to another site. E.L. Cord held the Keane Wonder property until 1969, when it was sold to the Title Insurance Company of Los Angeles

43 Historic Resource Study, 314-317.


(Page 19)

for $25,000. The property was finally sold to the National Park Service in 1972 for $47,750 and has remained as public land ever since. D. The Keane Wonder Technological Landscape Mining processes dictated Keane Wonder’s spatial layout. The northernmost complex, called the upper workings, was where most mining took place on the original claim called Keane Wonder. Ore mined and sized here was then transported via an aerial tramway approximately 1-mile downhill to the mill area, where it was crushed, amalgamated, and concentrated. The tailings were dewatered and conveyed further southward to two holding areas. From here, the impounded tailings were transported to the cyanide leaching plant where they were further treated by this process. Finally, the tailings were deposited in waste piles below the cyanide plant. These processes were spatially segregated and laid out in the most convenient manner to facilitate the movement of ore by gravity throughout the entire process (see Figure 1, Appendix). For clarity and ease of understanding, the organization of this section follows the same step-by-step progression of the overall mining process. 1. Keane Wonder’s Upper Workings and Mines: In general, the remains of the upper workings are extensive, but most are in an advanced state of collapse. This is true of the few structures, machinery, and the mine workings themselves. The remains are situated along a steep slope of the mountainside. All flat areas, whether used as work areas, tram grades, or for structures, were created by either blasting, building up waste rock piles, or building stone retaining walls to provide footings. Three feature systems can be identified by function and spatial arrangement, beginning at the highest elevation and moving downhill (southward) toward the lowest. They are situated this way to utilize gravity and terrain in the mining process. Stopes, adits, and tunnels are at the highest elevation, a group of domestic features are below this, and the tram terminal, sizing, and ore transportation system are primarily below the domestic area. Other debris scatters and a few additional domestic features are further below the tram terminal. An historic foot trail stretches a mile between the upper and lower workings, running along the upper edge of the deep crevasse spanned by the aerial tramway. The increase in elevation over this distance is approximately 1,100'. This trail was blasted or cut out of the rock and is reinforced in some places. Some of the tramway towers are easily accessible from this path while others lie far below it. The most prominent feature of the upper workings as seen from the trail approach is the upper terminal of the aerial tramway. This feature will be described in the following subsection that deals with the aerial tramway. a. Mining Area Today the uppermost features, where mining was conducted, are in a hazardous area due to the potential for rock collapse and slides because of the excessive slope and unstable state. The overall impression given by the condition of the historic features is that they were razed, altered, or destroyed by later mining efforts. For example, retaining walls that may have once been structural footings have been buried or filled and are overflowing with rock debris. Tunnels, adits, and passageways lined with stone retaining walls are exposed from above because their


(Page 20)

ceiling material has been removed (Features B, E, G, H, and I, Figure 2, Appendix). The tram grades, trestles, and track are simply remnants with missing components or have been widely scattered downhill (Features J and K, Figure 2, Appendix). Although these features can be mapped to get an idea of their relationships, the amount of disturbance and destruction makes it difficult to fully understand their individual functions. In some cases, it is obvious that certain features were underground or part of mine works because of the amount of material blasted and moved, but it is often difficult to determine what was historically above ground and what was underground. A search of available documentation of the site revealed neither photographs nor detailed descriptions of this part of the upper works and its subsequent destruction, but it is suspected that this activity probably took place during the mine’s last occupation in the early 1940s. One of the most obvious features is a large and impressive area of blasted rock that lie in front of the exposed stopes, which are large cavernous rooms connected by enlarged tunnels. The stopes are reminiscent of the “room and pillar” mining technique where columns of stone are left in place at intervals to support the ceiling within large rooms. Extensive timbering remains as well. The stopes appear to have been “robbed,” a method used to extract the maximum amount of ore when an area of a mine is about to be permanently closed or abandoned. This involves starting at the innermost areas of the mine and working outward to the surface, enlarging the tunnels and stopes to dangerous levels, and removing stone pillars with the expectation that the area will eventually collapse on its own. The degree of collapse, the large interval of space between pillars, and the size of the tunnels and stopes all support this notion. It is not clear when this happened, but the pattern of large-scale blasting and of the remaining timbers point to more recent times, such as the period when the mines were last worked in the early 1940s. There is an intact water tank supported by guy cables (Feature A, Figure 2, Appendix) just east of the stopes and blast rubble. A pipeline into the tank comes uphill from the area of the lower terminal, possibly the same one that runs the length of the foot trail to the upper workings from the lower workings. A direct connection to that pipeline is not evident, however. The tank’s proximity to the mines suggests that it may have been used in drilling, but its small size does not necessarily support this. Also, the lack of a drinking water source suggests that it may have been used for that purpose, but it is not in the vicinity of the domestic areas. An outgoing pipeline from the tank leads to an area that was possibly a blacksmithing area (Feature F, Figure 2, Appendix). Three different areas in the upper works have the appearance and artifacts to suggest blacksmithing took place there. Two of these areas are definite, while the third is questionable. At the upper tram terminal, there is an intact worktable, forge, and anvil base together with overhead track for taking tram buckets offline and into this area, presumably for maintenance (Feature C, Figure 3, Appendix). The other definitive blacksmithing area is at Feature F (Figure 3, Appendix), where an anvil base and worktable base are evident, along with artifact scatters of hardware, bar stock, and other iron items that show evidence of cutting and fabrication. The third and less certain area is located at Feature L (Figure 3, Appendix), which has about the same layout as F, including a possible anvil base, worktable base, and floor timbers. However, neither metal artifacts nor a forge are apparent here. One explanation of why potentially three


(Page 21)

blacksmithing areas were necessary is that due to the extreme slope, it was much easier to repair tram cars, trackage, and mine equipment at those areas where they were most accessible rather than hauling the equipment up and down the slope. The smithing area at the tram terminal is most obviously dedicated to repair and maintenance of the tram system and cars. F may also have been established later, such as during the 1940s operations, while the other uncertain area at L may have been used earlier and was then abandoned in favor of F. This notion is supported by the many artifacts located at F and the paucity of visible smithing artifacts at L. A Bullfrog Miner newspaper article from February 8, 1908, provides a description of the mining process at Keane Wonder that is still evident at the upper works today.

From the main workings the ore is dumped on the outside, where it falls about 20 feet down a steep slope of the hill. At the bottom of this steep slope it enters a chute or upraise, which connects with a tunnel run several feet below. From the tunnel the ore is passed over a grizzly to a 9x15 Blake pattern rock breaker, after which it enters the ore bin. From the bottom of this ore bin the ore passes through a chute into an automatic loading device from which it is dumped into the tram buckets as they pass.44

The following features in the process described below can be seen in Figure 3, Appendix. Ore mined from above was trammed out of the mine and dumped down the side of a slope that acted as a naturally-defined chute toward a retaining wall and flat area (Feature F) halfway between the mine and the tram terminal. The ore was then pushed into a vertical shaft that opened to a horizontal adit below (Features F, G). A wooden gate at the adit end of the chute controlled the flow of ore. Tramcars brought the ore from this point out to the trestle (Feature D) and a chute leading to the ore bin (Feature B) adjacent to the tram terminal (Feature A). A number of historic newspaper sources commented on the existence of a jaw crusher at the upper works operated by a gravity-powered aerial tramway. A 1907 newspaper interview with D.W. Lyon, a millwright at Keane Wonder, reported that the grizzly and jaw crusher were located “over the terminal ore bin.”45 The state mineralogist report in 1919 also reported that a jaw crusher operated “at the mine bin.”46 The most likely position of the crusher would be somewhere close by the tram terminal, since it was belt driven. Several parts of a Black pattern jaw crusher are, in fact, scattered in the debris area (labeled Feature K) and along the east side of the tram terminal in the vicinity of Feature L, an elevated flat area defined by its dry stone retaining walls. Several heavy timbers are arranged on the ground that may have provided a base for a 13-horsepower gasoline engine that was installed “in case of emergency for the operation of the tram and crusher.”47 Feature I is a collapsed wooden structure with an intact wooden floor. The true function of this building is not known. 44 The Bullfrog Miner, February 8, 1908, 1-3. 45 The Bullfrog Miner, September 7, 1907. 46 Eugene Waring and Emile Huguenin, Report XV of the State Mineralogist, Part I, ch. II, 1919, 79-81. 47 The Bullfrog Miner, February 8, 1908, 3.


(Page 22)

b. Upper Tram Terminal Area Other features on the lower level of the upper works include several structural footings consisting of stone retaining walls filled with sand and rock (see Figure 3, Appendix, for all features mentioned in this paragraph). Except for Feature I described above, very little, if any, wooden structure remains at the footings (labeled Features M, N, P, and Q). It is possible that both P and Q were domestic structures, especially because both are within proximity of privies. Because of its size and shape and its proximity to a large can dump (Feature S), P may have been both the cookhouse and the mess. Feature O is apparently a storage area for tramway parts, at least in later years, of which many still remain, including brake shoes, pipe, and various types of iron bar stock. It is not clear if this area was covered by a structure or not. Both features labeled R are debris areas that contain a variety of wood and metal structural, mechanical, and some domestic debris. They are deposited in the deepest washes of the ravine where rushing rainwater and erosion most likely carried them over the years. Feature E is a representation of collapsed cables from the aerial tramway that begins at the tram terminal and continues the entire length of the tramway to the lower terminal. Feature J is a fully intact gasoline winching engine with a spool of cable nearby. The cable around the engine’s drum runs down into the ravine just north of Feature Q along a roughly-cut pathway made to facilitate winching. No identifying marks were found on the engine to establish its age or manufacturer. Possibly it was used to winch the construction materials for building the tram terminal and thereafter as a backup for bringing up supplies when the aerial tramway was not working. It may also have been used to bring up buckets of ore from adits along the ravine so that it could be sized and transported down to the mill. A second winching platform was identified on the eastern edge of the upper workings, just below the level of the mines (this area was not mapped). Although the engine is gone, the concrete engine base, retaining walls, and a table of cable were left behind. c. Domestic Area This area of the upper workings was not completely mapped. It is located below the mining area and above the tram terminal area and consists of at least six collapsed structures of various sizes and types. Feature T (Figure 3, Appendix 1) is one of these structures, and the others are further north and off Figure 3. Two similar structures are tent platforms or three-sided shelters measuring approximately 10' x 12' and consisting of a dry-stone footing and partial walls, a wooden floor, and a wooden frame to which canvas was secured. Both have collapsed inward. Bits of canvas nailed to boards still remain within the collapsed debris. These two shelters appear to be the most intact and contain more of their collapsed remains than others, which may indicate that they are more recent additions. The other shelters are similar to each other in their construction but vary in shape and size. These are of dry stone on two or three sides, with a single entrance, no windows, and no apparent flooring. None have intact roofs, but collapsed debris suggests they were of wood frame and corrugated metal. At least two are built up against the rock face to eliminate the need for a third wall. Their dimensions vary from approximately 8' x 10' x 6' to a rather small 6' x 8' x 5'. These shelters are not situated close together, separated by as much as 65' or so, but they are all in the same general area. One appears to have been robbed of the majority of its stone walls, perhaps


(Page 23)

to build another shelter. All of the shelters contain collapsed debris consisting of wood planks and corrugated metal. The most common artifact among them, including the tent pads mentioned above, is a full or partial iron bed frame and its springs. None of the beds appear to be fully intact, and in most cases, the springs are separate from the frames. Very few personal artifacts are apparent save for a few tobacco tins. The condition of these rock shelters and their associated debris gives the impression of substantial age, and they seem to be older than the two tent shelters, which are also set apart from their rock counterparts. Approximately 50' east of the shelters are the remains of a collapsed two-seat privy and other unidentified industrial debris. 2. Keane Wonder’s Aerial Tramway One of Keane Wonder’s most impressive and intact technological features is the aerial tramway that spans 4,800' between the upper workings and the mill area over a 1,200' change in elevation. The system consists of an upper and lower terminal, a breakover station, and twelve support towers. The terminals, breakover station, and all but one of the support towers still stand with most of the cable and some of the turning mechanism intact. Several buckets also still hang along the line. This tramway is the most intact original features of the mine and sets Keane Wonder apart as a unique historic mining site in the region today, just as it did when it began operating in 1907. Although aerial tramways have been a fairly common, well-established, and necessary part of mining operations throughout the world, the scale of the Keane Wonder tramway made it unique in the Death Valley region. It remains as one of the few places in the Mojave Desert where an intact aerial tramway of this vintage can be seen. Construction of the tramway began in summer 1907 during and after construction of the stamp mill. Remarkably, five millwrights and at least eighteen workers toiled in the summer heat to have the tramway complete by the end of October. The base for each tower required blasting a 24 square foot area from solid rock.48 The Historic Resource Study reports that “twenty one thousand board feet of lumber were required for the upper tramway terminal, 28,000 for the lower, and 25,000 for the intermediate towers…and 150 tons of wire rope…making a total of 1.5 million pounds of freight which had been hauled from Rhyolite during the course of construction at a cost of $11,000.”49 Keane Wonder’s manager, Homer Wilson, told reporters that over forty designs and combinations were studied before settling on the right one. The materials were purchased from Leschen Brothers & Company of St. Louis. The construction of the tramway generated much excitement in the press, and it was touted as “one of the finest in the country…the only one like it in the world [that also powered a jaw crusher—probably not the case].”50 Homer Wilson invited reporters to take a ride on it up to the mines to take advantage of the publicity. A reporter who took the trip wrote:

It was quite an experience, and the fact that the reporter is on deck to tell the story is of itself refutation of the charge that the reportial head is light. The tram is no place for people with light heads or weak hearts…the passenger is seated on an iron bench, which accommodates two people, with his feet dangling in a part of the yawning space between him and the rugged terra firma below while he grasps

48 The Bullfrog Miner, September 7, 1907. 49 Historic Resource Study, 275. 50 The Bullfrog Miner, October 20, 1907.


(Page 24)

with a death-like grip an iron bar at one side that seems to be the only thing between him a fall that would mean the end of all trouble this side of the Great Divide.51

In fact, it must have quite a ride for the longest span between two support towers was approximately 1,200' with a vertical drop of 350' to the depth of the crevasse below. The seat that the reporter mentioned in his article is among the mill ruins today, near the lower tram terminal. The Keane Wonder was a steady producer between 1907 and 1912 with the aerial tramway running continuously without a hitch until February 1912 when one of the massive wire ropes broke. Replacing the 26,000-pound rope cost the company almost $10,000 and a month of down time.52 To make matters worse, Keane Wonder shut down just five months later in August 1912. There were brief attempts at reviving the mine until 1916, when it was abandoned. The final attempt at working the claims came in 1938 when the property was leased to two Denver miners, W.D. Leonard and George Schriber. It is reported that they refurbished the aerial tramway after more than twenty years of abandonment and made it operational, but it is unclear what they actually did to it. Their hopes were high, but their operation never actually left the ground, and all improvements were removed in 1942 save for the aerial tramway, which had now survived several shut downs. The tramway sat idle for another fifty years before the National Park Service carried out a badly-needed stabilization effort in 1983 that saved the track cables and consequently several towers from collapsing. With all the sophistication and development of industrial transportation technologies by the early twentieth century, none suited the task of traversing the extreme terrain associated with many mining scenarios. Mines were often located in high, remote areas with limited railway, tractor, or gasoline-powered truck transportation. This restricted the necessary transportation of raw materials on site, as well as bringing in supplies and equipment from off site. The successful solution to this common dilemma played a major role in the development of any mining site and determined the layout of the operation itself. Mills were necessarily constructed in areas accessible to rail or wagon roads, which usually meant they were at some distance from the mines themselves. Aerial tramways often provided the best solution for making the important connection between the mill and its mines. The aerial tramway at Keane Wonder was by no means a new development, but it was a state-of-art example of its time, following decades of successful antecedents in steelmaking, wire rope technology, and industrial mining practice. For example, two major domestic companies that produced wire rope and engineered aerial tramways were the Trenton Iron Works and Broderick & Bascom. Both were well known for their successful and large-scale constructions since the 1870s, forty years before the Keane Wonder tramway was installed.53 While the scale of the 51 The Bullfrog Miner, February 8, 1908, 3. 52 Historic Resource Study, 311. 53 Broderick & Bascom Rope Co., Wire Rope and its Applications, 2nd ed., 1943. An excellent resource that gives a brief company history and explains the development of wire rope making technology as well as an explanation of the types, nomenclature, and uses of wire rope.


(Page 25)

Keane Wonder tramway is impressive, it was not “the finest in the country” or “the only one of its kind in the world” as reported in the local newspapers. A 1908 article in Mining and Metallurgical Engineering prepared by Trenton Iron Works tramway engineer S.S. Webber estimated that 2,000 aerial tramways were in operation in the United States alone. Webber described several remarkable tramways in operation in 1907, such as the 21-mile “La Mejicana” in Argentina, with an incredible overall vertical fall of over 11,000'. One of several domestic examples is the 12,700' aerial tramway built at the Highland Boy mine in Bigham Canyon, Utah, which was double the length of the Keane Wonder tramway. Webber also noted that it was common practice to harness power generated by a tramway to run other equipment, such as crushers or generators.54 In comparison to several published examples of its contemporaries, the Keane Wonder tramway is probably best described as small- to medium-scale. There are two types of aerial tramways: single-rope and double-rope. The single-rope system consists of a single endless rope from which buckets are suspended. The moving rope itself bears the entire weight of the buckets and their contents. This system is only appropriate for small-scale applications and costs less than the double-rope system. The Keane Wonder aerial tramway is an example of the double-rope system, in which three ropes are employed. Two of the ropes are stationary, and the third endless rope transfers the motive power. The two stationary ropes, called the track cables, are anchored at the upper terminal and are made taut by suspended counterweights at the lower terminal. One track cable carries the weight of the full buckets down from the mine to the mill, and the other carries the empty buckets back up. They are strung approximately 4' apart and are supported by iron saddles on each side of the upper arms of the support towers. Two grooved wheels that travel along the track cables suspend each bucket. The track cable on the descending side is considerably thicker than the other on the returning side for the obvious reason of bearing the load of the full buckets. The returning track cable does not have to bear nearly the same load, so it is thinner.55 The endless motive cable, called the traction rope, is several feet below the track cables and bears no load. It is attached to the buckets by a special device that is mechanically activated to unlock the bucket from the cable as it enters the terminal and relock it as it leaves. This is necessary to slow the buckets down so they can be filled or dumped, which is accomplished automatically as they pass under or over the appropriate ore bin. Two operators are needed to run this system, one at the upper terminal and one at the lower terminal. When the buckets entered either terminal, they automatically unlocked from the traction rope and transferred smoothly from the track cable to overhead rails fastened to the terminal. Their momentum slid them along the rail to the end where they made their turn around. This is where the operator simply needed to push the bucket toward the exit so that it would relock to the traction rope and make the return trip. Further details of how the system worked can be found in the following analysis of the Keane Wonder aerial tramway remains. 54 S.S. Webber, “Wire Rope Tramway Engineering,” The Mining and Metallurgical Journal, November 5, 1908, 5-8. 55 Webber, 5-8.


(Page 26)

a. Upper Tram Terminal The upper tram terminal is approximately 49' x 20' and of heavy timber construction. Some of the drive mechanism is still intact. One of the only photographs from the State Mineralogist Report of 1919 shows that the terminal was not covered or sided; however, there is a substantial amount of wooden structural debris around its base. A 100-ton-capacity ore bin and blacksmithing area are along the west side of the terminal. All of the timbers and iron parts make the structure difficult to see fully in photographs, but the overall parts and processes are simple to understand when taken one at a time. The suspended C-shaped iron items are overhead track fasteners, and the track can also be seen. Empty buckets entered the terminal on the right side track (east side) of the frame, traveled to the back of the terminal, swung around, and were automatically filled at the ore chutes seen at left of center. The full buckets left the terminal from the left side track (west side) of the frame and went on their descent to the mill. When the buckets entered the terminal on the east track cable, they moved smoothly and continuously off the cable and onto the terminal track. Immediately after this point, they passed through a suspended framework made of angle iron that interacted with a lever on the bucket’s clamp mechanism to detach it from the traction rope’s movement. The bucket continued to slide along the track through its own momentum and made the 180-degree turn at the rear of the terminal. Immediately after the turn, it arrived at the two ore chutes to be filled. It is not completely apparent how these ore chutes operated. They are supposed to have been automatic, which means they worked without the need for a human operator, but what remains is a curved gate with a central pivot point with no indication of how it was lifted and then dropped to control the correct amount of ore filling each bucket. A Broderick & Bascom design of an automatic loading system uses a centrally-located ore bin and involves an intermediate apparatus called a loader that transfers the exact amount of ore from the ore bin to the bucket. In Keane Wonder’s case, the terminal is located to the side, and it appears that the two chutes loaded the buckets directly. After loading, the bucket was probably pushed by an operator to travel the short distance to another suspended iron framework that activated the bucket’s lever back into the clamp position so that it would grip the traction rope again. The bucket immediately and continuously transferred from the terminal track back onto the track cable to make its descent to the mill. Two large horizontal pulley wheels are mounted in the terminal. The smaller of the two measures approximately 2' in diameter, has a single groove, and is centrally located in the terminal. The larger wheel measures approximately 3' in diameter, is double grooved, and is located at the rear of the terminal. The traction rope is no longer attached, so it is not certain if those two wheels interacted. The braking mechanism of the tramway can be seen below the larger wheel, consisting of a wide metal band that tightened around the drum of the pulley when activated with a hand lever. The vertical shaft rising up from the large wheel turned a bevel gear that transferred the power horizontally. A small electric motor is in line with this power train, indicating that it may have been used to turn the tramway. It is probable that this was a later addition and that originally the power train was directly belted to the jaw crusher located at the top of the ore bin.


(Page 27)

A tram trestle and chute fed the ore into the crusher and grizzly at the top of the ore bin. Heavy timbers comprise the intact ore bin, which is approximately 11.5' x 11.5' x 24' with a capacity of 100 tons. The blacksmithing area on the south side of the ore bin consists of a forge, worktable, and an anvil base, but no other associated artifacts were found. The 1983 stabilization project involved adding an iron framework to the front of the terminal to support the track cables and new hardware at the cable anchor points. b. Lower Tram Terminal The majority of the tram’s mechanisms at the lower terminal were probably scrapped at the same time as the mill in 1937. What remain are the opening and closing frameworks and many of the C-shaped track suspensions. The large pulley wheel lies in pieces on the second level of the mill ruins. The terminal is the most visually impressive feature of the lower workings because of its massive wooden framework and 40' height. The 79' length is necessary to accommodate the counterweight boxes that hang below its center and the 200-ton-capacity ore bin beneath the south end. Unlike the upper terminal, historic photographs show that the lower terminal was enclosed with corrugated siding at some point after its construction. The lower terminal operated much like the upper terminal. Loaded buckets arrived on the west track cable, moved off the cable and onto the terminal track, and passed through a suspended iron framework that opened the bucket’s traction mechanism. The bucket moved along the track by its own momentum to make the 180-degree turn at the south end of the terminal. At this point, another suspended iron framework probably released the bucket’s locking lever, causing it to dump its contents into the ore bin below. An operator pushed the empty bucket onward to the relocking framework that reengaged the bucket onto the traction rope, and then it passed off the terminal track back onto the traction rope to make its return to the mine. Each track cable has its own counterweight box, arranged side-by-side. The thicker, full load bearing cable necessarily has a larger counterweight than the thinner cable. They do not hang freely but rather are stabilized by four posts at the corners that allow them to move up and down and but not side to side. Rocks in the boxes provide the counterweight. A third smaller counterweight box lies on the ground near the ore bin. It is only partially filled and its function is unknown. Several structural additions were made to the lower terminal during the stabilization effort in 1983. The cable pulleys in the terminal floor that served as the pivot points for the counterweights had weakened and been pulled through the wood. An iron framework was constructed to reestablish the strength of those points and a new pulley was used. The hardware securing the cable to the counterweights was also replaced. The large counterweight rests firmly on the ground, and cribbing support was installed under the smaller counterweight for additional support. A steel beam was installed at the incoming (north) end of the terminal to establish new support saddles for the two track cables. Erosion threatened the short tram trestle running between the terminal and the mill level-loading platform, so a wooden crib embankment wall was constructed just south of the terminal, and the area was filled in with rock and sand. The trestle itself is intact except that it no longer has its rails. c. Support Towers and Tram Buckets The tramway consists of twelve intermediate support towers between the two terminals and one breakover station. The Historic Resource Study provides dimensions with the tallest tower at 35'


(Page 28)

and the lowest at less than 8'. The towers are situated as dictated by terrain, with some as close as 15' and others spread much farther apart. As mentioned above, the longest span between towers is 1,200' and the highest point of the cables off the ground is about 350'. The design of the towers is square at the base, tapering to a point at the top, across which a horizontal arm is attached. Iron plates called saddles are attached to the ends of the arm upon which the cables rest and are held in place. This anchor system is designed to provide smooth, uninterrupted passage of the bucket wheels across it. The towers rest on a foundation blasted out of rock, or in some instances on dry stone footings that are built upon the blasted area to raise the level of the tower as appropriate. The last tower before the upper tram terminal, number twelve, collapsed sometime after 1969. South of tower twelve is the breakover tower, which is a specially designed tower used to redirect the tramway’s vertical fall. As its name suggests, it is situated at the point in the line where the elevation breaks a high point, and the line begins a steeper descent. The breakover tower must not only support the downward weight of the cable and load as the other towers do, but it also must act as a type of pivot point in the line. The breakover tower at Keane Wonder needed a large amount of reinforcement during the 1983 stabilization effort. Originally the tram system was outfitted with twenty-two buckets, each with a 600-pound capacity, spaced such that they arrived at the terminals about two minutes apart.56 There are at least four intact buckets that hang on the line today but they are too high in the air for close inspection. Two-bucket frames at the breakover tower are close enough to see. The traction-locking lever is in the horizontal position at the center of the frame, and the traction cable is still attached to this device. This is the lever that interacts with the opening and closing mechanisms at the tram terminals. The manufacturer’s name on the lever is Broderick & Bascom, which is interesting considering that a rival St. Louis Company provided the materials for the tramway. Perhaps these buckets replaced the originals when the cable snapped in 1912. 3. Lower Workings: The Stamp Mill, Cyanide Plant, and Infrastructure Evaluating the condition and quality of Keane Wonder’s lower workings is problematic. Enough mid- to large-scale above ground features remain to offer an idea of the size and character of the operation. On the other hand, the dearth of infrastructure and intact structural framework makes deciphering the context of the remaining features difficult. When compared to similar contemporary mill sites in the district, the remains at Keane Wonder are average. For example, the twenty stamp mill at Skidoo remains with most of its machinery and some of its structure intact, exhibiting a high level of integrity. The Montgomery Shoshone mill site near Rhyolite, on the other hand, is little more than foundations. Conditions at Keane Wonder are somewhere between these two. The lower workings were always accessible and close to major roadways, making them an easy target for scrappers who made away with most of the machinery and even the structures themselves. The upper workings did not meet the same fate, primarily due to their inaccessibility.

56 The Bullfrog Miner, February 8, 1908; Historic Resource Study, 277.


(Page 29)

With knowledge of both the technologies employed at the lower workings and its documented history, it is possible to make sense out of most of what remains. Likewise, reading the material culture through artifacts, features, and spatial relationships at the site informs and expands the limitations of the historic record. An important archeological characteristic of Keane Wonder’s landscape is its strong horizontal stratigraphy, which is the key to understanding the remains as they are today. The explanation below presents the material record in a way that is consistent with the steps of the technological processes associated with the occupational period. This is to say that it is organized by time and its inherent linear functionality, which in turn reveals the appropriate spatial relationships between features. A further typological distinction is made with the review of domestic and ancillary features following the explanation of the technological features associated with the mining and milling processes. a. Keane Wonder’s Stamp Mill Area The remains of the stamp mill are situated on the concrete and stone foundations of the original mill, which still exhibits its three-tier design.57 The original dimensions of the mill buildings are unknown, but current measurements of the visible layout are approximately 92' x 59'. The mill building was intentionally built large enough to accommodate forty stamps in anticipation of doubling the mill’s 80 to 100 ton daily capacity achieved with the original twenty stamps and six concentration tables.58 As seen in historic photographs, the mill was a closed frame structure sided in corrugated iron. The mill was scrapped in 1938 after more than twenty years of abandonment and virtually all of the original equipment and structural components were removed or destroyed at that time. There are few artifacts on the site today that are associated with the original stamps. The remaining artifacts are located in the debris areas on the steep slope between the third level of the mill and the ravine below (Feature N) and include two worn dies, part of a worn stamp shoe, and a bevel gear from a Ridson battery ore feeder. These artifacts are basically worn and disposed replacement parts of the stamps. Other than these artifacts, it would be difficult to tell if the stamps were used at all, for even the massive concrete battery foundations have been removed. This probably occurred in the early 1940s to accommodate the new milling operation that was installed on the original foundations. It is probable that the stamp batteries were located on the second level of the mill. Historic documentation reports that the stamps weighed 1,000 pounds each, dropped at a rate of 100 times per minute and followed the Golconda dropping order. Primary amalgamation took place inside the mortars by back plate and chuck block. Outside amalgamation continued along apron plates in front of the batteries. After passing through an amalgam trap at the end of the plates, the pump flowed down to the third level of the mill for concentration.59 When looking at the remains of the concentration tables and hydraulic classifiers, the cylindrical rollers that carried the belt, pieces of the belt itself, and a vanner frame are evident. A 57 The features referenced in this section can be found in Figure 4, Appendix, unless otherwise noted. 58 The Bullfrog Miner, July 6, 1907, 1. 59 Historic documentation on stamps as given in Historic Resource Study, 278.


(Page 30)

comparison of these artifacts to drawings of the Johnston and Frue vanners reveals a close match. It is probable that two Wifley tables and four Johnston vanners occupied the third level because the Wifleys concentrated the pulp and amalgam, while Johnstons classified what came off the Wifleys.60 The sands that came off the Johnston vanners were carried by launder or pipe out of the mill to the next phase of the process that took place in a small building approximately 165' south (Feature X). An historic photograph from the 1920s shows the north side of the dewatering building. Today the structure is gone but the four Callow cones and a small tank remain. The cones are collapsed and significantly rusted out, but their approximate dimensions are 10' in diameter and 8' tall. The dewatered sands that left the building were carried by launder or pipe to the tailings holding area approximately 328' south in the wash (this area will be discussed further in the next section). Water was in short supply at Keane Wonder, so the water removed from the sands by the Callow cones was not discarded but was instead pumped back up into two large storage tanks situated above the mill. One of the tanks stands intact (Feature W), while the other has been removed. Its concrete bottom lies in two halves on the slope just below the tank’s dry stone footing. A 3" pipe leaves the tank and returns toward the mill. This tank was used again more recently (Feature E in the upper right corner, Figure 5, Appendix). Although the pipeline ends here, it is obvious that it extended along a line of pipeline posts (Feature PP, Figure 5, Appendix) toward another intact water tank (Feature Z on Figure 5, Appendix). Enough water was left in the dewatered tailings to carry them 328' south out of the dewatering building to the tailings holding area. As the tailings settled, the remaining water rose to the top, and it was also pumped back up into the tank (Feature W).61 The Historic Resource Study expands this water reclamation process further by explaining that the reclaimed water left the holding tank to be heated by a Cochrane feed water heater that harnessed the exhaust generated by the mill’s power plant. The water was heated to 210° F to drive off the high level of minerals that would have otherwise eventually clogged the boiler. A structure possibly associated with this process is indicated as Feature J. It consists of a rectangular 22' x 13' x 3' poured concrete base that has the characteristics of a water tank because of the pipes that lead in and out of it at ground level and the obvious pattern of erosion and water level stains on the inside. The upper structure was wood framed with louvered slats, which is now collapsed inside the tank. It may have operated as a water-cooling plant where the heated water was circulated to the top of the structure and made to run down the louvered the sides, cooling as it trickled back down into the tank below. It is not clear if this was an original structure or if it was added during later operations in the 1940s. The mill’s power plant was contained in a separate building adjacent to the mill. It consisted of a 126-horsepower Sterling boiler fired by crude oil that powered a Corliss steam engine. All that remains of the structure and the power plant is the 6' diameter x 26' boiler. The footprint of the 60 The Bullfrog Miner, February 8, 1908, mentions the Frue vanners by name, while Historic Resource Study, 278, documents the use of Johnston vanners. 61 The Bullfrog Miner, February 8, 1908.


(Page 31)

building is undefined, so it is difficult to give an approximate measurement. Crude oil was brought to Rhyolite by rail, stored there in a 25,000-gallon tank, and brought to the site in regular wagon shipments.62 The remaining features located on the mill foundations are not part of the original 1907 operation. Most likely they remain from the last attempt to rework the mines in the early 1940s. After installing a new 150-ton mill in 1941, the operation unexpectedly shut down, and all the mill machinery was moved to another site in March 1942. They adapted the original mill’s foundation and added several features to accommodate the system that is evident today. Ore was brought to the primary ore bin under the lower terminal by the aerial tramway. The ore left the bin through a gate on the south side and was fed directly into a jaw crusher for sizing. The jaw crusher was removed, but its massive concrete footing is intact (Feature B). A square wooden platform on the west side of the footing supported an electric motor that powered the crusher. A switch box and metal conduit are intact. It is not clear if another jaw crusher at the mine first crushed the ore as in the original operation, but it would not be unusual for the ore to be sized twice before entering the ball mill. The crushed ore was conveyed up from the crusher into a 13' x 13' x 14' secondary ore bin (Feature C). The heavy timber framework of the bin is intact but its siding was removed at some point. The poured concrete floor of the bin is sloped from all four sides toward the center, where there is a 24" x 16" hole. Underneath the floor is an 11' x 6' x 4' poured concrete room and the timber framework of another conveyor. A gate under the hole controlled the flow of ore as it dropped down onto the conveyor that took it out to a perpendicular wooden feed trough at the mouth of the room. These features were constructed by modifying the original mill foundation. The space for the room was cut out of the foundation wall from above, forms were set, and concrete poured on all sides and at the top. The secondary ore bin was then constructed above. This is obvious from the difference in materials and the apparent difference in age between the concrete and the mill foundation. A 150-ton capacity ball mill was situated on the second level of the original mill just in front of the concrete conveyor room. It automatically charged itself by bringing in ore from the feed trough through a conical feeding device that rotated along with the mill.63 The distinctive concrete footings of a ball mill are easily identified on any site of this period, and Feature I marks its location at the Keane Wonder mill. A badly-worn ball mill fin plate was identified among the debris in Feature N. 62 Historic Resource Study, 278. 63 The ball mill is an ore pulverizing system that replaced the majority of the stamp milling technology by the 1920s. Ball mills consisted of a horizontal drum of riveted steel that rotated centrally on its horizontal axis. A single door on the drum allowed access for repair and replacement of the lining and fin plates. Dozens of small steel balls were placed inside the drum, and the ore was introduced by an automatic, screw-type feeding system from the rear end of the drum. As the drum turned, fin plates attached to the inside of the drum agitated the steel balls and the ore together. In short order, the ore was pulverized into a slurry. Water and amalgam were also introduced into the drum during its rotation to lubricate the process and to begin the amalgamation process. Ball mills could be set up individually or in series, much like stamps were, and can be found in both large and small mining operations of the 1910-1950s period. This technology was continually adapted to larger-scale milling operations throughout the later twentieth century.


(Page 32)

Feature H, located on the second level of the mill foundations, is the concrete footing of a power plant. It is not clear exactly what type of plant was situated here, or which occupational period it was from. The footprint suggests a vertical, single-cylinder diesel or gasoline-fired engine. The quality of the concrete and its apparent age suggests that it was a later installation rather than an original one. The same consideration applies to the poured concrete floor of the first level of the mill. As mentioned earlier, it is probable that this level contained the massive concrete stamp battery footings of which there is no remaining evidence. It seems likely that they were removed and a new floor was poured to accommodate the 1940s mill operations. Although ball mills eventually replaced stamp mills, the amalgamation process remained an integral part of the ball milling process during its earlier years. Similar to stamp milling, amalgamation began right when the ore was pulverized inside the mill’s drum. By the 1940s, through, alternatives to amalgamation were developed, and it is possible that the pulp was treated directly by cyanide without amalgamation, especially when working with low grades of ore 1 ounce or less of gold per ton of ore. It is possible that the pulp produced by the ball mill went on to an amalgamation process, but in fact this is unknown, and there is no apparent artifactual evidence to support this. In fact, Feature K located on the third level of the mill may indicate that amalgamation was not used. The actual name and function of this feature is not known, but there are some possibilities. It is a wooden structure consisting of three side-by-side boxes or vats raised off the poured concrete floor behind which is a charging deck supported by massive timbers underneath. There is a small concrete machine footing and electrical conduit underneath the charging deck, possibly for a small electric motor. The vats measure 7' x 4' x 6' and share common dividing walls. The east side of the vats is open, suggesting the use of sliding gates to discharge them. The walls of the vats are tight-fitting 12" slats, and the three sides are lined with burlap cloth with a layer of chicken wire over them. Most of the remaining lining is coated with a thick, clay-like material, presumably from the contents of the vats. The bottoms are not lined. It appears that the vats were charged from the top from the charging deck that is almost flush with the second level of the mill. Most of the planking on the charging deck is gone. It is probable that pulp from the ball mill was charged into the vats, which were used as leaching or settling boxes. It is possible that a cyanide solution was introduced into the vats, and that this was a small-scale leaching process. How exactly it operated and what happened to the slurry after it settled in the vats is unknown. A large deposit of dark gray-colored tailings (Feature O) begins at the mill’s third level and carries down the slope into the ravine below. This deposit may be where the tailings from the vats were dumped. Southeast of the vats on the third level of the mill is a segregated area (Feature L) that contains a crude forge made from a small 32"-diameter x 30"-tall iron tank. A 1" pipe runs up from the ground, into, and across the forge and back into the ground on the other side. The pipe is perforated where the fire would be, indicating that it probably carried compressed air. The floor in this forge area is dirt rather than concrete, which separates it from the adjacent vat area. The structural debris around the forge area, over the edge of the slope, and against a foundation wall on the northeast side of the vats is all the collapse associated with the framework that covered


(Page 33)

this area. The function of this structure and the forge is unknown. There is no apparent anvil base or artifacts that would strongly suggest a blacksmithing area, although that it is a possibility. Because of its location nearby the vats, it would be more probable that the forge was used instead of an actual furnace to heat part of the process, such as for assaying, retorting, or casting bullion. b. Ancillary and Domestic Structures of the Stamp Mill Area It is difficult to discern the function of Feature M.64 It seems likely that it was associated with the 1940s process rather than the original mill. It may have been a privy, or a specialized storage shed for chemicals used in the milling process, for example. Two other features definitely associated with the 1940s occupation are the loading dock and tram trestle that leads from the mill level up to the aerial tramway’s lower terminal, indicated as Feature F. The 21.5' x 10' deck is of massive timbers but is no longer planked. It apparently is at the appropriate height for unloading supplies from the truck-sized vehicles. The tramway trestle spans approximately 130' and consists of eight trestles. Trackage, if there was any, is missing. On the east side of the deep ravine east of the mill area are several features that require explanation. Feature P is a 6' x 4' timbered vertical shaft apparently used for water. The water level is visible, and two large pipes come up vertically from the depth of the shaft. The park has covered it with a wire net for safety reasons. A flat area around the shaft suggests that a structure may have also been situated there, but the dimensions of it are uncertain because of the shape of the area. About 50' east of the water shaft is a small 3' x 5' adit (Feature Q) that ends after 20'. It is cut into a large quartz outcropping that must have looked promising for gold. It is uncertain if the shaft and adit were sunk in the historic period or during the 1940s occupation. Two other features, R and S, south of the adit and water shaft, fall under the same speculation. These are both flat areas that exhibit the same characteristics of other structural footprints on the site, but neither have any artifacts to clearly identify their function, and there are no historic photographs that cover this area. They do appear to match the location of structures on the 1909 map. The shape of Feature R is distinctive but irregular and could accommodate a rectangular shape of up to 40' x 13'. Feature S lies below the level of R, is more distinctively rectangular, and has a low dry stone footing at the south side. This area could accommodate a structure of up to 26' x 13'. On the west side of the ravine, features T, U, V, Y, Z, AA, BB, and DD are all identifiable through historic photographs as part of the original occupation. Features U, V, and AA are building footprints with no associated artifacts. Only the southeast corner of the dry stone footing of U is evident today. Features U, V, and T are clearly shown in a 1908 historic photograph of the mill, but their exact functions are unknown. In the same photograph, the buildings associated with Feature Z are shown. It is likely that this cluster of four distinct wood-sided buildings were used for domestic purposes, such as a cook house, mess hall, bunk house, and perhaps an office. Another historic photograph from 1907 during Keane Wonder’s first months of operation shows that features BB and Z were occupied with tent structures that probably served the same domestic functions although one was probably a receiving and material

64 The features referenced in this section can be found in Figure 4, Appendix.


(Page 34)

staging area. Few remnants of these structures remain today. There is a substantial dry stone footing at the south end of Feature BB and a half-buried cast-iron cooking stove is embedded in the west edge of the area. Bits of window glass, nails, and wood are scattered. Further artifactual evidence of domestic activity in this area is found in a small artifact scatter at Feature CC. Two small glass buttons, two 1905 5-cent coins, and shards of whiteware were identified here. Feature Y is an interesting and perhaps inconsistent feature for this area. It consists of a rather large cave or room hollowed out of the slope. It is virtually squared off, measuring 25' x 10' x 6'. At the rear of the room, a vertical shaft opens to the surface. There is a mound of sand below the hole, presumably deposited by erosion. Artifacts strewn about the room include several metal straps, pieces of corrugated siding, strips of wood, and broken brown and white bottle glass. The size and shape of the bands and strips of wood might suggest they were once part of a bin below the shaft, but it is not clear if this feature was used for a domestic or industrial purpose and its period of use is unknown. Finally, Feature DD is a large flat area at the crown of a ridge that contained a structure during the original occupation, as seen in a post-abandonment historic photograph of the cyanide plant. Today, this area contains a large scatter of structural wood debris, window glass, nails, iron stakes driven into the ground with the remnants of guy cables, and at the center, a deposit of crumbled fire brick. The fire brick does not form a distinct shape on the surface and is badly eroded, but it may have been the base of a fireplace or small furnace, perhaps used in assaying or casting. There are also bits of what may be burned coal mixed in with the brick. It is likely that this building was not large and only half as large as the flat area of DD. c. Keane Wonder’s Cyanide Works Area Little remains of the cyanide plant and its associated structures as this area is the most derelict at Keane Wonder. It is the most difficult part of the landscape to understand without previous technological or historical knowledge. The cyanide process was the final step of the entire mining operation, aside from casting, and spatially it occupied the bottom end of the operation’s linear layout (see Figure 1, Appendix). As for the details of the plant’s layout, historic photographs, maps, and documents are the most helpful in revealing its original character. The horizontal stratigraphy of this area is similar to that of the mill area, consisting of two periods of productive occupation with their associated features, a period of abandonment, and finally deconstruction. Discerning between the two is not particularly difficult because of obvious spatial relationships, differences in technological requirements and construction materials, quantity and quality of the remains, and the color, deposit, and character of the tailings left by each period. When Homer Wilson took over development of Keane Wonder in 1906, he announced plans to establish a cyanide plant immediately following the construction of a stamp mill and aerial tramway. Developing an adequate water supply for the operation put his plans on hold until the end of 1908. The mines and mill steadily produced during the nearly two-year delay, creating approximately 20,000 tons of tailings that awaited cyanide processing. It took the plant several years to complete this task alone. Although the plant was designed to process up to 200 tons


(Page 35)

daily at full capacity, it never reached this mark, operating instead at 100 tons per day, mostly because continuous water shortages plagued the mine. The effectiveness and importance of the plant to Keane Wonder’s overall success, however, cannot be overstressed. The mine was able to recover as much as 90 percent of the gold contained in the ore with the addition of the cyanide process compared to the 60 to 80 percent recovered from milling alone. The cyanide plant sometimes doubled the amount taken in the mill clean-up alone. The cyanide plant was responsible for Keane Wonder’s steady production of bullion between 1909 and 1912 in the face of low production at the mill, diminishing ore quality and quantity, and setbacks caused by the snapping of a tram cable. Two holding areas were established conveniently south and downhill of the mill in two ravines bounded by steep slopes (see Features A and C).65 Dry stone retaining walls were constructed across the ravines to hold back the tailings. In both cases, the walls are well buried and only visible in certain areas, but their outlines are visible on the surface. It is not possible to measure how tall these walls were. As the wet tailings from the dewatering building settled here, the water that remained on top was pumped back up to the mill. Feature A was probably the primary or first holding area, located 350' south of the dewatering building. The secondary holding area (Feature C) was located on the other side of a ridge in the next ravine west of the dewatering building. It is accessed by way of Feature E, a short 54' x 6' x 4' tunnel that cuts through the ridge. There seems to be no better explanation for this tunnel other than to shuttle the tailings from the dewatering building at a level that would allow them to flow by gravity toward Feature B through a pipeline or launder. Feature C is bigger than A and contains more tailings of a different character than the few that remain at Feature A. The tailings at A are a pale cream color and most are the consistency of fine sand, similar to the tailings that comprise the large piles at Feature J. The tailings at C are a pale pinkish brown and have the consistency of a hard-packed settled clay that is silty to the touch. There is a possible explanation for this difference that will be discussed below. Both holding areas are associated with what appear to be the remnants of sluiceways, noted as Features B and D, which are located against the rock slope of the ridge between them. They both head in the direction of Feature F, two tailings mounds that were originally tram trestles. The ruins of B and D are extensively collapsed, incomplete, and mostly buried, so it is difficult to tell exactly how they functioned. These features consist of closely-spaced wood posts and the remnants of horizontal planking that was attached to them to form an enclosed 3' x 3' box-like structure. The north end of both disappears under the tailings, so it is impossible to tell how long they may have been. It is possible that the topside of B may have also served as a tram trestle, but in the case of D, it actually runs through the edge of the rock slope, suggesting it was subterranean. The rock has collapsed through the top in some areas, but in other areas, it is still intact. The two long tailing mounds represented by Feature F were tram trestles that brought the tailings from the holding areas to the cyanide leaching vats located at Feature G. These can easily be identified in an historic, post-abandonment photograph taken looking south from the dewatering

65 The features referenced in this section can be found in Figure 5, Appendix.


(Page 36)

building. Most of the remaining trestle posts are buried in the mounds but several are visible because they stick up through the surface. Feature G is the footing where six 25'-diameter leaching vats stood. The vats were wood staved with iron bands, and they sat on top of a raised platform supported by wood trestles. The vats were charged from above by tramcars and discharged from below into launders that carried the processed tailings to the waste piles at Feature J. The remnants of two long wooden launders are still evident, as well as many associated artifacts, including wood debris scatters, iron pipe of several dimensions, canvas and rubber hose, canvas and coconut fiber cloth used in the tank bottoms, nails, and small mounds of tailings. There are no intact remains of the tanks, platform, or the support trestles. The south side of Feature G is defined by a continuous and intact dry stone footing that is approximately 3' tall at its highest point. After the cyanide solution leached through the tailings in the vats, the gold-laden solution was pumped out of the vats and into a holding tank. From there, it entered the zinc precipitation process that took place in the structure that stood at Feature H. A historic photograph shows this building situated perpendicular to the leaching vats. No structural components of this 40' x 26' building remain, but three zinc boxes are located in the central area. These 14' x 2' iron boxes contained zinc shavings over which the gold-laden cyanide solution passed. The gold combined with the zinc and was thereby removed from the cyanide solution. The gold-zinc precipitate that formed in the boxes was collected and run through a filter system. The filtration process may have taken place in an adjacent building that stood in Feature KK, a two-story, wood frame structure sided in corrugated iron. No structural components of the building remain, but its 66' x 33' footprint is obvious, and there are several artifacts in the area. These include the remains of a galvanized tank, a long 1"-diameter iron pipe, bits of wood, and two iron tank hoops. Based on the size of this structure, it most likely served other parts of the cyanide process. Typical cyanide plant installations included a large building such as this one to house the precipitation and filtration processes, a chemical laboratory for analysis and preparation of solutions, and the sumps and pumps for moving the solutions around the plant. It is not certain if all of these were contained in Feature KK, but its size suggests this could have been possible. The largest features of the cyanide works are the waste tailings piles indicated by Feature J. These appear to be three distinct deposits and each has several trestle posts coming up through the surface. The posts are not large enough to support a tram, so it is likely that they supported launders that were necessary for carrying the tailings from the vats out to the farthest edge of the piles. All three piles are considerably eroded by wind and water over the ninety years since their deposit and are slowly disappearing into the desert. Their pale cream color is still distinctive from the darker desert sands, although erosion is combining the two. The consistency is of silty sand.66 The largest pile stands approximately 30' from ground level at its highest point while the other two are less than 12' at their highest point. After nineteen years of abandonment at Keane Wonder, the Cohen Company bought and leased mining rights to the Keane Wonder and Big Bell mines in 1935. Most of their mining efforts concentrated on the Big Bell where prospects were better, and they were successful there until

66 All descriptions of the consistency of tailings are from standard archeological conventions.


(Page 37)

1937. No efforts were expended on the Keane Wonder claims except for an attempt to rework the old tailings at the cyanide plant using a similar cyanide leaching method.67 It is not known how successful the company was at this. From the remaining features of this period of operation, it is obvious that they did not make any major investments in large equipment or structures and that it was perhaps more experimental than productive. It also appears from the quantity of historic tailings that remain that they did not go far with their efforts before shutting down. The features associated with this period are located primarily south of the largest historic tailings pile (Feature J). The specific process they used is difficult to discern from what remains, but it seems certain that it was a small-scale cyanide process. Most of the remaining features are only partly intact but are identifiable. The process most likely began at Feature T, the remains of a large, wooden settling vat. This 40' x 24' area consists of three erect corner posts, numerous planks that made up the sides, and several 2" flat metal straps that held the vat together. The straps lie around the perimeter of the corner posts following the outline of the vat. The north end contains a substantial structural wood scatter that consists of planking and support timbers. It is likely that these made up a topside charging platform and ramp for whatever transportation system was used for bringing the tailings in from off the piles. It is possible that trucks rather than hand or rail tramming accomplished this. On the south side of the feature, a small galvanized tub is half buried in the tailings. It has the same size and shape of a bathtub, but its function is unknown. The highest point of the largest tailings pile (Feature J) is about two-thirds of its length from the north end. From this point south, toward Feature T, it slopes steeply downward as if the tailings were removed. This indicates that the tailings from the south end of the pile were mostly processed by the Cohen operation. The process may have proceeded as follows: the tailings were charged into a vat (Feature T) where they were saturated with water and allowed to settle. From the vat, the tailings were moved into a series of three smaller vats just south of T, indicated as Feature U. A cyanide solution was introduced, and the tailings were allowed to percolate for a period of time. There are no intact vats at U, but there are remains of their structure and footprints consisting of wood planks, iron hoops, and the scattered false bottoms of a typical cyanide vat made of perforated wood, canvas, and coco matting. They all appear to have the same diameter of approximately 6.2', but their height is unknown. It is unclear how the processing proceeded through these vats and why so many were used. Three more vats make up a separate feature system at Feature V. Two are mostly intact but badly deteriorated, while the one between them is missing. Only its concrete bottom remains. The two remaining vats are of the same diameter, approximately 6', but are of different materials. One is of corrugated iron while the other is of sheet iron. Both contain a small amount of tailings that are harder packed and more claylike than the tailings associated with the vats (Feature U), perhaps suggesting a different processing area. A large area of scattered timbers lies about the tanks, the remnants of individual charging ramps that lead up to each vat. The remains of one ramp are more intact than the others, but there is enough integrity to the other’s remains to judge their size and location in relation to the other vats. The intact ramp measures 23' x 6' and appears

67 Historic Resource Study, 318.


(Page 38)

to have been wide enough to accommodate a truck. Other remains at Feature V include two additional wooden vat scatters and numerous artifacts, such as iron pipe fittings, perforated wood planks from leaching vat bottoms, pieces of rubber hose, and coco matting. There appears to be a difference between the processing at V and U, but it is unclear that was. It is curious that the waste piles from the cyanide leaching processes at U and V were not deposited south of the features, such as in the historic cyanide operation. The major tailings deposit lies within a drainage wash west of the processing area. Tailings at Feature TT are different than the historic piles at J. Their pale mustard color stands against the desert sands, and the consistency is of densely packed, fine silt. They have been extensively shaped and eroded by wind and water, standing almost 8' high from the deepest area of the wash. A possible explanation for their deposit here rather than south of the processing vats may be linked to Feature Y, an unidentified yet substantial wood scatter. This feature consists of seven large 8" x 8" support timbers of various lengths up to 13' long. They lie on the ground at the edge of the wash in close proximity to each other but do not form any structural shape. They may have stood vertically, but this is not clear. Several feet south of these are a large scatter of small wood strips that lie in a heap perpendicular to the wash, stretching halfway across it. Underneath this heap is an iron fitting where an 8" pipe could be attached. Two large iron tank straps lie in the wash beside the wood scatter. Feature X may be related to Y. These are three rolls of 2" iron tank straps that apparently were collected and bound for salvage but not taken. Perhaps these are all the remains of yet another large wooden tank where the tailings from the smaller processing vats were sent before being released as waste into the wash. Although the tailings of Feature TT are a large deposit, they are not solely concentrated in this area. A major wash extends northward from TT up to a tailings holding area (Feature C). This distance also exhibits traces of the same mustard colored tailings up to the retaining wall at C. As mentioned earlier, the tailings at C are different than those in Feature A and are closer in consistency and color to those of the later period at A. One possibility is that the historic tailings held in C were saturated with water and cyanide processed in that area. The tailings were then flushed down the wash to be deposited at TT. Or, the tailings at C may have been saturated and sent down to the wash to be processed at Y. Three other features may support these notions. Feature DD is a dry stone retaining wall across a small but deep wash that comes directly from tailings holding Feature C and opens into the larger wash. Tailings and the remnants of a large sheet iron tank occupy the wash behind the retaining wall. There are also remains of a large iron cyanide leaching vat and its associated debris (Feature JJ) that may have been employed in the process north of the wash. Also the northernmost tailings pile (Feature J) is associated with the remains of a long launder indicated as Feature I. Support posts coming through the mound of mustard-colored tailings along its course run in a straight line toward Feature Y for 200'. It is possible that this launder served a similar purpose of moving historic tailings from Feature J down the wash to be processed at Feature Y.


(Page 39)

d. Ancillary and Domestic Structures of the Cyanide Works Area Features N and O are the locations of two ancillary structures associated with the 1909 cyanide works.68 The actual functions of these two structures are unknown, and little remains of them today. A few artifacts such as nails and window glass remain of Feature N, while only the 23' x 16' dry stone footing of the west corner of Feature O remains. Feature M is also large enough to accommodate a structure that appears in a historic photograph. There are no remains of this structure present today. On the other hand, adjacent Feature L contains the bottoms of two 12'-diameter iron tanks and the wood support platform on which they sat. Both features L and M are built up with dry stone retaining walls on a level higher than the cyanide works, which indicates they probably held solutions that were piped down into the vats by gravity. Two more partially intact iron vats remain at Feature K. The upper 14'-diameter vat is of corrugated iron and feeds into the lower 17'-diameter sheet steel tank through a pipe. Both tanks are less than 3' high and are partially filled with tailings. The sheet steel vat was probably part of the original operation, but it is likely that the corrugated vat was added during the 1935 occupation. Features Z and BB are water holding tanks. Feature BB is a 17'-diameter sheet steel tank that collapsed from corrosion. The 1909 property map shows the tank and incoming pipeline that carried water from a spring approximately a quarter mile to the west. The end of the 6"-diameter pipeline is intact, but the pipe is missing from the shallow ditch that it ran through, indicated as Feature CC. The pipe picks up again but lies in disconnected, intermittent pieces as it runs toward the spring. The water held in the tank was probably pumped up to the cyanide works, and it is not clear if this was the only water source used at the time. Feature Z is a water tank situated approximately 295' south of BB. The 20'-diameter sheet steel tank is intact, including the wood timbers that supported its corrugated iron peaked cover. Due to its condition, the tank was probably added during the second occupation. The water source for this tank was most likely the deep vertical shaft (Feature AA). A steel net covers the 3' x 5' timbered shaft for visitor protection. The shaft is very deep, and no water can be seen in it today. If this was the water source for Z, it is not clear why the tank was set at such a distance from it. The tank is also associated with Feature PP, a line of 6" x 6" wooden posts driven into the ground at approximately 65' to 80' intervals. It is obvious that these posts carried a water pipeline between the tanks (Features Z and W). Features P, Q, R, S, and LL are a cluster of related features from the original occupation. Feature Q is a rectangular flat area bounded on three sides by the remnants of dry stone walls that are now mostly buried. A collapsed barbed wire fence with posts occupies the south end, indicating that a fence enclosed this area, such as in the case of a corral for burros or horses. Feature P is a flat depression that has the appearance of a structural footprint, but historic photographs do not confirm this. A mound of sand on the east side of Feature P is flattened into a ramp shape wide enough to accommodate a truck, but it is not certain if this was its purpose. Feature R is a structural footprint with a dry stone footing on its south side and a ramp leading up to its southeast corner. The nails and bottle glass artifacts in this area do not help reveal the structure’s function, and it is not clear if R appears in historic photographs or not. Feature S is a dump area that may be associated with R and contains a number of artifacts, such as iron tank

68 The features referenced in this section can be found in Figure 5, Appendix, unless otherwise noted.


(Page 40)

pieces, 5 gallon and 1 gallon cans, barrel hoops, green and clear bottle glass, and food cans. Feature LL is comprised of two historic roads that are badly eroded but still distinguishable. Three domestic structures are found north of the cyanide works, all with historic trails between them. Feature EE is the remains of a collapsed two-seat privy measuring 5' x 4' that was probably used by workers at Feature DD (see Figure 4, Appendix). Feature FF is the collapsed remains of Homer Wilson’s residence that was constructed in 1908. The wood floor of the 46' x 30' structure is still intact, but the rest of it has collapsed into itself in a great heap. No domestic artifacts were found among the debris. This was one of the few standing structures during the post-abandonment period, and workers may have used it as late as the 1935 occupation. A short trail from the house leads to Homer Wilson’s privy, Feature GG (see Figure 4, Appendix). This is the most intact structure on the entire site. The 5' x 4' x 6' privy had two seats, one lowered for a child’s use. A short trail runs from this privy to Feature HH, an adit. The 4' x 6' adit runs 25' into the rock where it abruptly ends. The purpose of this adit is not known.


(Page 41)

Appendix: Maps

Figure 1: Keane Wonder Mining Map with three processing feature systems indicated: upper works, aerial tramway, and lower works. A copy is included in the field records accompanying this documentation.


(Page 42)

Figure 2: Archeological features of Keane Wonder’s Upper Works Mine Area. See text for descriptions of lettered features. A copy is included in the field records accompanying this documentation.


(Page 43)

Figure 3: Archeological features of Upper Works, Tram Terminal Area. See text for descriptions of lettered features. A copy is included in the field records accompanying this documentation.


(Page 44)

Figure 4: Archeological features of Lower Works Mill Area. See text for descriptions of lettered features. A copy is included in the field records accompanying this documentation.


(Page 45)

Figure 5: Archeological features of Lower Works Cyanide Area. See text for descriptions of lettered features. A copy is included in the field records accompanying this documentation.


(Page 46)

Bibliography Broderick & Bascom Rope Co. Wire Rope and its Applications. 2nd ed., 1943. Glasscock, C.B. Gold in Them Hills: The Story of the West’s Last Wild Mining Days. Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1932. Historic Resource Study, A History of Mining, Death Valley National Monument. Linda W. Green, Volume 1 (Parts 1 and 2); John A. Latschar (Volume 2 (Parts 1 and 2). Historic Preservation Branch, Pacific Northwest/Western Team, Denver Service Center, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, March 1981. Hollon, W. Eugene. The Great American Desert Then and Now. New York: Oxford University Press, 1966. Lingenfelter, Richard E. Death Valley and the Amargosa: A Land of Illusion. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986. National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. “Death Valley National Park General Management Plan.” April 2002. Waring, Eugene and Emile Huguenin. Report XV of the State Mineralogist. Part I, Ch. II, 1919. Webber, S.S. “Wire Rope Tramway Engineering.” The Mining and Metallurgical Journal, November 5, 1908. Newspapers and Journals The Bullfrog Miner. Engineering and Mining Journal. The Mining World. The Rhyolite Daily Bulletin. The Rhyolite Herald.

HAER CA-291, Keane Wonder FINAL · 2012. 11. 20. · aerial tramway of this vintage can be seen....

Documents

Transcript of HAER CA-291, Keane Wonder FINAL · 2012. 11. 20. · aerial tramway of this vintage can be seen....