Cool AC 5 Stamp Mill
Printed From: Unofficial Allis
Category: Allis Chalmers
Forum Name: Construction and other equipment
Forum Description: everything else with orange (or yellow) paint
URL: https://www.allischalmers.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=152746
Printed Date: 28 May 2025 at 8:15pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.10 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Cool AC 5 Stamp Mill
Posted By: bigcreek
Subject: Cool AC 5 Stamp Mill
Date Posted: 05 Aug 2018 at 12:25am
| Went on a pack trip into the middle of the wilderness in Idaho and came across an old mine with a 5 stamp mill in the middle of freaking nowhere which was made by Allis Chalmers. Thought that was pretty neat. Had no idea they made that type of mining stuff. uploads/16051/IMG_5368.JPG" rel="nofollow - IMG_5368.JPG uploads/16051/IMG_5368_2018-08-05_00-22-52.JPG" rel="nofollow - IMG_5368_2018-08-05_00-22-52.JPG |
Replies:
Posted By: bigcreek
Date Posted: 05 Aug 2018 at 12:30am
| And just as neat were the upright timbers supporting it all. Those things were massive. Probably close to 3 feet at the wide part. |
Posted By: JC-WI
Date Posted: 05 Aug 2018 at 12:39am
 ------------- He who says there is no evil has already deceived himself The truth is the truth, sugar coated or not. Trawler II says, "Remember that." |
Posted By: darrel in ND
Date Posted: 05 Aug 2018 at 7:01am
| Now that's a neat find. I sure would like to know more about that, like mostly, what is a five stamp mill? Darrel |
Posted By: bigcreek
Date Posted: 05 Aug 2018 at 10:22am
| There were some mine tunnels way up on the mountain and at one time had a tramway coming down. They would crush the rock in that Allis Chalmers crusher then in that same building was a big furnace which rotated. Looked similar to a boiler but it rotated and according to my father in law they would run the powder through that furnace to separate the gold from the rest of the crap. |
Posted By: Tad Wicks
Date Posted: 05 Aug 2018 at 4:27pm
|
Stamp mills were used to reduce the size of material usually rock formations mined so that precious minerals and metals could be removed by weight and amalgamation ( sheets of copper coated with mercury). The weights were lifted and turned by the cams you see at the top of the mill, now the weights are not necessarily the large round ends you see at the bottom of the vertical shafts, those are the replaceable ends that wear away, the weight comes from the shafts themselves, I have see them 4 inches in diameter and close to 20 feet long weighing in close to a ton I would guess in a five stamp mill and when lifted and dropped almost a foot 60 times a minute x 5, there is not much can stand up to that. The cams were timed so that there was a wave called the California wave of water ( on the wet mills) that went back and forth in the cast iron hopper at the bottom to keep the crushed ore moving and the fines spilling over the top and then down to riffles , amalgam plates or cyanide leach pit, never drink any running water below a mine site because so much cyanide was used to separate gold . Bodie, CA still has a complete set of stamp mills I think that there was seven mills of five in the Standard Mine Co mill. Bigcreek was there any evidence left that you could tell what ran this mill? steam, water power, or engine, could you tell what they were going for ? great stuff more pictures please Tad |
Posted By: Mikez
Date Posted: 05 Aug 2018 at 5:29pm
| That is neat. Can you find the owner. Maybe you can get that plate off it that's stamped Allis chalmers. Was there any other badgering on it |
Posted By: bigcreek
Date Posted: 05 Aug 2018 at 6:59pm
|
I do know outside that building laying on the ground was a fly wheel at least 6' tall on a 20' long shaft with two other smaller fly wheels. I have pictures of every thing but cant load them due to size and cant figure out how to reduce size. There was a caterpillar engine with a alternator that looks like it ran it at one time as of semi-late but that was not how it was originally ran. Outside the building was a boiler so I am assuming that was the original power. There was a cat crawler down in the timber with a scoop bucket, looked like it would probably run. There was also a set of crawler tracks attached to a frame, not sure what that was for but the tracks had wood bolted to them. What would be the purpose of bolting wood boards (pads) to the tracks? As for the AC name plate it would be cool to have but Id rather leave it there to be seen in the future. There was a hand crank Minneapolis Moline tractor w/o wheels which was really cool. And a couple miles or so away was a really tall (probably 15' or so tall) boiler with a massive winch attached to it with probably 1.25" cable. the spool was pretty full and we kept finding cable for hundreds of yards so there was a lot of it. No clue what that was for but it was cool. Sat above a creek in an area of hydraulic mining.
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Posted By: Tad Wicks
Date Posted: 05 Aug 2018 at 8:49pm
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The vertical boiler engine sounds like what they call a "Donkey" they were used mainly in the logging industry to pull logs to a landing, no reason they couldn't be used to pull ore buckets on high lines or just drag them where they needed to go or may be some kind of earth moving scraper. You said the Cat engine had an alternator so it must be after the 1960's, the flywheel was probably used with a flatbelt to drive the mill. The rails with the boards bolted to them were probably because some body put new rails on something and had the wore out ones without pads so they just bolted blocks of wood for pads and drug it around, could it be a logging arch?, You didn't happen to check the serial number on the loader? you stumbled onto some great stuff, is it on BLM or Forest Service land? how about some coordinates so we can go look on Google Earth. Lots of questions Thanks Tad |
Posted By: Gary(WI)
Date Posted: 08 Aug 2018 at 7:34am
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How far off the road is the mine where you found it????? |
Posted By: CTuckerNWIL
Date Posted: 08 Aug 2018 at 7:48am
|
------------- http://www.ae-ta.com" rel="nofollow - http://www.ae-ta.com Lena 1935 WC12xxx, Willie 1951 CA6xx Dad bought new, 1954WD45 PS, 1960 D17 NF |
Posted By: Coke-in-MN
Date Posted: 10 Aug 2018 at 4:15pm
 ------------- Faith isn't a jump in the dark. It is a walk in the light. Faith is not guessing; it is knowing something. "Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful." |
Posted By: Coke-in-MN
Date Posted: 10 Aug 2018 at 4:20pm
 ------------- Faith isn't a jump in the dark. It is a walk in the light. Faith is not guessing; it is knowing something. "Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful." |