Our first touristy agenda item was to ride the trolley (similar to the one pictured below) in downtown Rapid City. I would do that again, knowing the places it stops, and the cost for the ride. We then motored to Lead to tour the Homestake Mine.
tour started at the open pit gold mine
started in 1876 when George Hearst purchased
promising gold mine claims in the area
(The Black Hills Gold Rush began in 1875 and ended in 1877.)
our wheels to the mine buildings
tour guide sharing history & progression
of underground mine equipment
Yates Hoist Room
control room to the underground mine
and now the underground laboratories
the Yates shaft has transported miners and equipment
to 8000 feet underground for 75 years
interesting to see the mine cage operator at work
the cages used to work on a bell signal system
interesting questions
knowledgable tour guide
the cone-shaped pulley cable system for lowering
and raising the cages was installed in 1938
still being used today for researchers, scientists
and their equipment
the flow chart explaining how gold was extracted
from the rocks
the crate holds 1 ton of ore
the crate would produce 1/7 ounce of gold
7 crates were needed to produce an ounce of gold
(a Hershey's Kiss)
Homestake Mine began in 1876
it closed January 2002, as a gold mine
"Before its closing in 2002 Homestake Gold Mine
was the oldest, largest and deepest mine in the
Western Hemisphere, reaching more than
8000 feet below the town of Lead."
It is now the Sanford Underground Science
and Engineering laboratory
More of our Wednesday adventure in the next post.
It would make this one WAY too long.
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