Spiro Mine Tunnel, Silver King Mill and Mine, and the Judge

[Mike]

Today, a few of us visited the Spiro Mine Tunnel, Silver King Mill and Mine, and the Judge Mine in Park City. It was quite the site to see. A little hike from the main road took us straight to the mill. I recorded several videos of our explorations, while Stu, Brett, and Russ took photos (which they will soon be posting). Watch the videos and explore with us.

Visit my youtube page to see all the videos, and more!

http://www.youtube.com/user/emike09fcmc

And the videos locally:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2HHjg1Pcq8&feature=player_profilepage[/youtube][youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7LwVgmOpLs&feature=player_profilepage[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v2POwFewUA&feature=player_profilepage[/youtube][youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMJhp0_GHzk&feature=player_profilepage[/youtube][youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oG66wWKzfJI&feature=player_profilepage[/youtube][youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12bLwzgJJ2c&feature=player_profilepage[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJHm8gZ5fuU&feature=player_profilepage[/youtube][youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVfHK07BhsA&feature=player_profilepage[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7iPNa9Hr4A&feature=player_profilepage[/youtube]

[UnderUtah]

That's a pretty cool day of exploring! Thanks for the instantaneous upload of your footage, though you would think the eye-phone would have built in triple internal gimball image stabilization...or is ther an app for that? . that area would be a good place for some semi-pro filming. Hopefully next year we could swing up there.

Miahwinch

[rhartill]

Still culling the photos for the gallery, but here's some synths:

Silver King Mill exterior

http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=86a40c74-029f-4c33-9aaa-71c4744e138e&m=false&i=0:0:18&c=-0.119378:-1.01088:-0.228952&z=818.742&d=3.93497741403909:-1.66190775056712:-1.98312311953485&p=0:0

Silver King mill interior

http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=7b964211-8fb7-4294-9c9f-754020a98c31&m=false&i=0:6:8&c=0.0283667:0.0303786:0.00123591&z=797.35845&d=2.17313858062639:-2.61731507713028:-1.96589490224078&p=0:0

Silver King Mill upper floor

http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=b00081b1-a6af-4268-b077-bc119fb9c287&m=false&i=0:1:6&c=0.671672:0.541362:-0.00207115&z=1377.546225&d=1.89440728327942:-2.12677128321042:-3.25108199298458&p=0:0

[Stuart]

My picture contributions:

http://mojaveunderground.com/gallery/v/Utah/ParkCity/silverking/

[ExpUt]

Awesome pictures guys!

I'll try and get mine uploaded this week.

[Joanne]

WOW!!! Those are just amazing images!

I can't believe the size of the operation. The massive size and quantity of heavy equipment is just amazing. Every one of those machines has a story to tell from the person who designed them, to the pattern maker who made the patterns, to the foundry that poured them, the transport to the site, and of course the operator who ran them. I can almost close my eyes and envision the mill in operation.

Thanks for sharing this wonderful piece of history with us!!

Joanne

[tunnel rat]

Great pictures, sorry I missed out on it, and the meeting. Been sick the last few days.

[motherlode68]

The Silver King mine was the first time I ever went underground ( 4th or 5th grade field trip.) later on I was fortunate to be able to go in the Ontario mine. Both really amazing mines.

[cherokeepilot85]

The ore Cone Crusher

Great footage of the Park City mines. I really enjoyed seeing such amazing mining remains. The Silver King Mill must have been an awe filled exploration. As I watched I noticed the interesting machine at the end of the "Silver King Mill #3" and at the beginning of the "Silver King Mill #4" videos. The machine that looked somewhat like a turbine I recognized looked much like a smaller and older version of a common means of crushing ore in the modern era. I believe what you saw was a small version of a Cone Ore Crusher, the same type of crusher that the Bingham Copper Mine uses in the main pit to crush the larger pieces of ore before being transported on the main conveyor to the concentrator. The machine is used to crush larger pieces of ore that would be inefficient or impossible to crush by other means. The smaller ore is separated from the larger ore before the larger ore pieces enter the cone crusher. Hence the grate in the chute before entering the mouth of the cone crusher. The technology was new in the later half of the 19th century. Scientific American featured the new technology of the Cone Crusher in its March 29, 1879 edition. I added the link to this below, which also explains in technical terms how the machine worked.
A New Ore Crusher "Scientific American"

Here is a sketch of the machine:

[cherokeepilot85]

Modern Cone Crusher

I forgot to add this with what I said above. Here is a modern cone crusher depiction.
You can view the site this is from here: Toper Industrial Equipment

[Stuart]

That's what is was alright, a cone crusher. This mill is simply amazing!

[one_bad_rover]

Brent might know this better than I, but last time I was at the silver king. someone had been opening a tunnel about 1/4 mile west of the main mill. You couldnt get in enough to explore, but I pulled a huge chunk of pyrite out (like 20lbs or so) and then proceeded to foolishly hike it down the mountain. Also, if you follow main street up (and this would have been 2006) there was a mine portal right off the road. It was closed up, but easy enough to access the inside. I never published any of the pics as its blatent trespassing, but I wonder if its still accessible.

[XXX Snow]

I don't know about the opening 1/4 mile west. The mine portal off main street, is that the road going up to the Ontario mine and its located under the runaway truck ramp? That one has 2 gates on it, the first is broken but the second isn't. There is a good breeze coming out of it and has 2 newer style ore cars on the tracks right pass the gate. I wish I know who own it, it would be nice to see what else is inside.

[Mark1955]

Nice work everyone! Amazing places. When you go back to do some actual filming count me in! I'll bring all my gear up with us.

Mark

[one_bad_rover]

Brent - I beleive those are one in the same. As an off note. I had to search, but I found a map of the Judge mine, in all its glory and it is HUGE! Keep an eye on your email I will see if I can get it over there.