Sierra Silver Mine Tour

On Wednesday, our last day in Wallace, we decided to go on the Sierra Silver Mine Tour. 

A couple of days ago, I posted pictures from The Center of the Universe in Wallace...

While we were waiting for our tour in the shop in town, we found the proclamation declaring Wallace at Center of the Universe.

It may be that there was a wee tiny bit of ire toward the EPA driving this... more information: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-selfproclaimed-center-of-the-universe-is-in-wallace-idaho

There were also other interesting items in the gift shop / museum:

A sign from the Sunshine Mine

A book written about a disaster that happened at the Sunshine Mine in 1972 in which 91 miners perished (I've downloaded a Kindle version from the Phoenix Public library and look forward to starting it soon!). https://www.msha.gov/sunshine-mine-disaster-50-years-later

One of the things we learned on the tour is that "hard rock mining" (as in Wallace) is very different from soft rock mining (coal mining). Generally, hard rock mining is considered safer and a more desirable working environment (although the disaster at the Sunshine Mine shows that even "safer" can be dangerous).

Some interesting items for sale in the shop (Elk Poop and Deer Poop)

We were called for our tour and went to the trolley that would transport us up to the mine.

Our tour guide, Lenny, took our picture at the mine.

Lenny explaining about some of the things we were seeing.

One of the pieces of equipment that would be used to drill a hole into the rock that then explosives would be loaded into.

Lenny demonstrating the ways that miners would light their way. Lenny had worked in the mines for 28 years. Surprising to us (but maybe should be expected), miners still work primarily in the dark with only their headlamps to light their way.

Another drilling device -- Lenny operated this for us - it was very loud!

Lenny showed us the pattern in which the explosives would be laid into the wall and wired to go off. All of the miners would be set to blow at a specific time on their shift - everyone would start their fuse (7 minute delay) and exit the mine.

An example of the firing sequence on a wall:

After a layer of rock had been blown off, the rock pieces would be dragged to a chute that would drop the rock into a rail car on a layer below. Lenny asked for a volunteer to run the rock dragger (that's not the official name, but we don't remember it), so Carl volunteered...

Lenny giving Carl instructions...

Send the bucket out and then drag it back...

In action:

An example of a rail car that would operate in the mine to collect the broken up rock.

The rock would be taken out of the mine and processed -- there were a number of metals that they would look to extract from it - silver (of course), but also lead, gold, zinc, copper, and a few others that we don't remember!

The tools ran on compressed air and water - so this was a representation of the generating plant to produce the compressed air. Lenny said that the hoses to provide the compressed air would be 3" and run through the mine to where all the workers were working.

Inside the tunnel -- Lenny was rather short, and he had warned us that, although he could walk upright in the mine, most of us would not be able to! I was usually right behind him and didn't get any clue from him on where I needed to watch my head! I was glad to have been issued a hard hat!

The type of rail cars that would be used inside the mine - both to transport the rock out and to transport the workers in to their assigned locations in the mine.

Some examples of extracted material - this was lead.

We found the tour to be very interesting - although we might not remember all of it!!!

We finished up by visiting the City Limits Bar and Grill right by our campground where we had a delicious "appetizer" of Loaded Nachos! Not on our diets, but it sure was good!

And so our stay in Wallace ended...