We had a few hours this afternoon to tour the Tonopah mine in Tonopah, Nevada. The silver lode wasn't discovered until 1901, which meant that advanced electrical motors running 3 phase power at 440V were available. The miners wasted little time building huge towers and cable reels to lower equipment into the earth and extract the ore. Inside the power houses were gigantic motors, reels, gears, brakes and clutches. By the 1940's, the seams were mostly exhausted, so the miners left and the houses and equipment slowly crumbled. But in the last 10-20 years, the site has been reclaimed for its tourist value and visitors can wander around between the piles of rubble and rusting machinery and reminisce on the good ol' times.
We had a few hours this afternoon to tour the Tonopah mine in Tonopah, Nevada. The silver lode wasn't discovered until 1901, which meant that advanced electrical motors running 3 phase power at 440V were available. The miners wasted little time building huge towers and cable reels to lower equipment into the earth and extract the ore. Inside the power houses were gigantic motors, reels, gears, brakes and clutches. By the 1940's, the seams were mostly exhausted, so the miners left and the houses and equipment slowly crumbled. But in the last 10-20 years, the site has been reclaimed for its tourist value and visitors can wander around between the piles of rubble and rusting machinery and reminisce on the good ol' times.
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