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Discussion starter · #785 ·
"According to mine historian David Stone, the electric locomotive was one of two built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works for the Alaska Gastineau mine in 1914. “It is amazing that this 94-year old locomotive is intact and returning to Juneau. It is a physical example of an innovative world-class mining operation that changed mining history.” The mine eventually sold the locomotives to the Santa Cruz Portland Cement Company in California, where they operated for many years.



"The Alaska-Gastineau mine, located in the Sheep Creek valley just south of Juneau, used them to haul ore from 13 underground levels of the mine to the processing facilities located at Thane. The mine was one of the world’s largest gold mines, and the use of electric locomotives was innovative at the time and helped the mine become an industry model of efficiency and low-cost operation. The locomotives had a low-profile design to allow use underground, and were powered by two 90-horsepower electric Westinghouse motors with electricity supplied through a cable system."

Highlighting the four major gold mines in the Juneau-Douglass area: Alaska-Juneau Mine, Treadwell, Perseverance and Thane Mines:


Image
 
Discussion starter · #788 ·
Posted By sschaer on 08/26/2008 9:40 AM

somewhere i read that this little engine was able to haul 40 cars.


from the press release: "It ran off electricity. It's a trolley locomotive and it pulled 40  10-ton ore cars. So it was the big ore train."
 
Discussion starter · #791 ·
The Gastineau milling process consisted of four stages:

course crushing

fine crushing

concentration

retreatment

The mill produced one ton of concentrates for each 50 to 60 tons of ore. 

Milling capacity was 6000 tons daily.



The mill went into operation by November of 1915.

The mining system used the shrinkage system of stoping--similar to that employed at Kennecott. Ore drawn from a stope was hauled to one of two oreways in four-ton cars. Each oreway had four underswing ore gates for loading into 10-ton cars. A train of 40 cars was loaded and hauled to the mill site by the 18-ton Westinghouse Baldwin locomotive.

Upon arriving at the course crushing plant tthe cars were separated into groups of four. These were led into a revolving tipple and then dumped. Undersize ore fell through a  2 1/2 inch screen into a storage bin. The oversized ore went through of one two Buchanan Jaw Crushers (these were also used at Kennecott). Beyond this were four gyratory crushers that broke the ore down to two inches. Then the product entered an 8000 ton storage bin.

This ore then was delivered to the fine crushing department via a 42-inch conveyor belt that was 1216 feet long (see drawing above).

The ore was discharged onto one-inch opening impact screens. The oversized ore continued to a 2500-ton bin which fed 72-inch rolls. These crushed the ore down to one inch size. This product was then elevated and dropped over the impact screens. Anything oversized was returned to the rolls. All undersized was distributed to bins in the concentration department.

Here the ore was fed to Garfield tables for rough concentration. Water was introduced to give consistency to the feed. The roughing concentration was cleaned on Wilfley tables (also used at Kennecott). These are shaking tables with riffleds that separate minerals by their specific gravity. Tailings went to Janney classifiers (again, also employed at Kennecott).

The classifers rejected the low or no-value slime. Course ore went to the tube mills to be reground. These were cylindrical, seven feet in diameter by ten feet long that contained Danish flint pebbles as a grinding medium.  This created a pulp that was sent through the Garfield tables a second time. Water went to the tailings. The concentrate was re-run over the Wilfley tables before going to the retreatment plant.

At this plant the concentrates were elevated to the top floor. The ore ran over another set of Wilfley tables to remove a rough lead concentrate which carried the free course gold. This lead concentrate was retabled to remove the free gold--gold that does not require chemical treatment. The free gold was then heated in an open hearth furnace and formed into gold bricks.

The result was a high grade lead bullion consisting of half lead but with $800.00 in gold per ton (remember that this was in 1915 prices, which were very low). The bricks were stored in bins before being shipped south to a smelter. The tailings were sampled and sent to the beach.
 
Discussion starter · #792 ·
Posted By sschaer on 08/26/2008 4:12 AM

scary little engine. [/b]this would be a real challenge to become operating again.


I understand that at one time a rail tour was offered through a part of one of the Juneau mines--probably this one--the Gastineau.  As I recall, it was soon discontinued due to insurance considerations. I would sure like to know more about that venture--particularly what type of engine they used--if this was true. It really would be something to see this electric engine restored to full use.
 
#795 ·
The mine used two sizes for hauling ore, a twenty ton which haul twenty ten ton cars and a center cab thirty ton which haul 30 cars. They used these way before I started working there and until it shut down in 1987. They also had smaller ones for hauling supplies 8 ton 10 ton and 12 ton.
 
Discussion starter · #796 ·
Part of the operations of the Gastineau Mine included the construction of the Salmon Creek dam for hydroelectric power. Gastineau purchased this Shay--the only one ever to enter Alaska--from the Coal Creek rail line near Dawson City (and the Klondike Mines Railway) for this project.

It was eventually scrapped in Washington (bottom photo--both are clickable to a larger size).



 
Discussion starter · #797 ·
Posted By Ron Senek on 08/27/2008 7:48 AM

The mine used two sizes for hauling ore, a twenty ton which haul twenty ten ton cars and a center cab thirty ton which haul 30 cars. They used these way before I started working there and until it shut down in 1987. They also had smaller ones for hauling supplies 8 ton 10 ton and 12 ton.


That's interesting because this is an 18-ton Westinghouse-Baldwin that routinely pulled 40 ten-ton ore cars.
 
Discussion starter · #798 ·
Overly ambitious? Perhaps. But nothing ever happens without a vision.I believe that the more ambitious and apparently unattainable the better. The CRD layout may never extend beyond its present boundaries, but it is guaranteed that it won't if the plans are not laid out for future expansion.


 
Discussion starter · #799 ·
And so it begins: the early beginnings of the construction of the trans-Canada gas line which could ultimately bring about the expansion of a true transcontinental railroad through Canada into Alaska:

dateline 27 August 2008:  TransCanada begins work on gas pipeline project
adn.com

TransCanada Corp. doesn't yet have the state natural gas pipeline license legislators approved, but an executive with the Calgary-based energy firm says it has already started working on the huge project.



"There's some critical work we need to get done before the snow flies," said Tony Palmer, TransCanada's Alaska point man. At the top of the to-do list, he said, is snapping aerial photos of the Alaska pipeline route. The total length of the proposed gas line is 1,715 miles - about 750 within the state and 965 in Canada.



TransCanada has hired Aero-Metric Inc., a Wisconsin firm with an Anchorage office, to take the photos, and the contractor is trying to get the job done in between bouts of bad weather, Palmer said.



Next on the list for TransCanada is finding office space this fall, likely in Anchorage or Fairbanks, he said.



The company is proceeding with the work in anticipation of receiving an exclusive state license from the administration of Gov. Sarah Palin, who today signed the bill the Legislature passed this month authorizing state officials to award the license to TransCanada.



Palin inked the legislation, House Bill 3001, at an AFL-CIO convention at the Hotel Captain Cook in downtown Anchorage.



She wore an aqua business suit that made her stand out like a candle in the darkened ballroom filled with Teamsters, Laborers, electricians, nurses and other unionized workers.



With her gas team, TransCanada people and three Democratic state senators gathered around - Johnny Ellis, Bill Wielechowski and Hollis French - the Republican governor signed the bill in what she called "one of the most historic and exciting events to happen since statehood."



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