Ore
Bunker Operation:
click onto the picture for the larger one with the labels.
Based on
my personal observations on the site and other data, I can tell you that this is
how the bunker and tram terminal would have operated. You can see the incoming
empty bucket (blue arrow). This was also the supply line, so instead of a
bucket there could have been either a sling or a specialized tank attached to
carry water, fuel oil or coal. Heavy incoming objects for the mine would go to
the right side of the bunker where they would have been winched up to the adit
level. When I examined it, there were no tracks there, just a slick wood
surface.
There was, however an intact set of overhead rails of the same type seen in the
photos for the top of the mill. These were for moving the tram buckets beyond
the end of the tram.
There was also a sizeable generator below the tram encased in a concrete base.
This was used as a dynamic brake on the tram line while at the same time
generating additional power for the mines. The tram line itself operated by
gravity. That is, the weight of the ore heading down the steep line was what it
took to move the buckets. The generator here and at the angle station about half
way down were needed to control the rate of the buckets heading down to the
mill.
Other items would be rolled over to the snow shed on the right where they would
have been hoisted up a set of tracks to the lower level of the barrack or to the
boiler house, transformer building or the underground compressor room (moved
there after a disastrous fire early in the operation). It was probably by this
means that the ore cars and battery locomotives were sent to the mines. A second
and third haulage tunnel were located immediately behind the barrack building.
The bunker was at the end of what was probably a double track that enabled
miners manually-pushing the trams to select which bunker in which to dump
the ore. (light blue arrows above the bunker). The line to the left was also
the way to the waste rock dump (green arrow), a covered snow shed. You also see
a blue arrow pointing toward the extension at the base of the bunkers. This was
for some kind of scraper that brought rich slide ore the top of the tram. It
would only have been in operation a relatively short time, probably during the
mid 1920s when Kennecott was also developing the Glacier open pit mine.
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