Wall Street Mill facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
|
|
Wall Street Mill
|
|
 |
|
 Location in California
Location in the United States
|
|
| Nearest city | Twentynine Palms, California |
|---|---|
| Built | 1933 |
| Architect | William F. Keys |
| NRHP reference No. | 75000176 |
| Added to NRHP | November 12, 1975 |
The Wall Street Mill is an old gold ore crushing mill located in Joshua Tree National Park. It's special because it still has its original machinery from the late 1800s. This mill was used to crush rocks to get gold out of them. It's the only gold mill in the area that is still mostly complete and looks like it did when it was used.
The mill includes the machinery, the building that holds it, a well that provided water, and the well pump. All these parts together show how gold was processed a long time ago.
Contents
What is the Wall Street Mill?
The Wall Street Mill is a historic site where people used to process gold ore. Gold ore is rock that contains small amounts of gold. The mill's job was to crush these rocks into a fine powder. This made it easier to separate the valuable gold from the rest of the rock.
The mill building was designed to use gravity. It was built on a sloping hill. This allowed the ore to move downwards through the different stages of crushing and separation.
How the Mill Worked
The building itself is made with strong wooden beams. Its roof and some walls are covered with wavy metal sheets. Other walls have wooden planks. At the top of the building, there was a long wooden ramp. This ramp held a track for an ore tramway. The tramway carried the ore from trucks to the very top of the mill.
Once at the top, the ore was fed into a two-stamp crusher. This machine, made by Baker Iron Works, had heavy metal stamps that would pound the ore. A gasoline engine, built by the Western Gas Engine Company, powered the mill. After crushing, a special table called a Myer concentrating table helped separate the gold from the crushed rock.
Other Buildings at the Site
Besides the main mill building, there were other structures nearby. These included the well, a bunkhouse where workers might have slept, and an outhouse. Today, most of these supporting buildings are in ruins.
Who Built the Mill?
The Wall Street Mill was built by a man named Bill Keys. He was a well-known rancher and miner in the local area. Bill Keys moved the equipment for the mill from another location called Pinon Wells. He finished building the mill in 1933.
A Historical Marker
In the 1940s, Bill Keys had a serious disagreement with another person named Worth Bagley. This disagreement was about who could use the Wall Street Mill. A stone marker was later placed near the mill to remember this event. The marker has an inscription that mentions the date May 11, 1943. This stone marker is a separate historical item and is not part of the official Wall Street Mill historic site.
