HISTORY OF THE NEW ALMADEN MINES 



191 



1901. For many years after 1901 the ore mined came 

 chiefly from the Mine Hill opencut, various dumps, 

 and stope fill in old workings. (See fig. 123.) 



While Randol was in charge of the property he 

 had always turned down all suggestions for work at 

 any of the so-called outside mines that lay along the 

 ridge extending west of Mine Hill and that were first 

 developed under Barren, Forbes, & Co. In the 20- 

 year period after his departure attempts were made 

 to reopen and develop the Providencia, Enriquita, San 

 Mateo, San Antonio, and Senator mines, but all these 



FIGURE 118. Hoisting equipment used at the Buena Vista shaft about 

 1885. The two upright cylindrical drums are the level indicators 

 which enable the operator to stop the hoist at the proper places many 

 hundreds of feet underground. The braided belt-type wire cable and 

 small cages are visible in the background between the two indicators. 



FIGURE 116. Santa Isabel shaft buildings in late 1880's. Shed in fore- 

 ground was apparently used in hand sorting the ore, whereas shed 

 behind and to the left protects a pile of coal used to fire the steam 

 boilers. Not a trace of any of the buildings shown in photograph re- 

 mained in 1947. 



FIGURE 119. View of the Randol shaft hoisting works about 1885, with 

 the Buena Vista shaft building in the lower right. The ends of the 

 large timbers to be used in the lower levels of the mine are conven- 

 iently labeled as to size. The largest of these are 16 by 16 Inches and 

 20 feet long. 



attempts were handicapped by lack of capital, and all 

 were abandoned before any more than a small amount 

 of ore had been recovered. In addition, several new 

 prospect shafts were put down but none of these re- 

 vealed any minable ore. As the yield from known ore 

 bodies and dumps on Mine Hill was likewise dimin- 

 ishing, the populace of the camp was slowly drifting 

 away; and at the close of Thomas Derby's adminis- 

 tration in 1909 the once-thriving community was little 

 more than a ghost town of empty weather-beaten 

 houses. 



A change in the board of directors was largely re- 

 area, was poorly located and served only for exploration and dewater- Sponsible for Thomas Derby's departure, and the new 

 ing for a few years. Had the money invested in this deep exploration hoard annnintpd F T Fiirqf to tikp his nlarp A<stliP 

 been used otherwise, it might have materially prolonged the life of 



the mine. Guadalupe mine, near the western boundary of the 



FIGURE 117. Building housing the boilers, steam engines, and pumps 

 for the Buena Vista shaft. This large and costly shaft, which was 

 the deepest of more than a dozen put down in the New Almaden mine 



