1996-08-02_GENERAL DOCUMENTS - M1977378

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r j Ile Hanson Mill was constructed just north of the Sunnyside Extension Mine at the head Of Placer Gulch in 1889(Ransome 1901). The mill was erected to process ore from the Sunnysidc Mine, and other mines in the area including the Silver with a Blake Crusher, 20 750 pound stamps, 4 Gilpin County shaking tables,an11 d 2 Woodbury tables. The mill was powered by a steam plant,and could process 47 tons of ore per Ore was transported to the mill on a Huson tramway 2,300 ft in 1 day. daily capacityof 175 tons �� 61 buckets and a (Ransome 1901). The mill is depicted in a historic photograph taken between 1889-1899(Figure 3). In this photograph several wood frame buildings��can seen that are not present in a later 1907 photograph of the site(Figure 4). In his research on the Hanson Mill, Aly(1990)pulled together information from mining journals and historical archaeology journals to describe the basic workings of the mill. In addition, there is a good deal of information in this study on the general history of operation for the mill taken from newspaper accounts of the day. The results of Aly's study are briefly summarized here, but the majority of the information from this study will not be reiterated. Newspaper accounts note that the ore processed at the mill had 15 ounces of silver, and one ounce of gold to the ton, and Erasmus Hanson was reportedly making$1000 a day from the processing. The processed hig h grade ore was shipped by pack animals to Eureka where it was loaded onto the train for shipment to smelting facilities. In 1903, the Sunnyside Extension property was sold to Cyrus Davis of Waterville Main and Henry M. Soule of Boston,Massachusetts and renamed the Gold Prince Mine. The Gold Prince Mines Company soon initiated plans to construct a new milling facility in Animas Forks (2/12 miles northeast)that would have 100 stamps. The new Gold Prince Mill was constructed in 1905-1906, was the largest mill at that time in Colorado, and processed the ore from the Gold Prince and many other mines. The Silverton Northern Railroad was extended to Animas Forks and a fifty foot turntable built at the base of the new mill to transport the processed ore. As part of their development,the wealthy stockholders of the Gold Prince Mine Company built a tramway connecting the new mill with the Gold Prince Mine and built a three story mine that could house 150 men(Sloan and Skowronski 1975:200). The use at the referred to as a model facilityin it's ��been appointments(Brown 1984:88). The tramway,Hanson Mill, boardinghouse,and other structures are pictured in a 1907 photograph of the mine area (Figure 4). It is not clear when the original Hanson Mill at the Gold Prince property was abandoned but in one 1907 photograph(Figure 2)the mill appears to be idle. A second historic photograph from the Rainbow Route also dated 1907, clearly shows the mill in operation(Sloan and Skowronski 1975:228). It may be safe to assume that with the construction of the larger and more modern Gold Prince Mill at Animas Forks after 1906, the Hanson Mill fell into disuse. time, the aerial tramwayis r n this sported to have transported all of the ore from the Gold Prince Mine to the new facility in Animas Forks (Sloan and Skowronski 1975:200). The Gold Prince aerial tram system has been described in detail by Hoffman(1990)and was 12,300 ft long Bleichard "bi-cable" wire rope tram with 33 towers and an angle station p1;3cc on a hillside 1 %miles to the northwest of the mine. The terminus of the tram was at a loadout located close to the mine portal. The loadout and angle station arc depicted in two 1907 Photographs Presented in the Rainbow Route(Sloan and Skowronski 1975:228-229) The workings and equipment that comprised the system have been detailed by Hoffman(1990)and 7