Kennecott Copper Mine/Mill

The Kennecott Copper Mill is really quite impressive.  Keep in mind that when it was first built, there were no roads to the mine – and even now, the only road is an extremely rough dirt road.  So, a method of transporting all building materials on a new railroad and road that they had to build first!  Really, it’s kind of mind-boggling when one thinks about it.  But, while you ponder that, take a look at the mill and supporting buildings – some have been restored, others not yet.

 

This is the mill – a 3 story building that had a definite method to the design!  The copper comes into the mill at the top and then is slowly separated from the limestone that it’s found in – larger chunks taken out in the second tier and then the smallest granules are isolated in the 3^rd and final tier.  They spent quite a bit of effort to have the copper be as pure as possible because the cost to transport materials via the railroad was very high, and they only wanted to transport what would bring in the revenue! 

 

Here’s a side view of the lowest tier (in front) and other tiers behind them.  You can see how the foundation has been shorn up – check out the log type structure in the lower left corner of this image.  The thing I love best about this image is the texture of the wood on this building, tho!

 

I also loved all the windows in this mill.  In today’s world, mills would probably have very few windows – of course, today’s buildings have much better ventilation and lighting, so they probably need fewer windows!

 

This is an image of the rebuilt old powerhouse of the mill.  This is actually a restoration of the second powerhouse.  The first powerhouse burned to the ground in 1924, and a temporary powerhouse was rebuilt in just 11 days!  Again, keep in mind the difficulty in transporting supplies and building materials – amazing isn’t quite an accurate enough adjective to use!

 

I almost missed this while wandering the old copper mill.  It’s a chute that was used to get some of the copper that was harvested in the upper tiers of the mill down to the railroad cars.  You can see the wood of the infrastructure and the rails that the cars on the chute would ride on.  I sort of love this image of some semi-forgotten history.

This last image is of the very bottom of the mill where the railroad cars would be loaded with the copper – either larger chunks or small granules.  If you look at the first image in this post, the area that is in the lower left corner leads to this area.  The railroad tracks are still visible, as you can see in this image.

Enjoy!