Arrastra


Guest Bunk

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Exciting! Did you find any gold in it?

As an extension of what Randyasked,you may want to pan all the dirt outside and inside.Though the chances are remote if you come across a copper amalgam plate from a mill,be sure to scrape it clean.....Dave

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Found this near Bagdad. All the bottom stones had been removed, it did not look that old judging by the cement morter, probley from the 30's.

Bunk

My wife and I found this a couple years back, before I got back into prospecting. We have the GPS track and do plan on going back with a detector.

Bunk

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Hello Bunk,

Keep in mind most Arrastra's were used for "Free Milling" ores and not very far from the mine or prospect they were working. I've always found some ore with visible gold around Arrastra's in Arizona! :o

Might be worth poking around that area a bit more.

Rob Allison

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Miner Matt and Others,

Its good to hear someone say they don't want to ruin or destroy Arrastra's. If you have a good Metal Detector and a strong Vac, you came check and pretty much clean the inside out without ruining it. In the 3 pictures below, all the gold I found was around the outside and mine area. Enjoy

O'29er in 29

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There are two variations of arrastras:

one is the old drag a big rock around in a circle sort of thing. among other things, the floor will show scrapes and scouring, and quite a bit of wear. Where possible, many of this type had a basalt floor because it could take a lot of wear.

the second variation is the Chilean Mill. Instead of a drag stone, it had one or two big round stone wheels. easier to turn, and milled the ore a lot finer. The wheels would last a lot longer, and the flooring wouldn't wear down as fast. Other grades of rock beside basalt could be use to build the pit.

Besides vertical wheels, sometimes the wheels were laid flat, one on top of the other, ore introduced via holes in the upper stone, which turned on top of the stone wheel on the bottom. In South America, stone Chilean mills are still in use, while some of the all steel types are in use all over the world.

One version of the chilean mill: http://digital-desert.com/mining-equipment-chilean-mill/

Another blurb (Montana related) http://www.deq.mt.gov/AbandonedMines/linkd...ocs/182tech.asp

and a picture of one used in North Carolina http://www.lib.co.rowan.nc.us/HistoryRoom/...m/Mining/27.htm

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