The Ore Grinder

The massive Champion Mill, on Mount Champion, Lake County, Colorado, was a consistent source of gold, silver, galena and pyrite for the smelters in nearby Leadville from the 1890s-1919. This work depicts one of its impressive ore grinders located within the mill, a rotating drum, often filled with large steel balls, that crushed the gold-laden ore inside in preparation for smelting. Standing in the cavernous ore crushing room and looking up at this enormous iron drum one can easily sense how deafening this room must have been in operation!