Puzzle (MP 108.7) and the Little Mountain Mill

[Jim Courtney]

In trying to avoid corona virus shut-in boredom, I got out my drafting stuff and began the 1st attempt at drawing a track plan for an Sn3 retirement layout in my 11' x 20' shop.

My first iteration isn't bad, most of what I visualized seems to fit (with compression). The Breckenridge yards, wye, depot and trackage for the C&D ore sampler all seem to fit on one long wall, even squeezed in the low trestle that crossed the Blue River, using the tall gravel pile as a scenic divider. I found that the Gold Pan shops would fit on a 28" x 7' section in the corner on one of the short walls.

I had hoped to include the long grade up Illinois Gulch on a 28" wide shelf over my work shop counters on the other long wall, from the Gold Pan Shops at the bottom, to Illinois Park at the top, where several spurs served small mines, mills and a lumber loading facility.

Our Irish correspondent, Jeff Young, was kind enough to send me a high-res scan of the Denver Water Board photograph of Breckenridge that he purchased on eBay a while back (thanks Jeff!!). An enlargement of a portion of the photo shows the Gold Pan Shops at the bottom of Illinois Gulch, in January of 1929:




My favorite gravel pile is visible behind the boiler house stack.

The grade climbed up the Gulch between Barney Ford Hill (AKA "Nigger Hill" for South Park) and Little Mountain:




The Gold Pan pipeline ran along the left side of the railroad grade for a ways, a wagon road ran between the two on the mid to right side of the photo.

A spur named Puzzle was located at MP 108.7, and according to Poor there was a 13-car spur which served a mining operation with ore loading bins. Just a wee tad downgrade from Puzzle was Little Mountain spur, again listed by Poor, as only 212 feet in length. About 0.4 of a mile upgrade from Puzzle, at the beginning of "Hookeye curve", was Smith Spur, listed by Poor as 12-car length. It served a lumber loading facility with platforms.

The 1918 valuation map shows both Puzzle and Smith Spurs still in existence, Little Mountain Spur is gone by that date.

I'd like to model one or more of these Illinois Park industries and need photographs or other information. Here is what I have:


Otto Westerman photo. In Digerness, The Mineral Belt, Volume II


I was quite taken by this photo of the Little Mountain Mill when I first saw it 35 years ago in the Digerness book. The photographer is standing in the middle of the Puzzle spur, with its visible derail. According to the valuation map, the "Puzzle" station sign was to the photographers left, in the crotch of the mainline and branching spur. Just downgrade a tad toward Breckenridge is the switch for the Little Mountain spur. I've always thought of this attractive small mill to the left, with its boiler house, as the Little Mountain Mill, though I really don't know its name. The valuation map shows this property as being on the "Germania" claim, so maybe it is the Germania Mill. The solitary boxcar with UP lettering suggests an 1890's date.

Another Digerness photo shows most of Illinois Park from the tracks on Barney Ford Hill.




The Little Mountain spur with its mill is at the right lower corner, Puzzle spur with its mine operation is in the middle. To the right is another mining operation, name unknown to me. The valuation map shows no trackage here. Poor does list a Jacott spur (eleven car-lengths, built 1908) between Puzzle and Smith spurs, so perhaps that's it. Smith spur is out of frame to the right. A C&S freight train has just traversed the Hookeye curve and is climbing toward the Gold Pan trestle.

https://digital.denverlibrary.org/digital/collection/p15330coll22/id/15075/rec/496



This unaccredited DPL photo looks across Illinois Park from the other side, with the C&S mainline descending to Breckenridge in the distance. Puzzle spur and its ore bins are at the lower left, the mill at the Little Mountain spur is above the long tailings pile. This is the best enlargement I could manage:




The head frame suggests a vertical shaft, rather than a tunnel into Little Mountain. Not much to go on for building a model.


Illinois Park and Hookeye curve from Windy Point:

https://digital.denverlibrary.org/digital/collection/p15330coll21/id/3411/rec/30



The Little Mountain spur is out of view to the left, behind Little Mountain.  Puzzle spur with a string of boxcars at the ore bins is in the middle, with possibly Jacott Spur just below. Smith Spur is to the bottom left, diverging from the mainline just as the Hookeye curve begins.

An enlargement of Puzzle spur:




If that is Jacott spur, I cannot make out the trackage.  And an enlargement of Smith Spur:




The valuation map shows loading platforms on either side of the spur, still existing in 1918. All the cut lumber presupposes a nearby saw mill.

So come on folks, help me out here. Can't plan or build models without good photos. I'd appreciate and help with photographs, especially of the mill at Little Mountain spur. Any information about the various mining operations in Illinois Park would be helpful.
And Sanborn insurance maps -- whadda-ya-think Chris?? Do any exist?

Thanks for your attention, you may now resume sheltering in place . . .

[Jim Courtney]

Wow, Google really can be your friend:

Turns out that the mill at Little Mountain Spur was both the "Little Mountain Mill" until the late 1880s, thereafter the "Germania Mill".
Evidently the longevity of the operation was due to interconnection of various deposits by the single tunnel of the Germania groups:  "Both Little Mountain and Gibson Hill contained “blanket deposits” from the Dakota and Wyoming geological formations.  Gold, as well as silver, was spread along irregular fractures in quartzite.  Pockets of exceptionally rich ore was found in these formations, many of which were connected through the Germania Tunnel."

Great photo from South Park days by Otto Westerman:


http://mtgothictomes.com/breckenridge-mining-district-summit-county-colorado/


Best photo in terms of detail so far, I think this would make a great, compact model of a mill for the planned layout.


Some operational info on the Germania and Puzzle mines . . .

From 1905 Mine Reporter:



From 1922 Mines Handbook:



Production figures from Geology and Ore Deposits of the Breckenridge Mining District ..., Issues 176-178 By Thomas Seward Lovering:

[Robert McFarland]

Don't forget "The meet at Little Mountain Spur".

[Todd Hackett]

Here are a few more photos of the Breckenridge area for your perusal.

This is from a mounted photo that's a little too big to fit in a notebook page:


And a couple of close-ups from the previous photo:



This is mounted to the back of the same mount as the previous one, and has been scratched up a bit:


And another close-up:


Not much detail, but this does show a train climbing Nigger Hill above Breckenridge:


From a photo postcard:


And another close-up:


A slightly different angle on Hookey Loop and Nigger Hill:

[Jim Courtney]

Ahem. Alright Robert, I'll bite . . . what was the "meet at the Little Mountain spur"?

[Jim Courtney]

Todd,

Thanks so much for the high resolution photos of Breckenridge and surrounds!

This will certainly stave off boredom tomorrow as I digest them all -- the large 1890's photo, with the aborted coaling trestle, is incredible!

[Robert McFarland]

Its a painting by Phillip Ronfor on page 462 of DSP&P Memorial.

[Robert McFarland]

Breckenridge was blockaded by snow for several months in 1899 causing severe shortages-Todd's photo is one of the ones taken during the blockade.

[Chris Walker]

Jim,
nice work,

you may wish to review this old Thread http://c-sng-discussion-forum.41377.n7.nabble.com/Illinois-Gulch-Mines-tp9368.html
only the Washington Mine(several posts in) is on the Breckenridge Sanborn maps in that area SE of P.O.  Look for Sh.2 1883.
Also the Gold Pan Shops show up on Sh.1 1902 and also Sh.1 1914.

[ComoDepot]

Modern day view