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Editorial
SIA stalwart Fred Quivik opens this issue with his article on the Standard gold mill at Bodie, California. Based on a HAER documentation project, this paper concentrates on the treatment, or more properly, the retreatment, of industrial waste products. This well-preserved example of a typical California stamp mill reveals the lengths that operators went to in the effort to wring maximal returns from gold ores. Quivik offers extensive background on the region and gold milling practices that is necessary to allow a clear understanding of mill operation and in the process generates some new insights on the utility of waste in understanding historic industry.
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James Wettstaed, a United States Forest Service archaeologist, describes two charcoal production complexes associated with late-19th-century ironmaking in Mis-souri. Arising from cultural resource management (CRM) work designed to identify and protect heritage resources on public lands, this paper examines the remains of fuel production and associated domestic habitations of charcoal workers. This study is a welcome addition to complement the comparative examples of similar sites in the East and West, especially those explored by Victor Rolando and Ron Reno, respectively.
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Running in a similar vein as Quivik's article, Paul White analyzes milling wastes from a remote gold mill, this one the Lucky Girl mill in Alaska's Wrangells St. Elias National Park. After describing the mill and the surrounding Bremner Mining District, White makes a series of microscopic and even elemental analyses of waste deposits left by milling. Working at this hyper-detailed scale, he explores the industrial processes to evaluate the successes of the historic operators, wringing interesting insights from this mundane material.
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| We are happy to offer a full contingent of book reviews in this issue, as well. |
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