I have started to cast the mine office.

This building will contain the water pump and reservoir for the water system and the electric motor with gears and bearings to turn the water wheel at 3 RPM. Switches, batteries, electronics, and solar panels for a self-contained system are all contained in this building.

I created the wax models for this building using forms from my Stagecoach.

The office door is hinged and will open and close. At scale, this door is about 5 and a half feet tall which is a bit of a head bumper, but many cabins were built on the small side in the 1890’s.

I have planned for two on-off switches. One switch will activate the overall system and turn the water wheel motor on and off, and the other will turn the water pump on and off. This allows some flexibility in operation.

The beginning of the sculpture is shown below. There are external gears to further reduce the revolutions per minute to drive the ore crusher.

The next step is to cast the roof and related parts for the crusher.