Kennedy Mine Tailing Wheels Park

The Kennedy Mine, near Jackson, was a large and deep mine that operated until 1942. Above is one of the ore buckets used to bring ore to the surface.

The big attraction here (pun intended) are the wheels. To explain what and why these are required a little background. The Jackson website tells it better than I can:

By 1911, the Kennedy was among the most productive mines in the Mother Lode – that stretch of lode from El Dorado County south – and its pulverized waste was piled high beside two old shafts and the new eastern, vertical shaft, about 2,000 feet away.  Then, in January, 1911, those waste piles were pummeled by a deluge of 20 inches of rain. That relentless downpour sent tons of   "slickens" - slime and sand - into creeks and onto farm and ranch lands below.  The slickens filled the creeks, and flooded or washed away farming land to varying depths.  Slickens covered some valley ranches and farms inches deep.

Soon after the deluge, local newspapers reported "rumor of suits" against the Kennedy and other mines.  By that March, the Dispatch reported farmers had formed an Amador-Calaveras-San Joaquin anti-debris association to seek flood damages. Amador farmers headed the group and committee.  In June owners of Jackson's Zeile, Kennedy and Argonaut gold mines met with 15 farmers of Ione valley.  "The farmers have organized into a mutual protection association," the paper said.

Whether through anti-debris or mutual association or other means, the farmers long met with mine owners culminating in an agreement on March 3, 1913.  The result: no damages asked; no payment of legal fees; but a demand that the principal mines in the Dry Creek watershed had to impound mine wastes no later than December, 1914 or shut down.

Even before signing the agreement, the Kennedy had begun work on a unique elevator-wheel system    patterned after a wheel in Montana, connected by long launders or flumes, to remove waste from the mine site and lift it over two hills to the impoundment in Indian Gulch south and east of the mine. 

While the above wheel (no. 4) is now preserved, others are not so well cared for. The one below, no.3 I think, has fallen into decay.

Here, you can see the metal hub and axle of the decayed wheel.

There is a kiosk on site that offers some overviews of the area so you can understand what this was all about. A total of four wheels were used to lift the contaminated water up and over several hills and dump it in a natural ravine that was dammed for the purpose. Here, between 1914 and 1942, all the waste was dumped.

Below is more of a plan view of the construction shown how it lifts the waste water over a stream and a road.

The small inset above shows more nearly now this all looked with the wheels enclosed and protected from the elements. All this is gone now,

The Kennedy Wheels, protected by corrugated steel sheds, operated with few interruptions 24-hours a day, from 1914 until the U.S. Government closed the mine in 1942.  Soon after, when the price of scrap metal soared, the wheels sheds were dismantled revealing the wheels to the world and the elements for the first time in 28 years.