Ruby Shaft

Ruby Shaft (HMXFH)

Location: Philipsburg, MT 59858 Granite County
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Country: United States of America
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N 46° 18.96', W 113° 14.62'

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Inscription
Most of the ore that brought tremendous riches and fame to Granite was brought out of the Ruby Shaft, operated by the Granite Mountain Mining Company. Several tunnels outside the Ruby Shaft were also important in producing the silver (and some gold) ore that went to the mills and became ingots. The shaft work began in about 1880 when Mr. McIntyre was contracted to "sink a 50-foot shaft upon the ledge" in return for a one-quarter interest in the mine. The shaft that Mr. McIntyre sank, however, was one foot short. He decided not to finish the task and surrendered his share in the mine. This one-quarter share was eventually worth over $3,000,000 in dividends. In 1885, a new shaft, the Ruby Shaft, was started and was driven to a depth of 1550 feet. Soon several hundred miners were working three eight-hour shifts a day, six days a week.

The headframe of the Ruby Shaft, which has since fallen into the shaft, was contained in a building as shown. Power for the hoist was provided by steam engines that burned wood and coal. In the early years, ore was crushed in Mills A and B which were adjacent to the mine.

In 1888, the Granite Mountain Mining Company began construction of a large mill called the Rumsey Mill or Mill C in a valley to the east on Fred Burr Creek. The mill was completed in 1889 and was connected to the mining complex by an 8750-foot aerial tramway.

Details
HM NumberHMXFH
Tags
Historical Period19th Century
Historical PlaceMine
Marker TypeHistoric Structure
Marker ClassHistorical Marker
Marker StyleInterpretative Marker / Sign
Marker Condition
2 out of 10 (2 reports)
Date Added Friday, October 17th, 2014 at 1:00am PDT -07:00
Pictures
Photo Credits: [1] PMJETT  
Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)12T E 327261 N 5131604
Decimal Degrees46.31600000, -113.24366667
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 46° 18.96', W 113° 14.62'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds46° 18' 57.6000" N, 113° 14' 37.2000" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)406
Can be seen from road?No
Is marker in the median?No
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 110-134 Contract Mill Rd, Philipsburg MT 59858, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

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I Saw The Marker

Forgot to rate the condition.

Jul 29, 2021 at 10:47pm PDT by pmjett

I Saw The Marker

Visited Granite Ghost Town State Park today and snapped pictures of a few of the markers. Park doesn’t seem to have had much love in a while. “Info Center” is pretty tired looking and all of the info is gone. Cool place though.

Jul 29, 2021 at 10:04pm PDT by pmjett

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Maintenance Issues
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