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Mine workers began to sink the Santa Isabel Shaft in 1877 to relieve the burden on the nearby Randol Shaft, which could no longer handle the abundance of underground cinnabar ore. Five years later ore was delivered to the surface for the Santa Isabel's 2,000 foot level. In 1883, the company shipped 1,018 tons of ore from the Santa Isabel Shaft to the mine works.

The Santa Isabel Shaft had three compartments, one for hoisting ore, a second for hoisting miners and a third containing a ladderway and Cornish pump used to drain the constant seepage of water from the interconnected tunnels of the Santa Isabel, Randol and Buena Vista shafts.

Pfeffer and Meyer took over the deserted Santa Isabel mine shaft in 1894 and discovered a method to liquefy carbonic acid gas (carbon dioxide). They offered to pay the Quicksilver Mining Company 10? a cylinder to pursue this business and with this gas started the U.S. dry ice industry.

[Photo caption:]Elizabeth RandolThe Santa Isabel Shaft was named for Elizabeth (Isabel in Spanish) Randol, daughter of Mine Manager James R. Randol. She was born at New Almaden in 1872.
Photograph circa 1890. Courtesy [unclear]per Wright

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