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https://www.dougmahugh.com/headframes/ has more of the frames and explanations.
Dotting the landscape and skyline of Butte are fourteen tall, black steel structures. Variously called "gallows frames", "gallus frames", or headframes, these mark the remnants of mines that honeycombed the Butte hill. Cables from a mine's hoist house passed over sheave wheels at the top of the frame, lowering miners to their work, transporting mules, equipment and supplies down the shafts and most importantly, bringing up load after load of ore.
Seven of the fourteen headframes have been outlined in red lights, part of a campaign to memorialize all of Butte's historic headframes.
UPPER is The Original Mine. the city’s first copper mine, not only serves as part of the city’s public interpretation efforts, it is also a place for community gatherings, such as the Montana Folklife Festival in recent years. (43–died at that mine.) The Original Mine Yard is one of Butte's signature historically preserved mining yards. The yard is home to a headframe (also called a "gallus" or "gallows" frame) that was used to lower men and mining equipment down into the mine, and lift up Butte's gift to the United States: copper. The hoist house on site still houses the enormous gears that operated the lift to carry men and minerals up and down the shaft.
LOWER is Mt. Con headframe.
Just off Main Street, the Mt. Con ran until 1974 and is Butte's deepest mine at almost 5,300 feet deep. The area around the "Con" has been reclaimed and now is home to a scenic and historic walking trail and a picnic pavilion which is also a popular spot for weddings. The headframe proudly displays Butte's "Mile High and Mile Deep" moniker.
The Anaconda Copper Mining Company (ACM) erected the Mountain Consolidated (or simply the "Con") mine headframe in 1928. Towering 129-1/2 feet, the steel headframe and five idlers towers replaced smaller wooden structures (the steel structures are easily seen in the photo at tar right). The Hoist House (or Engine Room), located on the hill above, lowered men and equipment into the mine and raised ore from the mine. The Con headframe is the second tallest of the 12 surviving steel headframes on the Butte Hill.
Shaft Drops 5,300 Feet
Below the headframe a mineshaft dropped almost 5,300 feet down to access crosscuts (horizontal tunnels) and drifts that intersected and followed the copper veins. The copper-bearing ore was raised to the surface and off-loaded into ore bins to await shipment via the Butte, Anaconda and Pacific (BA&P) railroad to concentrators and smelters in Anaconda. Headframes (also known in Butte as a Gallus or Gallows Frame) were symbols of the community. In the heyday of underground mining, electricians and ropemen decorated them every Christmas and lit them Thanksgiving Eve. The tradition continues today as volunteers light the city's remaining headframes every Christmas season.
Large Steel cables looped over the massive sheave wheels (pulleys) on top of the Mount Con headframe (the largest structure to the right above), connecting the hoist to the man cages and ore skips suspended over the mineshaft.
Dotting the landscape and skyline of Butte are fourteen tall, black steel structures. Variously called "gallows frames", "gallus frames", or headframes, these mark the remnants of mines that honeycombed the Butte hill. Cables from a mine's hoist house passed over sheave wheels at the top of the frame, lowering miners to their work, transporting mules, equipment and supplies down the shafts and most importantly, bringing up load after load of ore.
Seven of the fourteen headframes have been outlined in red lights, part of a campaign to memorialize all of Butte's historic headframes.
UPPER is The Original Mine. the city’s first copper mine, not only serves as part of the city’s public interpretation efforts, it is also a place for community gatherings, such as the Montana Folklife Festival in recent years. (43–died at that mine.) The Original Mine Yard is one of Butte's signature historically preserved mining yards. The yard is home to a headframe (also called a "gallus" or "gallows" frame) that was used to lower men and mining equipment down into the mine, and lift up Butte's gift to the United States: copper. The hoist house on site still houses the enormous gears that operated the lift to carry men and minerals up and down the shaft.
LOWER is Mt. Con headframe.
Just off Main Street, the Mt. Con ran until 1974 and is Butte's deepest mine at almost 5,300 feet deep. The area around the "Con" has been reclaimed and now is home to a scenic and historic walking trail and a picnic pavilion which is also a popular spot for weddings. The headframe proudly displays Butte's "Mile High and Mile Deep" moniker.
The Anaconda Copper Mining Company (ACM) erected the Mountain Consolidated (or simply the "Con") mine headframe in 1928. Towering 129-1/2 feet, the steel headframe and five idlers towers replaced smaller wooden structures (the steel structures are easily seen in the photo at tar right). The Hoist House (or Engine Room), located on the hill above, lowered men and equipment into the mine and raised ore from the mine. The Con headframe is the second tallest of the 12 surviving steel headframes on the Butte Hill.
Shaft Drops 5,300 Feet
Below the headframe a mineshaft dropped almost 5,300 feet down to access crosscuts (horizontal tunnels) and drifts that intersected and followed the copper veins. The copper-bearing ore was raised to the surface and off-loaded into ore bins to await shipment via the Butte, Anaconda and Pacific (BA&P) railroad to concentrators and smelters in Anaconda. Headframes (also known in Butte as a Gallus or Gallows Frame) were symbols of the community. In the heyday of underground mining, electricians and ropemen decorated them every Christmas and lit them Thanksgiving Eve. The tradition continues today as volunteers light the city's remaining headframes every Christmas season.
Large Steel cables looped over the massive sheave wheels (pulleys) on top of the Mount Con headframe (the largest structure to the right above), connecting the hoist to the man cages and ore skips suspended over the mineshaft.
Aug 05 2022