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Two of the huge wheels are still standing; they are part of a park located north of Jackson on Jackson Gate Road.The monstrous,
fifty-eight foot diameter Kennedy Tailing Wheels are a one-of-a-kind creation. Although not built during the Gold Rush, these huge wooden wheels were a direct result of a Gold Rush
event and are probably the most remembered artifacts of any visit to Jackson today. The wheels were built in 1914 in response to federal anti-debris laws and court cases reaching back to
the 1880's; no longer could the mines dump their wastes into the rivers and streams, polluting the water and causing serious flood dangers to the farmers in the valleys below.
All mine tailings had to be impounded.
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From the parking area, trails lead to the wheels-one on the west side and the other on the east side of the road. The ore from the
Kennedy Mine was crushed in their one hundred-stamp mill on the south slope of Humbug Hill. The tailings, or "waste," were then mixed with water in the slime plant and
allowed to flow down a one thousand-foot-long flume to the base of Wheel #1. Anchored to a concrete foundation.
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There are plenty of park like settings for picnicking for the day and lots of interesting areas around Jackson Gate to see and
visit.The three-story-tall wheel lifted the tailings forty-four feet in redwood buckets, and then emptied them into a flume which flowed to the base of Wheel #2. From the top of
Wheel #2, an eight hundred-foot long flume carried the tailings over Jackson Gate Road to Wheel #3. Up another forty-four feet and down another flume to Wheel #4 which lifted the tailings
for a final time up and over the top of the hill and into the impounding basin in Indian Gulch.
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All graphics created and owned by Ray and Cheryl Herndon
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AmadorGold.Net
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