The Crystal Mill, or the Old Mill is an 1892 wooden powerhouse located on an outcrop above the Crystal River in

Crystal, Colorado Crystal (also known as Crystal City) is a ghost town on the upper Crystal River in Gunnison County, Colorado, United States. It is located in the Elk Mountains along a four-wheel-drive road east of Marble and northwest of Crested Butte. Cr ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It is accessible from

Marble, Colorado The Town of Marble is a List of cities and towns in Colorado#Statutory town, Statutory Town in Gunnison County, Colorado, Gunnison County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 133 at the 2020 United States census. History The Town o ...

via

four-wheel drive A four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, is a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case pr ...

. Although called a

Watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as mill (grinding), milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in ...

, it is more correctly denoted as a compressor station, which used a

water turbine A water turbine is a rotary machine that converts kinetic energy and potential energy of water into mechanical work. Water turbines were developed in the 19th century and were widely used for industrial power prior to electrical grids. Now, t ...

to drive an

air compressor An air compressor is a machine that takes ambient air from the surroundings and discharges it at a higher pressure. It is an application of a gas compressor and a Pneumatics, pneumatic device that energy conversion, converts mechanical power (from ...

, and was originally built with a horizontal wheel. The

compressed air Compressed air is air kept under a pressure that is greater than atmospheric pressure. Compressed air in vehicle tires and shock absorbers are commonly used for improved traction and reduced vibration. Compressed air is an important medium for t ...

was then used to power other machinery or tools.

Names

In the 21st century, the mill is usually called the ''Crystal Mill'' or the ''Old Crystal Mill''. Many decades ago, when the mill was still in use, it was called the ''Sheep Mountain Power House'' at the ''Lost Horse Millsite'', or simply the ''Lost Horse Mill''. The building is built on a mining claim named "Lost Horse". The site is referred to as a "mill" because there was a 3-stamp mill for crushing ore, in a building directly adjacent to the south of the surviving structure.

History

The mill was constructed in 1893 by George C. Eaton and B.S. Phillips, promoters of the Sheep Mountain Tunnel and Mining Company. It was built as a power plant for the Sheep Mountain Tunnel. Originally it had a horizontal

waterwheel A water wheel is a machine for converting the kinetic energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, often in a watermill. A water wheel consists of a large wheel (usually constructed from wood or metal), with numerous blade ...

that generated

for miners in the nearby

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

mines. It fell into disuse in 1917 when the Sheep Mountain Tunnel mine closed. The mill was placed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

on July 5, 1985.

References

External links

Directory of Colorado State Register Properties

Gallery

File:Crystal-mill 1890s.jpg, The Crystal Mill in operation, 1890s File:Crystal Mill Power Plant.jpg, Another view of the mill File:The Crystal Mill 2014.jpg, The Crystal Mill 2014 Industrial buildings and structures in Colorado Buildings and structures in Gunnison County, Colorado Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Colorado Tourist attractions in Gunnison County, Colorado Watermills in the United States National Register of Historic Places in Gunnison County, Colorado {{Colorado-NRHP-stub

Names

History

See also

References

External links

Gallery