North Country At Work

The garnet mines at Oven Mountain, operated by Barton Mines. Horses and carts wait to be filled with ore. Miners on upper tier are shoveling out material. Circa 1910. North River, NY.

Garnet miners at Barton Mines pose against the opening of a new shaft. Notice the steel beams and wooden post on the left to support the overburden.  Circa 1900. North River, NY.

Four miners work with hammers, pickaxes and chisels. One worker (front center) measures up the minerals. One miner (near ore car) looks on. Wooden beams support mine ceiling. Circa 1900. Photography by S.A. Noves. Port Henry, NY. Courtesy of the Adirondack Experience.

Miners sifting through material at Barton Mines. The empty wooden barrel in the foreground was used to transport stones. Three of the men shoulder hods, used to carry rocks, bricks or other masonry supplies. Two of the miners are identified as Joe Lancore and Frank Hitchcock. Circa 1900. North River, NY.

Miners loading burlap bags of crushed rock, possibly garnet, into a cart pulled by a team of horses at Barton’s Mines. Circa 1900. North River, NY. Photo donated by John Dalaba Hitchcock to the Adirondack Experience: the Museum on Blue Mountain Lake.

Shot of the steam powered stone separator at Barton’s Old Mines. The ore was separated into various coarseness grades and dropped into the appropriate bin. In the foreground, a horse-drawn cart full of ore waits to have ore unloaded into the elevator that feeds the separator. Circa 1900. North River, NY.

Using horse drawn ore carts, men mine garnets in winter at Barton Mines. Workers, bundled up in winter clothing, shovel garnet ore into a two-wheeled cart pulled by a horse. Two other horses wait with a stone boat to pull more loads. Circa 1910. Barton Mines, North River, NY. Courtesy of the Adirondack Experience.

The Farrell crusher, a piece of heavy mining equipment, being transported over a corduroy road (perhaps during springtime). The corduroy road was a common (temporary) transportation solution—built from small  logs laid in parallel rows on top of soft ground. The sledge on which the crusher sits would be pulled along the corduroy road by a […]

Group portrait of miners at Barton Mines, where garnet was mined from Gore Mountain in the Adirondacks. The mine was established in 1878 by Henry Hudson Barton. The tools the workers are holding include pick-axes, hammers and shovels. Some of the men are posing in two narrow gauge ore cars. Circa 1890. North River, NY. […]

The electric shop crew at Benson Mines. Circa 1960s. Photo donated by Jim LaParr.