Blewett Area Arrastra Mill, Liberty, Washington

This video features a working model based from a historic arrastra that was located at the mining area of Virden, Washington. It is located in Liberty, Washington, and was built in 1974 by Wesley Engstrom and his son. This arrastra also is similar to a historic arrastra from the Blewett gold mining district (that was powered by water). Unlike the original arrastra at Blewett and Virden (both which no longer exists), a canopy was placed above the Liberty arrastra--to improve its longevity by protecting it from the weather. The model arrastra at Liberty reportedly has a slightly different design than the historic arrastra at Blewett. It is the only arrastra in the Pacific Northwest. Reference: www.opb.org/article/2023/10/2... and by personal interview with Wesley Engstrom).
An arrastra is a primitive mill to pulverize gold ore into sand and dust size particles. These mill wheels were horizontally oriented, and could be powered by animals, water, or steam. Attached by a chain to the arrastra wheel, are one or more drag blocks, which are large stones that slid over and progressively abraided the gold ore rocks into dust. The drag stones were located near the axis of the arrastra wheel. One- to- two tons of ore could be processed each day with this method. The pulverized ore was then panned/sluiced and mixed with mercury--to remove the worthless waste material. The remaining higher-grade gold was then shipped away to better quality refineries.
The only remnant in the area, of this historic type of ore mill, is a large boulder. It dates from the 1860s--at the former town site of Blewett, Washington (located north of Blewett Pass on the west side of Highway 97-- www.waymarking.com/waymarks/W... ). At this location along Peshastin Creek, the large boulder contains a rounded, circular shaped trough with a rounded high point at the center point of the trough (roughly 4-5 feet in diameter). The high point is the axis area, upon where the water powered arrastra wheel rotated, and the trough area was where the ore was ground into sand and dust size particles with drag stones. Reference: www.cwu.edu/academics/geograp...
To access the old Blewett arrastra site, there is a small parking area and interpretive sign on the east side of Highway 97, although directions to the actual arrastra site are not specified by the interpretive sign. The site is across the highway (over the guardrail) and next to the river. Some steps may be visible from the highway guardrail area. Please be cautious of fast moving traffic when crossing the highway. Also note that this area is buried deeply by snow during winter (usually until April), and that the historic arrastra boulder may be partially overgrown with vegetation.
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Hello Rock People! This is Dave the Geology Dude! There is more to this video than just a spinning arrastra mill. There are detailed identification notes in the description area of this video. If you want more, longer length rock identification videos are on this CZcams channel. Check them out, or leave a comment here!