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Klondyke Mill was an ore processing mill on the edge of the Gwydir Forest, near Trefriw, north Wales. Constructed in 1900, the mill was built to receive lead ore (and some zinc ore) from Pandora mine, some 2 miles away - with which its history is inextricably linked - this ore travelling along a tramway which followed the eastern shore of Llyn Geirionydd. The mill saw little usage; Pandora mine was never profitable after construction of the mill, and the mine ceased operation in 1905. Klondyke mill itself closed in 1911 after having a short succession of optimistic owners. In the 1920s the mill achieved notoriety as the scene of an elaborate money-making scam, when investors were sought for the Klondyke mine, which was allegedly rich in silver. It is this scam which gives the mill it its current name; during its years of operation it was initially known as Geirionydd Mill, then as the New Pandora Lead Works.〔 Today the mill lies in a ruined state, a tribute to the false optimism of the time, and is believed to be the largest upstanding building associated with lead mining in north Wales.〔(www.heneb.co.uk - Industrial Recording )〕 It is a registered ancient monument 〔(www.coflein.gov.uk - Klondyke Lead Mine )〕〔(www.ancientmonuments.info - Klondyke Lead Mill )〕 and, despite its state of disrepair, is under the guardianship of Cadw, the only mine structure in the Gwydir Forest to be so designated.〔 ==History== The mill was built by the Welsh Crown Spelter Company, formed in 1899, and a subsidiary company of the English Crown Spelter Company (formed in 1883).〔 (Quite simply, the English Company was involved in zinc smelting, for which it required large quantities of blende. To get supplies of this, the Welsh company was formed, which received assistance from the English Company in the shape of advances on loan.〔(www.indiankanoon.org - Court case )〕 The Welsh company worked a number of mines in the area, having purchased them from previous owners, notably what is today most-commonly known as Pandora mine (though known successively as Willoughby Lead Mine, Welsh Foxdale Lead Mine, and New Pandora Lead Mine), which lies about 1.5 miles south-south-east.〔(Coflein.co.uk - New Pandora Mine )〕 The company also developed the small mine known as Klondyke, adjacent to where the mill was built. The company had grand plans for expanding the production of Pandora mine, which already had dressing floors immediately south of the lane (between Llyn Geirionydd & Capel Curig). Most prominent in the scheme was the construction of a new, large dressing mill at Klondyke, to which the ore would be carried on a 2-mile tramway, before descending by aerial runway from the hillside above into the upper floor of the mill itself. Much of this tramway was level, and it is known that the company had a 22½" gauge Kerr Stuart petrol locomotive.〔 It is logical to assume that it worked the tramway. Both Pandora and Klondyke were to be state-of-the-art operations, heavily dependent on electricity. The lakes to the east of Pandora mine had previously provided a source of water, and a pipeline was now built directly downhill between Pandora and Lake Geirionydd, at the bottom of which was a small generating station. At the northern end of Lake Geirionydd, water was taken from the stream a little below its outflow from the lake, from where it travelled northwards in a newly constructed leat, alongside the tramway to a location directly above Klondyke mill. Here there was a large water tank, with a pipeline running down the hillside below the aerial ropeway. This water powered the turbine room at Klondyke. In September 1901, a year after work had started on mill construction, George Grant Francis, consulting engineer to the parent company, reported to a shareholders' meeting of that company that they had, amongst other things at Pandora itself: The company financed this development by issuing many thousands of un-issued shares. The main north and south walls of the mill building are buttressed, and it is not known whether these buttresses were part of the original design, or whether they were added after the collapse mentioned above. Certainly they were needed, given the design of the building which only had solid walls on 3 sides - the western wall was timbered, and clad in corrugated iron. Apart from the cavernous main mill building, which housed the main equipment, i.e. stone-breaker, Cornish rolls, trommels and jigs machinery, the northern extension held Wilfley tables, and the most southerly part was the turbine room. The office was a separate building to the north, half-way to the road bridge. Vehicle access to the mine was by a newly constructed road on the eastern side of the river Crafnant, as referred to by Francis above, and is now a public footpath. Although the metalled road to Llyn Crafnant had been built by this time (by Hugh Hughes of Tŷ Newydd, Trefriw, a quarry supervisor),〔''Hanes Trefriw'' by Morris Jones, 1879〕 access was shorter and more direct this way, crossing the river Geirionydd by a bridge a short distance from the mill. Although the bridge platform has long been removed, the bridge parapets remain in good condition. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Klondyke mill」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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