Mine Buildings (Lebanon Mine Co)
Mine manager’s office, the miners’ change room and the tool shed
The mine manager's office was a place the manager could keep track of the payroll, ore production, and mill record. It is located between the miner's change room and the tool shed to the right. The rails (which can be seen behind the buildings run between the mine portal and the mill right by the office
The term hard rock miners used for the change room was "the dry". (Coal miners called it a change room). Miners came to work in every day clothes. They hung those clothes on pegs and changed into their mining gear. At the end of a shift, the miner changed from his wet mining clothes. Dry clothes were important items for miners. First, the Lebanon Mine is 8860 feet above sea level. There is much snow and cold weather at that elevation. Second, it was both damp and cold inside the mine. Concern about miners' health was not the only reason there was a dry room. Miners sometime took pieces of ore when they went off shift. They would sell these to ore merchants. This practice was known as "highgrading." Since miners always felt they were underpaid, they felt they had a right to highgrade. In the mid‐1870s, a laborer made $3.00 a day, a technical miner $3.50, and a blacksmith $4.00. By changing in "the dry", it was more difficult for miners to highgrading ore from the mine.
Mining required many different kinds of tools which were kept in the tool shed while not being used. Tools varied depending on the time during which the mining took place
Mine Buildings (Lebanon Mine Co)
Mine manager’s office, the miners’ change room and the tool shed
The mine manager's office was a place the manager could keep track of the payroll, ore production, and mill record. It is located between the miner's change room and the tool shed to the right. The rails (which can be seen behind the buildings run between the mine portal and the mill right by the office
The term hard rock miners used for the change room was "the dry". (Coal miners called it a change room). Miners came to work in every day clothes. They hung those clothes on pegs and changed into their mining gear. At the end of a shift, the miner changed from his wet mining clothes. Dry clothes were important items for miners. First, the Lebanon Mine is 8860 feet above sea level. There is much snow and cold weather at that elevation. Second, it was both damp and cold inside the mine. Concern about miners' health was not the only reason there was a dry room. Miners sometime took pieces of ore when they went off shift. They would sell these to ore merchants. This practice was known as "highgrading." Since miners always felt they were underpaid, they felt they had a right to highgrade. In the mid‐1870s, a laborer made $3.00 a day, a technical miner $3.50, and a blacksmith $4.00. By changing in "the dry", it was more difficult for miners to highgrading ore from the mine.
Mining required many different kinds of tools which were kept in the tool shed while not being used. Tools varied depending on the time during which the mining took place