I am beginning to assemble the water mechanism for the water wheel.

The water reservoir will sit underneath the mine office. This reservoir will contain a submerged pump driven by the battery and electronics in the office that will pump water into the water tower. The water will come out of the tower at the bottom and run down a trough to spill onto the water wheel. The falling water will appear to provide force to turn the wheel, however the wheel is actually being powered by the electric motor in the mine office.

I am mounting the sculpture on a 1/8 inch thick sheet of aluminum that is set on a 2 1/2 inch high raised platform. The aluminum will provide the structural strength for the piece. This platform will hide the reservoir yet still allow access for maintenance. The platform as shown is temporary. I am not exactly sure what the final presentation will be for this work.

I have cast a sluice box system to catch and return the water falling from the water wheel. The returned water is gravity fed back into the reservoir. I have also created tracks for the ore cart. The ore cart was the little piece that started this sculpture, that sort of got away from me!

The tracks can be used to deposit ore for the crusher or deliver goods to the mine office.

There will be a bronze cast miner pushing the ore cart. I do not expect to have this complete until the summer.

You are looking at “Billy Miles Gold Mine”. I will etch an appropriate sign for the front of the mine office.