Gypsum mine off LV in Victor

I've read some history on this mine but I couldn't find the years the mine was serviced by the LV. This is a 1942 map. And before you say it's gone from the 1950 map, I don't trust the map as the map type reverted back to the pre-WWII map. This map was the special ones done during WWII with more info.

Anyway, any clues to how long the LV accepted cars? Thanks.

Charles

Interesting, there's a housing development there now. One of the roads is named Gypsum Mills Rd, another, Plastermill Road. This would be the road crossing just west of the switch, except it now curves to follow the track - a grade crossing elimination.

I am out of state and will double check when I get back. From memory, the mine was only active about 14 years, seems to me it closed early in - or before - WWII. It was a trailing point westbound off the LV main at about MP 367.2 give or take. The processing works at the surface reportedly had their own dinky which existed into the 1950's. They took a lot of gypsum out of it, the workings extended quite a ways out from the shaft, but for whatever reason it was shut down after a fairly short life.

OK, 2380 miles behind us, I'm home. Here's what I have on the mine etc.

Victor Plaster Co. Shaft started 1926. One source shows completed 1927, one source shows 1928. Seam was at 110 feet depth, 5 to 8 feet thick. It was the first shaft mine for gypsum in the US, more often it was quarried. Shaft was 12 1/2 feet square, had a 2-cage hoist. Employed 50 men, used electric drills. 20 mine cars, electric locos, 10 miles of track.

The mine covered 11 to 12 acres by one account. Another source says it extended roughly from the present-day Thruway (which obviously had not been built yet) to Rt 96, and from Rt 332 to Victor limits. Initial output was 200 tons a day, which had doubled by 1936. Gypsum was dumped from the shaft house into the crusher bin, and then weighed and loaded into rail cars. It was high-grade gypsum, used for wall plaster, Plaster of Paris, and as a retainer in cement.

An interesting "scientific" note - the miners believed the moon caused shot rock to fall at night, so blasting was the last thing done each day.

The mine was closed by 1940, the underground rails were removed, and the shaft filled with water. There were some subsidence issues in the 1950's. A small industrial loco (I believe it was a steam engine) was used for surface switching.

Sources were books by Fisher and by Fagan et al, and personal narrative from a member of the family who subsequently owned the property.

I wonder how many residents of the Plaster Mills Estates trailer park know they are located above old mine workings.

Edit - apparently the forum has a block on words which might offend people and will not let me post the author of one book. The author was Fegan except the second letter should be an "a" instead of an "e".

Do you know why it closed after operating only a few short years ? Just curious.

U.V.#200 GE70 Tonner wrote:Do you know why it closed after operating only a few short years ? Just curious.

None of those sources mentioned a reason. It's possible the vein was worked out. It's also possible they mined to the full extent of their mineral rights, but could not get the right to mine farther than that. But I have nothing to back either of those guesses up.

I read somewhere that NY State has a repository of mine information. It would be interesting to see a layout of the workings, but I don't recall exactly what office had the info and I don't have the time to go to Albany and pour through the files anyway.

This underground mine produced gypsum, and shipped it out to companies who used it in manufacturing various products. It probably closed for economic reasons. The primary use of gypsum is for the manufacture of sheetrock. Just about every sheetrock manufacturing facility has an onsite mine, or owns their own mine close by. Also, underground mining of gypsum is almost always more costly than surface mining. Thus, being underground, and having no onsite processing/manufacturing plant, it had 2 strikes against it.
Jeff

This has been in the local D&C:

http://roc.democratandchronicle.com/art ... um-milling" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks Charles! An interesting sentence in that article which I had not heard before: "In 1948, the Federal Gypsum Co. acquired a lease on the property and prepared to resume operations."

That would suggest the deposit was not worked out. Since production apparently never did resume, economics would seem to be a factor, as mowingman suggested above.

Not to turn political, but it's sad that even if demand for the product skyrocketed today, there would be so many regulatory and environmental hurdles that it would never be reopened even if the trailer park was not there.

I'm wondering what was considered unique about the mine shaft in Victor. Ebsary/Ruberoid in Wheatland, USG in Oakfield, National Gypsum in Akron, all used mines as well as several others. Many of these mines also predated the l927 date when the Victor shaft started.

Old & Weary wrote:I'm wondering what was considered unique about the mine shaft in Victor. Ebsary/Ruberoid in Wheatland, USG in Oakfield, National Gypsum in Akron, all used mines as well as several others. Many of these mines also predated the l927 date when the Victor shaft started.

I don't know the answer. That IS what the sources said but that does not make it accurate historically. I do know there was mining at and near Wheatland, but was not aware of how the timeline dovetailed with the Victor mine.

Are there any known articles or books about the Wheatland mine? I have a booklet somewhere put out by their historian, I'll have to see if I can find it.

There are local books and the NYS Museum has written extensively on the Wheatland area mines.

one only has to ask.....

it was in garbut ny...

http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopi ... 128&t=5621" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopi ... 28&t=40353" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.livingplaces.com/NY/Monroe_C ... rbutt.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.us-mining.com/new-york/scottsville" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

hope that helps!

Old & Weary wrote:I'm wondering what was considered unique about the mine shaft in Victor. Ebsary/Ruberoid in Wheatland, USG in Oakfield, National Gypsum in Akron, all used mines as well as several others. Many of these mines also predated the l927 date when the Victor shaft started.

Following the links Mark provided, (thanks, Mark!) there are several mentions of mine trackage in the Garbutt area entering a mine portal. This would suggest a drift or slope mine, not a shaft. The info on the Victor mine said it was the first shaft mine for gypsum. That may clear things up.

Strictly speaking would a shaft mine only refer to a mine reached by one of the cage like elevators common in coal mine photos and often seen in any movies with coal mining themes? The Ruberoid mine was reached by a shaft 75 or 100 feet in length which stretched out at about a 30 degree angle from the surface inside one of the buildings. Steep enough so that gypsum rock was brought up by conveyor and any equipment had to be winched up and down. This is the only entrance I have personal experience of but USG in Oakfield had an old mine structure across from the plant with large pulley wheels on top indicating and up and down entrance. However it is long gone along with all the other above ground structures except for a couple of sheds following the closure of the mine and wallboard plant.