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Churn Drill in Action in Alaska


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The churn drill was one of the most innovative and important tools for placer prospecting in Alaska. Prospectors used to sink shafts by hand many tens of feet to bedrock, often in frozen ground. Now they could test far more ground far faster and with less effort. From the attached article:

"In 2009, miners who were cleaning up an old mining claim near Coldfoot, Alaska, donated a 1920s-era churn drill to the Bureau of Land Management. The drill, rusted and overgrown with willows, might not have looked impressive to many, but BLM Central Yukon Field Office Archaeologist Bill Hedman found that it was surprisingly intact. In the early 20th century, gas-powered churn drills like this one had offered Alaska placer miners a major technological advance, allowing them to dig a test hole through frozen gravel much more quickly and efficiently than with picks and shovels. Hedman decided this piece of Alaska mining history warranted some fixing up…"

FULL ARTICLE

http://www.akbizmag.com/Alaska-Business-Monthly/November-2013/A-Relic-of-Alaskas-Mining-Past-Roars-to-Life/

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A similar idea was used in the same time frame to drill oil wells.  It was called cable tool drilling. The drill bit was dropped and lifted by cable cutting a hole--same principle as the churn drill.   

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