Hercules Mill

Hercules Mill. . Built in 1911, the Hercules Mill towered 87 feet above the railroad tracks and fed lead-silver concentrates to rail cars. It was situated on the hillside north of the Coeur d'Alene River and served by Northern Pacific rail line entering Wallace. , By 1914 the mill ran 24 hours a day, regularly doubling its capacity. The mill was retrofitted in 1925 with innovative technology providing differential separation of lead-silver and zinc by flotation. By 1929 the mill employed 65 men with a payroll of more than $10,000 a month. When full operation ended in 1949, the Hercules Mill had yielded an estimated three quarters of a million tons of lead-silver concentrates. , In addition to the mill contributing to regional and federal demand for metals, part-owners Levi and Mary Arkwright Hutton established a trust fund to support a children's home which is still in operation in Spokane, Washington. Other mill investors included Eugene, Harry, Jerome, and Henry Day, Emma Markwell, the Ed Hedin family, August Paulsen, Myrtle White, and H.F. Samuels. , By 1976 the mill structures had either been burned or removed, leaving concrete foundations on the hillside. In 2012 railroad companies removed facing foundations and conducted soil cleanup, keeping several foundations and concrete structures. The main railroad route near the site is now a 72-mile recreation trailway.