Tipple Operation

Tipple Operation. . The structure before you is one of the last historic wooden coal tipples left in the west. The wooden tipple structure is an example of mine engineering technology used in the late 1800's and early 1900's. This type of structure is no longer used in the coal mining industry. , The tipple consists of two distinct parts: the coal bin, which is the large gable-roofed structure (uphill portion) and the chutes (downhill portion). The gable-roofed structure would receive and store the coal for the sorting and loading process. When the door at the bottom of the bin was opened, the tapered, funnel shape of the bin floor would gravity feed the coal to the chute system. The chute system was constructed in such a way as to allow nut-sized, egg, and lump-sized coal to be sorted as it traveled by gravity down the slope of the tipple. Their are three transloading chutes for dumping sorted coal into the train cars. Prior to sediment eroding from the hillside above, their was sufficient room under the two lower bays for train cars. The third track was loaded from the chute on the south face of the tipple. , The remains of a catwalk are visible on the east side of the tipple. From the catwalk the tipple operator would coax the coal down the chute, pulling and poking the coal with a handled tool. , Click on the marker image to see a cross-sectional view of the tipple