Keystone Driller, Galena, Kansas
N 37° 04.545 W 094° 38.530
15S E 354025 N 4104536
This driller is on display in Galena, Kansas, where mining is an important part of the history of the town.
Waymark Code: WMGW19
Location: Kansas, United States
Date Posted: 04/14/2013
Views: 11
This small town called Galena, in Kansas, was once a very important location for the mining of zinc and lead ore, starting in 1877.
By 1890, there were 365 producing mines in the area, and by the 1970s, when the lead mining had been exhausted, nearly 2.9 million tons of zinc and 700,000 tons of lead had been produced. The size of the town surged and declined with the production associated with mining.
This museum displays artifacts of the mining era as well as the history of the citizens who lived and worked here over the years. The Keystone Driller, built by the Keystone Drilling Company, was manufactured in Jopin, Missouri. There is no plaque that identifies if this was a well driller or a skimmer.
ABOUT THE DRILLER:
Robert Magee Downie of Butler County, PA first patented a portable steam well drilling machine in 1880, and within a few years, these machines had changed the way water was drilled, as water could now be accessed by an 8 inch hole in the ground rather than the contemporary method of digging a well by hand. Other models were produced by 1890, which could drill for oil, and soon after, company offices were opened in other states and even as far away as South Africa. By 1912, Keystone held the patent for what was essentially the first portable backhoe in America, which revolutionized the way highways were constructed (it was called the Keystone Skimmer). The Keystone machines were used by US soldiers in both World Wars.
A book has been written about the Keystone Drilling Company and the drillers they manufactured. (
visit link)
"Where Earth Dissolves like Snow The Keystone Driller Story"
By Wayne A. Cole
Foreword by Rex Downie, Grandson of founder R. M. Downie