The Pinto Wye Arrastra in Joshua Tree National Park is one of the many well-preserved artifacts of Western mining and ranching in the Park that can still be seen today.

An arrastra is a type of mill that was used to pulverize ore. Most of the ones I’ve seen follow a simple design: a circular pit lined with flat stones, and a shaft with connected drag stones on a pivot above the pit. The shaft is then spun in some way to pull the drag stones around in the pit and process the ore. Sometimes burros or human power was used, and in later times gasoline engines.

The Pinto Wye Arrastra was powered by a gasoline engine, and the mine shaft just up the hill was one source of the ore it processed. There are some other adits in the area as well. A short distance away, across a wash, the remains of the miner’s camp can be seen also.

None of these shafts produced much ore, so the arrastra is still in very good condition and was probably only lightly used. When the shafts proved the area was a poor choice for mining the miners moved on and left the arrastra behind. The arrastra is a bit unusual because it uses a wagon wheel as the pivot. Along with the rudimentary miner’s camp this gives a good clue as to the experimental nature of the arrastra – a wagon wheel was probably easily available from an old wagon, and thus used alongside a gasoline engine as the exploratory shafts were dug and the ore examined. If these mines turned out to be promising, the arrastra would probably have given way to a stamp mill, or the ore would have been hauled out to one of the stamp mills in the area.

The arrastra can only be reached by going overland, there’s no trail to it. The less strenuous but longer route goes up a wash. The shorter route requires going through a saddle in a row ridge and doing a little bit of route finding. We opted for that route since it includes some nice views of the surrounding area.

Let’s look at some photos!

There is a nice informational plaque to help us understand what we’re looking at.

The arrastra is in good condition! The wagon wheel forms the inner part of the pivot mechanism. A larger wooden outer wheel was apparently added later. This arrastra has four drag stones.

Close up of the inner wagon wheel.

Detail of the edge of the outer wheel. My favorite part of this photo is the thin spider web strand running diagonally top left to bottom right across the wheel. I see that and I am immediately transported back to the site, to the quiet, the perfect warm spring temperature, the quiet and solitude.

A close look at one of the drag stones and the beam that supports it. The wood is weathered and a rich deep golden color.

Another drag stone.

The belt from the gasoline engine would have gone around the outer edge of the wagon wheel initially, and when the outer wooden wheel was added it would have gone around that instead, which explains the carefully crafted, wide rim. Probably the wagon wheel spun too fast and the larger diameter was added to slow it down. I assume the wagon wheel was tried first because otherwise there’d be no reason for it to be part of the arrastra.

The arrastra edge-on.

I love the look of weathered wood. This edge was pretty thin, and nailed to the wheel frame.

Another look at the feathered edge.

An old bucket.

The shaft uphill from the arrastra.

Some nasty spiky business left behind.

A note about the name of this arrastra. It didn’t hit me until I re-read the informational plaque in the photo I posted above. It was named for the area it is found in. “Pinto Wye”. Pinto Wye? Hmmm. Well, the Pinto Basin roads splits from the Park’s main drag in this general area, and the split has the shape of a … capital Y. Or “Wye”. Nice one, person in the Park Service who named this.

Well, that’s it for now! Oh, one last thing: if you visit the arrastra, make sure not to mess it up! It is always best not to touch or play with anything, no matter the temptation. If you want to experience what it was like to be a miner in the old days you can get the whole experience by building your own arrastra in your backyard, and moving it around! Leave this one be.