Amador County – The Amador County Historical Society last week announced that it will reopen its popular exhibit of mine models at the Amador County Museum on July 16.
Larry Cenotto announced the planned opening, saying the public is invited to a brief ceremony and tour of the exhibit, set for 10 a.m. Saturday, July 16.
At a recent meeting of Amador Historical Society’s museum committee chaired by Trevor Mottishaw, long-time museum curator and ACHS member Georgia Fox was named the mining model staffing coordinator. People interested in becoming docents at the exhibit should contact Fox or the society.
The exhibit includes operating scale models of the stamp mill of the North Star mine, between Sutter Creek and Amador City. Models include the fallen Wheel No. 2 of the four tailing wheels of Kennedy Mine and the Kennedy Mine headframe itself.
The models were crafted by the late Bob Post and sold to the county for $4,500 in about 1972. His father, master mechanic Elbridge Post, oversaw rebuilding of the real Kennedy wheels in 1922.
Tentative plans call for the exhibit to open July 16 and every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., with docent programs, approximately 45 minutes long, given at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Admission will be $2 for adults and $1 for children under 10. The Historical Society anticipates it will open the exhibit more days as demand increases.
Cenotto in a release said “Amador County closed the museum and adjacent exhibit three years ago because of budget shortfalls. In the interim,” the Amador County Historical Society “negotiated an agreement with the county to manage the museum grounds and work to reopen the exhibit and museum.”
Cenotto said the terms of the Historical Society’s agreement with Amador County on the mine model exhibit “allows the society to retain all proceeds but pay for most expenses.”
In recent weeks, the Historical Society “has expended about $10,000 of its own funds to resurface the museum parking area and delineate handicapped parking space and pathways to meet disability requirements,” Cenotto said. “It also had to construct a fenced concrete landing or entryway to the exhibit building to meet ADA standards.” The Society also held a cleanup day of the exhibits July 6. The county will provide a porta-potty but the Historical Society will have to pay for its servicing.
Society President Gary Reinoehl said the group “is also negotiating with the county a long-term lease and another agreement to manage and reopen the museum too. But the museum also requires work to accommodate the disabled and to bolster the brick walls of the 1859 building.”
Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
