Mill Cogwheel, etc.

[OldQuest]

Eight of these sections would have made a circle about 5' in diameter.

Also found various iron chunks. The 2nd piece from the top is curved, as if fitted to something circular like a hose or pipe.

 

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[Professor of Engineering]

Cool relics, congrats!

 

[Digger RJ]

Nice!!! Congrats!!!

 

[OldQuest]

This sport reminds me a lot of fishing. Weighs in at 13.2 lbs, my largest so far.

This piece was most likely cast in a factory back east, shipped around the Horn to San Francisco, then loaded on a riverboat and then pack mule to its destination near where I found it. Probably embedded in the riverbank for nearly 160 years.

It may have been part of the sawmill "ragwheel", which used a ratcheting mechanism to advance the log carriage into the saw.

 

[OldQuest]

Looks like I'm probably wrong about this piece being cast back east. I found this advertisement in the 7 February 1856 edition of the Marysville Daily Herald. This gear section could easily have been cast in this foundry.