Odd California Gold Rush Camp Find

[mtnbay]

We found this baby on a friends private property. There were mining activities there from the 1840's until the early 1900's. The object is iron and about 2 1/2 feet long end to end. It has six spokes from the center of the object, 4 of which have broken off. There are 3 known stamp mills on the property. We have found fire bricks and iron that was exposed to very high temperatures nearby. Could this possibly be from a stamp mill? Thanks for your help.

 

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[NOLA_Ken]

I'd say it's what's left of a large belt drive pulley, (based on the fact that it's made for a keyed shaft)... could be from steam or water driven equipment. Hard to say exactly what kind of machine it came from originally, but it's a good possibility that with old mills nearby it came from one of them.