Sierra High Route - Steel Cable find

[NoBoHiker]

Hi All,

A bit of a long shot. I am just wondering if anyone know the story behind the long steel cable that can be found along the SHR southwest of Lake Catherine?
Thanks and happy trails!

Rick

[sparky]

have found these before, leftover mining debris

[JWreno]

I have found a similar cable west of Reno at about 8,000 feet in the Mt Rose Wilderness. I also found an old donkey engine nearby. I am surprised that the engine has been left there since probably the Virginia City mining era when much of the region was heavily logged to support mining timbers. I suppose the engine could use the cable to pull itself up the mountain and then use the cable to move other stuff.

[kpeter]

As others have noted, these cables can be found all over, residue from mining days. I have seen them in the Trinity Alps around Emerald Lake (and others,) also around the Brownstone Mine on Pine Creek, also around Relief Reservoir. The cables are often associated with steam donkeys, which were smallish steam engines, originally used as engines for secondary functions on ships, that began to be used in logging and mining operations. To transport the engines the cable would be anchored somewhere uphill, and the engine would pull itself uphill on a sled by winching the cable in. It is amazing the places they could get those things by anchoring and dragging. Then it could be used for dragging supplies. Here are the remains of a steam donkey I came across last summer:

Steam Donkey below Relief Reservoir