High Sierra Topix

So visited Bodie for the first time last week and left without asking what this was, saw probably a half dozen of the things in various locations... TIA

Since no one replied, it is either a heavy duty wagon wheel missing its steel ring, or a pulley wheel for the mine.
Looks like a wagon wheel to me.

You could just call (760) 616-5040 and ask.

I had no idea but I think that Russ has it figured out as a pulley wheel. If it were a wagon or cart wheel those extended sides would break right off with just those narrow bolts holding them on. When the mill was run run by a steam engine and even later after it became electrified there were belts runnig everywhere for everything.

More on Bodie SHP: https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.ca3098 ... =slideshow

I guess we all know where the electricity was generated that got used in the Bodie mill. This was the first place where electricity was generated and then transmitted over a big distance to where it got used. Lundy Canyon and also at the Log Cabin Mine stream.

Bodie was one of the first places where extended distance power transmission infrastructure was put in use. The scientists and electrical engineers were still learning about electricity, and were concerned that transmission lines had to chase a near linear route from the generation plant to the consumer, else risk the electrons flying off wires following a curve in their route. Hence the torturous as-the-crow flies path they took up the slopes of the north end of the Mono Basin.

As for the large wooden disks: Ore wagons of the era used wooden or metal, spoke wheels. The disk in the OP's image is a belt drive wheel that was once mounted to the cam shaft that drove a stamp mill's mortar bank. It seems all of the other drive belt wheels and large pulleys in the mines and mills were made of cast iron.

Ed