Drills and Mills; Author: Will Meyerriecks
 
Drills and Mills, which covers the history of mining, milling and smelting from the 1848 gold discovery in California to the late 19th century is a wonderful, well researched book. Loaded with pictures,tables,illustrations,chemical formulae and many interesting side notes (factoids),the author covers the gamut in the machinery used to win the metals from the earth. Excellent review on the evolution of the rock drill,explosives, crushing equipment, pumps, timbering, etc etc. Also included within the 250 plus pages of good reading, is an excellent 10 page bibliography which is referenced to the chapter footnotes, to assist those who may have a futher interest in any of the subject matter. This is a must have book for the mining historian and for anyone interested in 19th century mining. In short a great book.