[caption id=”attachment_2822″ align=”alignright” width=”200″ caption=”Baltic Stamp Battery, in the Yard of the Rand Desert Museum. Donated by the owners in 1958. The heart of the milling process, five 800-1000 pound 'stamps', or pestles, were raised and dropped ___ times a minute, pulverizing ore to powder before passing over mercury covered copper plates which trapped the gold particles by amalgamation. The ensuing racket from tens of these units running 24-7 became the heartbeat and music of prosperity to the camps. Citizens were awakened in dead of night whenever a mill ceased its rhythmic pounding, 'the silence deafening'. – William J. Warren
