Holloway Bar Placer Mine - Wired

We found a spot about half-way up to the road above the bridge that looked to be a good mounting spot for Camera 2. Scott dug the hole and planted the camera, and then put the battery into a plastic bin to keep it out of the weather. We're using large, rechargeable battery units to power the cameras, and use a solar panel to keep the batteries charged. There's no power once you get away from camp - so everything has to be completely self-contained. With no charging mechanism for the battery, the cameras will only run for about 36 hours.

I've circled the camera because it's a little tough to see, but the white pole (now freshly painted green!) is visible about half-way up the bank directly in line with the bridge. The bridge is a little lower than camp, so the height is needed to send the signal! The two antennas have to be in a direct line of sight to send the wireless network signal.

Here's a test image, beamed back to camp, from Camera 2. We've since tipped the camera back a bit to give a better view of the bridge and property

Last, but not least, is Camera 3, which overlooks the tailings pond and the gold plant and equipment. Once the cameras are fully operational, you'll be able to monitor our mining progress from this camera as it automatically updates our webcam page every few minutes.

Camera 3 has tilt and pan that we can control from remote - so we'll be able to show you several different views. This is the default view of the gold plant that you'll often see.

We drove a pressure-treated 4x4 into the ground to hold the camera, and put the solar panel and battery pack right at the base of the mount. This camera is only a couple of hundred meters from camp, but that's too far to run an extension cord so this camera must also be totally self-contained. The antenna (seen above on the backside of the mounting pole) points directly back at camp, and is happy inside of its little house.

We worked at installing these cameras off and on over the long weekend, but most of the work was done in Terrace before I took all of the equipment North. It was a tight squeeze getting all of this equipment, along with a complete Dell computer and a satellite dish for the mine into my VW Jetta, but it all fit. Here are the pictures to prove it - with all of the equipment loaded in the car, and also with the equipment loaded into the Holloway Bar Buggy's little tandem trailer.