Raising thousands of pounds of rock from deep underground required a massive headframe, strong engines, and powerful cables. The Mizpah had one of the earliest steel headframes; it weighed about 60,000 pounds and could hoist up to a 7-ton load. The cage in the center of the headframe was lowered into the mineshaft carrying miners and supplies, then lifted out with cars containing loads of rock. This powerful machine could raise or lower the cage at approximately 1,000 per minute. In 1902, the Mizpah faced west, and before the steel headframe was erected, one was brought up from the open slopes, stacked, and loaded for shipment by mule team, while the Silver Top's wooden headframe stood in the distance. By 1905, visitors associated the Mizpah with fabulous wealth. Large wheels inside the hoist house turned the cable connected to the flywheel on top of the headframe. Flat wire cable, invented in 1864 by A.S. Halide and first used in Virginia City, Nevada, was stronger than hemp rope, coiled more easily than heavy metal cables, stayed on turning gears better, and could hoist up to 10 tons from a depth of 3000 feet. The Mizpah mine was 1500 feet deep, and tunnels like this lie under nearly every step in the Tonopah Historic Mining Park.