TVR Exploring
It would be an understatement to say that we were impressed by the number of chutes and ladders within this abandoned gold mine… It seems tailor-made for a slightly dangerous, adult version of Chutes and Ladders, no? We’ve seen chutes before and we’ve seen ladders before, but rarely in such a high concentration. We were put onto this mine by the YouTube channel of "Exploring One Mine At A Time," which can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtYt... So, a "thank you" is certainly due to him! Given the number of ore chutes, it is difficult to imagine that the miners at this mine did not essentially hollow out the space between the haulage adit we were exploring and the surface. This was primarily a gold mine, but silver was also present and, interestingly, aluminum as well. I have seen conflicting dates as to when the mineral deposits at this site were discovered, with dates ranging from 1908 to 1911. The last records of work that I could locate were from 1939. However, the carbide graffiti inside of the mine had dates from the 1950s. So, I don’t know if that was additional work that was done that did not result in production (rehabbing the mine, for example) or if I simply did not locate the records. Another possibility, of course, is that those were pioneering mine explorers. Unfortunately, as you could likely tell from the drone footage, a crew had a party with a bulldozer around the surface workings of the mine within the past few years. It was difficult to determine what they were trying to accomplish – possibly mining waste rock or just doing exploratory work – but the work they did was terribly hard on the historical components of this mine. One shaft was destroyed and it appears that a lower adit that tied into the lower workings was obliterated. Who knows what else was wiped out? Unfortunately, this is one of those times when we did not have climbing gear with us. That is regrettable as I would like to have seen the workings down that shaft. Apparently, there were three levels below the one that we were on. Now, whether those levels were accessible from the shaft we saw or from the one that was destroyed, I don’t know. So, it’s possible there was little of interest at all down there. It’s also possible that they all connect underground. I was very happy to see the standing structures in the form of the house and the dugouts over the ridge. I learned, subsequent to our visit, that the ruins next to the house were the remains of a miner’s bunkhouse that once stood at a height of two stories. Apparently, that bunkhouse just fell down within the past decade. So, I’m very sorry we missed seeing THAT. However, I am grateful that we got to see what we did as I am acutely aware that beggars cannot be choosers and, as enthusiasts of history, we are increasingly becoming beggars in regard to historical sites such as this mine. I still don’t know what the remains of that structure near the portal of the mine were. ***** All of these videos are uploaded in HD, so adjust those settings to ramp up the quality! It really makes a difference. You can see the gear that I use for mine exploring here: https://bit.ly/2wqcBDD And a small gear update here: https://bit.ly/2p6Jip6 You can see the full TVR Exploring playlist of abandoned mines here: https://goo.gl/TEKq9L Thanks for watching! ***** Growing up in California’s “Gold Rush Country” made it easy to take all of the history around us for granted. However, abandoned mine sites have a lot working against them – nature, vandals, scrappers and various government agencies… The old prospectors and miners that used to roam our lonely mountains and toil away deep underground are disappearing quickly as well. These losses finally caught our attention and we felt compelled to make an effort to document as many of the ghost towns and abandoned mines that we could before that colorful niche of our history is gone forever. But, you know what? We enjoy doing it! This is exploring history firsthand – bushwhacking down steep canyons and over rough mountains, figuring out the techniques the miners used and the equipment they worked with, seeing the innovations they came up with, discovering lost mines that no one has been in for a century, wandering through ghost towns where the only sound is the wind... These journeys allow a feeling of connection to a time when the world was a very different place. And I’d love to think that in some small way we are paying tribute to those hardy miners that worked these mines before we were even born. So, yes, in short, we are adit addicts… I hope you’ll join us on these adventures! #ExploringAbandonedMines #MineExploring #AbandonedMines #UndergroundMineExploring
