TVR Exploring57.6K subscribers
SUBSCRIBED
As was mentioned in the title of this video, this was not my first time exploring this abandoned mine. This was not even my first time documenting an explore of this abandoned mine… Our prior visit to this underground placer gold mine covered the surface buildings and showed how this site looked several years ago. This time, the focus was on determining once and for all what was at the end of this adit that we had come close to before, but had been unable to reach. As an example of how old the original video is, we didn’t even own waders yet in that video! The video of our original visit is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2mlB... I did not bother to cover the buildings in this video of the return visit because they are more deteriorated than when we were last here and also because I had already covered them. No, that original video is not flawless, but it conveys the relevant information, I believe. For the record, Mr. McBride also accompanied me on this return visit, but he was exploring some possibilities higher up the mountain while I was working on finishing this one out. The earliest records that could be located on this mine date back to 1873, while the mine that ultimately purchased and consolidated the “Eye Mine” into its operations dates back to 1856. Both underwent multiple name changes. Of several adits that were on the property, this is the only one that remains open. The underground placer mines in this region of California run through solid rock to reach the ancient river channels that were covered up and hidden by countless millions of years of geologic activity. So, as we have seen many, many times, the adits for the underground placer mines are intact for the section that runs through solid rock, but when we meet the sand, gravel and cobbles of the ancient river channels, the mine is caved and mud has filled the adit. I should mention that, given what it is made up of, the placer material caving is a constant. However, the mud filling the adit is hit and miss. Sometimes, one encounters a literal wall of mud as we did at the Evans Mine. Other times, one enjoys water that is as clear as a crystal and encounters none of that orange mine mud at all. I have not definitively determined why some have the awful mud and some don’t when they are, often, so close to each other. There is no middle ground on this. The underground placer gold mines either have it to a horrible degree or they don’t have any at all. Several years passed between our last visit to this mine and this visit. However, I did not forget about it. So, when I mention returning to finish something at a mine, I mean it. It might take me a while, but I do try to resolve unfinished business. I did the same with the return to this mine, but as that was more extensive, I felt it merited a regular Wednesday posting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oV211... ***** 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
