TVR Exploring
It takes a 4WD to reach it, but Death Valley offers up a real gem of a mine exploring experience with this abandoned mine… A spring in the harsh desert of Death Valley has transformed a beautiful canyon into an oasis and right in the middle of it is a tremendously photogenic abandoned mine and miner’s cabin, surrounded by old mining equipment! Researching the history of abandoned mines is not an easy task… Judging from some of the comments I receive on the mine exploring videos, there are viewers out there that seem to be under the impression that I have access to a secret library, filled with detailed, chronological histories of every mine I visit along with maps, full production data and biographies of all of the miners. I wish that were the case! Unfortunately, the reality is almost exactly the opposite in that the history of many mines has been completely lost, maps are often difficult to come by and even the jurisdictions with the very best records have large gaps, incomplete information and other mysteries. So, when reporting the historical information that I am able to locate on a mine, it is often cobbled together from multiple sources that are contributing various snippets of information. As such, the information is often incomplete and, more often than not, raises more questions than it answers. So, with that understood, this is what I was able to locate on this photogenic mine in Death Valley National Park… The mine was originally named the Gem Mine and silver, lead and zinc were the targeted minerals. The first production records date back to 1899 when the mine was apparently shipping out several thousand dollars of ore per month. Considering the prices of the time, the miners were either working a rich vein or moving a lot of ore. Interestingly, the original claim owner of the Gem Mine traded a half interest in the mine for a 3-stamp mill. Despite being located in Death Valley, the spring in the canyon produced enough water to power a water wheel that would operate the stamp mill. I have seen it reported that this was the first water wheel used in the Death Valley area. However, my first thought was that it was probably the ONLY water wheel used in the Death Valley area. Perhaps there were others though… I have not researched the matter of water wheels in Death Valley. There were no visible remains of this water wheel or 3-stamp mill that I saw around the mine site. The next records appear in 1949 when the mine was sold. “Gold” was added to the list of minerals that were being mined and it was mentioned that the ore being extracted from the mine was assaying out to $90 a ton. Apparently, five miners were working the mine at the time. Considering how cozy five miners would have been in that cabin, I can understand why there were two beds located inside of the adit! Unfortunately, that is the extent of historical information that I was able to uncover. However, obviously, there was work done at this mine after the 1940s. It is very common for abandoned mines to be worked periodically for decades after their heyday as new players come onto the scene, commodities prices go up, new technologies or techniques emerge, etc. Judging from the style of the discarded cigarette packs underground (Winston), the plastic vent bagging, the equipment and the general condition of the mine, I would estimate that at least one old prospector was working this site up into the 1970s or even the early 1980s. Given that this property is now part of Death Valley National Park, the days of mining here are over. However, the site lives on as visitors are clearly contributing time and resources to maintain the cabin (the other structures were a work shed and an outhouse) and, hopefully, the National Park status will protect the impressive mill and remaining mining equipment. ***** All of these videos are uploaded in HD, so I’d encourage you to adjust your settings to the highest quality if it is not done automatically. You can see the gear that I use for mine exploring here: https://bit.ly/2wqcBDD As well as 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. I hope you’ll join us on these adventures! #ExploringAbandonedMines #MineExploring #AbandonedMines #UndergroundMineExploring