As you may have gathered from the early parts of this video, one has to work a little to get to the end of the canyon where these historic mines are located. Aside from the great scenery, the upside in that, of course, is that these mines remain relatively undisturbed. Thus, it was our good fortune to be left with all of the oddities, uniqueness and curiosities we saw at this site. I wish that we were always so fortunate!
The earliest records I could find on these historic mines dates back to claim paperwork from 1857. However, according to my research, the powerhouse and other buildings all seem to date back to the turn of the last century (pre-WWI). The powerhouse (that was turned into a bunkhouse) supplied electricity to the entire area. The remains of the solid bridge, the excellent rock terracing, the historic mining equipment and historical electrical equipment as well as the quality and extent of the buildings at the end of the canyon indicate that this was quite the prosperous hive of activity in the past. That is definitely the first time I have ever seen antique Pelton wheels at a mine… By the standards of the time, the miners here must have had a very high standard of living. Consider, the standard of living was higher then than now! They could have comfortably driven vehicles back there in the past and they, obviously, had abundant electricity. No electricity and no vehicles now… I suppose one still has the beautiful creek cascading into the canyon though.
The old mine and mining camp across the river seemed like an idyllic spot and it certainly made us curious. Maybe one day we’ll get an invitation and can see more of it and learn more than the small amount of information I was able to uncover…
I’m also very curious as to what we missed inside of the mine. The air flow in there was tremendous, which means there was a passage to the outside world somewhere. The area past the “gate ladders” was blocked and so the passage to the outside could only have been in the stope. However, I saw no sign of daylight while I was there. So, that would suggest that the stope ran farther back than I perceived at the time. It is disappointing to be that close to a goal, but to not be able to accomplish it.
The second location we visited – the one with the black water in the flooded shaft – is on the same watershed as the first location, but is down a different canyon. I could locate no records on that mine and do not even know the name of it. The size of the waste rock pile and the presence of the stamp mill is evidence that it was a sizeable operation, but it must have been an early one given the lack of information about it.
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All of these videos are uploaded in HD, so adjust those settings to ramp up the quality! It really does make a difference.
You can see the gear that I use for mine exploring here: https://bit.ly/2wqcBDD
You can click here for my full playlist of abandoned mines: https://goo.gl/TEKq9L
Thanks for watching!
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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!
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