The Famous Gold Bottom Mine - Exploring The Main Upper Level (part 1 of 3)

In this video, we explore the main upper level of the famous Gold Bottom mine. After clearing out enough rocks from the portal for us to squeeze through, we were faced with what ended up being a 30-foot crawl into a drift that had been flooded at one time. Once we were able to stand up, we proceeded to explore and found incredible mine workings and amazing mineral veins.
This mine was discovered in the 1880s, and these upper ore bodies were mined before 1900. After 1900, the lower parts of the mine were worked. This three part series is all about the older upper workings. The underground workings of this gold, silver, lead, and copper mine are more than 7500 feet in length. It was still being worked in 1936 when the ore averaged 0.63 ounce of gold, 14.5 ounces of silver, 15.9 percent lead, and 0.6 percent copper per ton.
The angle of the mineral vein left steep stopes behind after the ore was removed. Now, many years later, a lot of the supporting stulls are failing. In part 1we follow four different drifts to their faces and find several ladders going up and one man way, with no ladders, going down. In part 2 of this video, we rappel down the ladderless man way and work our way down through the huge stopes to the main lower level of the mine. In part 3, we climb a set of ladders up to find more very cool workings high in the mine. We hope you enjoy this video series, and thank you for watching!

Here is a link to part 2 of this video series:
   • The Famous Gold Bottom Mine - Navigat...  
Here is a link to part 3 of this video series:
   • The Famous Gold Bottom Mine - Climbin...