Gold Mine Hidden Along A River Has Numerous Surprises

This old gold mine hidden away along a river is a classic example of the success of some of our mine hunting trips… Many of the mines from the “Gold Rush” era in the Sierras are not marked on any maps or are only partially marked (meaning that one is only given very vague location details or incomplete information). So, we’ll often visit areas that we know are thick with history and just start following likely trails, geological features, descriptions in books, etc. in the hope of coming across something. More often than not, such trips are a success! There was a single adit marked at the location of this mine, for example, but we discovered multiple adits and other features that were not listed.

I haven’t been able to track down historical details (yet) on this mine and so I suspect that it operated under another name in the past than what is listed on the maps now. Most historical mines are worked initially, then abandoned, then worked again, then abandoned and so on depending on mineral prices, technological developments and other such factors. You saw the equipment from around the 1990s at this mine, there was infrastructure in this mine that was suggestive of the 1930s and, likely, this mine was discovered and worked well before that. So, this mine perfectly fits that abandoned mine cycle.

It's interesting about the work that was done in the 1990s... Gold prices were extremely low then and yet, at least in this area, there seems to have been a big burst of mining activity around then. Despite gold prices rising almost 10-fold from the 1990s prices, we haven’t seen a repeat of that mini gold rush that the 1990s produced. We’ve discussed it and feel it was likely something of a last gasp from the old timers. Miners that came of age during the gold mining boom of the 1970s and early 1980s would have been able to learn from the REAL old timers that were still around then.

It seems like a lot of work done in the 1990s was from these guys just before they got too old to handle the heavy drills, mucking and other backbreaking work associated with gold mining. Unfortunately, not enough young people were around or interested enough to glean the knowledge of this last batch of old timers and so much has been lost. There simply aren’t enough underground miners with the knowledge and expertise to be able to operate and work in these small gold mines today doing things like track work, building ore chutes, etc. Much of the world’s gold production today comes from gigantic mines where most of the work is done by machines.

Small mines, such as this one, are simply left abandoned… Yes, part of that is due to some of the silly rules and regulations (I’ve shared some examples of those with you at our mine), but a large part of it, I believe, is due simply to a lack of available talent. Finding capable workers has been an ongoing struggle at our mine and we’ve had to look as far away as Alaska to bring people in. So, there just doesn’t seem to be the manpower or talent left to fuel another boom of gold prospecting, speculation and exploration. Yes, I know of exceptions, but I’m speaking in generalizations here. When something eventually happens in the future (a monetary crisis or whatever) to make gold and gold mining irresistible again, it seems that the next generation will have to learn everything all over again. I don’t envy them, but resourcefulness and innovation have always been a hallmark of small mining operations. So, I expect they’ll muddle through and eventually get it figured out after a few generations. Well, either that or AI-driven robots will be doing all of the work!

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You can see the full TVR Exploring playlist of abandoned mines here: https://goo.gl/TEKq9L

You can see the gear that I use for mine exploring here: https://bit.ly/2wqcBDD and here: https://bit.ly/2p6Jip6

Several kind viewers have asked about donating to help cover some of the many expenses associated with exploring these abandoned mines. Inspired by their generosity, I set up a Patreon account. So, if anyone would care to chip in, I’m under TVR Exploring on Patreon.

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.
I hope you’ll join us on these adventures!

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