An Iced Up Gold Mine Melts And Finally Reveal Its Secrets
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Published 2021-09-15
For years, we faced only disappointment. The only reward from the exhausting days would be the good company and good views. Progress was being made though. Painfully slow progress, but still progress... When I first laid eyes on this mine, the ice completely covered the portal like a glacier. A year or two later, the ice had retreated to where a tiny opening was visible into the adit. On the next visit, it had opened up a little more… Every time we visited, more ice had melted away.
Despite the great difficulties in reaching this mine, we would usually check on it once a year. It became a pet project for us – our baby – and we were excited about getting into a mine that we knew no one had been inside of for a very long time and that had certainly never been on video before.
And finally – finally!! – this year, we were rewarded for our patience and persistence. We were able to hammer enough ice down to be able to get in.
We thought that getting to the gold mine was the hard part. However, once inside the adit, we realized that that was just the start. It was much more difficult to get across that ice that was still in the mine than any of us expected! For starters, the clearance between the ice and the top of the adit was only about three feet - and far less in some places! The uneven surface meant that easily sliding on our butts (as I had naively anticipated us doing) was impossible. One could only crawl or crab walk. However, the surface of the ice was covered in water from the melting ice. So, aside from getting us soaked in ice water (literally), we were slipping and sliding all over the place, which was absolutely exhausting when working with such minimal clearance. The fun was compounded by dodgy ground above us for most of the way in… This created concern about accidentally brushing against the top of the adit, but, of more immediate concern, large sections of the ice were embedded with sharp rocks that had sloughed off of the top. Imagine crawling through a tiny pipe filled with slippery, wet ice that is embedded with caltrops and you’ll have the right picture.
After enduring approximately two thousand feet of that, we finally reached the end of the ice and enjoyed, at the most, a few hundred feet of relatively easy walking before encountering freezing, muddy water dammed up behind a caved section of the mine. I was too disgusted to even bother taking the camera out to film it… I’ve always said that I draw the line at swimming in abandoned mines. However, we had come too far and fought too hard to give up now. Plus, we were already soaked and freezing… What difference would another round make at that point?
We have never been able to locate much on the history of this mine. It’s in a mining district that dates back to the 1800s and the mine likely dates back to that era. However, it is one of those mines that was clearly worked off and on over the decades since then. If I had to guess, based on the equipment and artifacts still inside, I would guess that it was last worked in the 1930s.
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You can see the gear that I use for mine exploring here: bit.ly/2wqcBDD
As well as a small gear update here: bit.ly/2p6Jip6
You can see the full TVR Exploring playlist of abandoned mines here: goo.gl/TEKq9L
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.
#ExploringAbandonedMines
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All Comments (21)
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Never ceases to amaze me how far back in the woods, how tall the mountain, the effort, ambition, persistence those men had to do that work. Thanks to the effort you guys put in we get to see it.
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That was amazing! As an older guy who is now disabled and not physically capable of this kind of exploration (like when I was a kid, haha) you take us there with you. You show us the kind of things we would love to see in the places WE should not/could not go. I wonder if you know how much people appreciate what you do. Thank you.
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That was an epic mine, really enjoyed sharing the experience of exploring it with you. Love how the walls sparkle and glow in places.
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You know im not a caver, or a mine explorer myself but i love watching these videos, and just stumbled upon this one. As cool as it would be to pick this stuff up and look at it more im really glad you just stayed with looking and respected the old site for others to enjoy aswell! Super cool man!
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This mine had to of been a HUGE producer , just by virtue of the amount of lumber , especially with all the ore chutes . This is by far the best mine video that I've seen, and I've seen a lot. You guys are quite the champions to suffer through all the miserable conditions to make this vid. Congrats !
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Can you imagine turning the corner and a Levi factory outlet store is sitting there fully preserved lol
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The best mine video I have seen. So much still in there and it being froze off for years makes it so much cooler!
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This is absolutley stunning. Thank you for the amazing footage!!!!! The work that went into this had to be BACK BREAKING!!!
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I N C R E D I B L E ! ! This is one of the most impressive abandoned mine videos I've ever seen. Thank you so much for braving the horrendous access issues to bring me there, it was well worth it!!
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Glad you stuck with this explore. That dynamite was in incredible condition given the moisture level of the mine. Clearly that ice blockage has kept the this mine from being explored much. Thanks for sharing!
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Always fun to watch these types of exploration video's into our history. Looks like a fun mine to explore. Be safe.
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Really am glad you got to do this and showing the old mine, considering how much water is flowing in it won't be to long before the whole mine is under water so it might very well be the one and only opportunity to explore it. Thx & congrats 👍
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In 1902, Willis Carrier, an engineer at Buffalo Forge, submitted drawings for what became recognized as the world's first modern air conditioning system. In 1915, he left the company to form Carrier Engineering Corporation.
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I can see why that mine won you over towards the end. The artifacts left behind are a fascinating look into the past. Thanks so very much for taking us along on this mine exploration adventure! Well done sir!
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Growing up and our dad taking us camping and mine exploring in the hills of 29 palms and elsewhere this brings back so many good memories. Thank you 👍
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You may have just convinced me to start exploring mines again. I used to be super into exploring old mines. I live in Arizona and there are tons of mines in the woods behind my house. I used to explore a lot of them, but I just haven’t had a chance since my babies were born. Unfortunately it’s going to snow soon so they’re all going to be unreachable but maybe next spring I’ll explore some. It’s definitely important to document the history of these old mines. It seems every time I go out into the woods a new shaft has been plugged up…
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"Annd so, having re-re-disposed of the ice and water monsters, exit our heroes, stage left!" Excellent and intrepid explore, well worth the trouble and the wait!! 👍👍
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Justin -- @13:42 , that's not a box of Pipe Fittings , but actually a box of ''Disposable'' DRILL BITS . With the old style Forged Head Bits , the cutting edges wore out long before the shank of the Drill Steel , which necessitated an almost daily re-forging of the Bit Head . Then someone came up with the idea of making the Bits replaceable on the Steel . The first ''Replaceable Bits'' were just Cast & Hardened Steel , and fastened to the Drill Steel Shank by means of a close-fitting Taper on the end of the Drill Steel Shank . When the Bit wore down the Miner would knock off the worn Bit using a Hammer or Rap Wrench and replace it with a New one . Finally , Tungsten Carbide was invented , and Cutting Edge Inserts were sintered onto the Bits , as Tungsten Carbide has a much longer wear life than Hardened Steel . Now , with the exception of Diamond Bits , almost all replaceable Bits have Tungsten Carbide inserts . --- < Doc , Miner for over 50 years > .
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"And it doesn't look like it gets any better so of course, let's keep going." Yes indeed, I dig your style... no pun intended. Very cool mine
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That was awesome!! The white/purple flows on those blast sheets were so cool. Thanks for creating this!
