This is an abandoned gold mine that I have known about for many years due to its size and historical significance. However, it was an early one, with peak production in the 1800s and it had ceased operation not too far into the twentieth century. Many mines that shut down that long ago have only very limited and vague location information. One must follow clues in old reports and then get boots on the ground to follow the lay of the land. Sometimes we fail, but we’ve gotten pretty good at tracking down “lost” mines over the years based on very little information. This was one of those abandoned mines with very little location information.
After being driven out of the high country for the season by snow a couple of years ago, we decided to gather the rumors we had heard about this mine along with all of the data from old reports and spent a while poring over old maps. This gave us a general area to focus on and what you will see in the two videos on this gold mine is the result of several visits over the years. We were pretty thorough in covering the area and so, I believe, we documented all that is left. However, we would love to be corrected on that.
This mine was initially developed by a series of adits. The quality of the gold ore coming out from underground was sufficient for some serious investment money to be put into this project and the mine eventually grew into a large shaft with nine levels drifting off of it. The shaft was drained by that flooded tunnel that you saw near the start of this video (much more on that in the next video). The shaft was an incline shaft rather than a vertical shaft and has been reported to run to a depth of 1,600 feet. Some massive stopes were reported to have been hollowed out along the shaft.
Production value is reported to have been in the millions of dollars (using the values of the time). So, if you do a little math, you can see that some serious money was made on this mine. Although, the mansion is not a bad clue either…
The mansion is reported to have remained in use after the mine stopped operating and there are stories of grand events and parties that took place there until the mansion burned down (reportedly in the 1930s).
The giant mill, hoist house and other infrastructure that can be seen in the historical photographs add to the impression that this was a serious operation as well. I have seen a written report that stated that the mill had 40 stamps and had an output of thousands of tons per month in the 1890s. However, an old timer that had a relative that worked there (I can’t recall if he claimed that it was his father or grandfather) swore to me that the mill had had one hundred stamps operating at one time. Whether it was forty stamps or one hundred, it was a large mill either way.
Given the proximity of the mansion to the deafening stamp mill and other infrastructure, one can only conclude that the owners liked the sound of money being made!
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You can see the full TVR Exploring playlist of abandoned mines here: goo.gl/TEKq9L
You can see the gear that I use for mine exploring here: bit.ly/2wqcBDD and here: 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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