The rich silver ore at this magnificent abandoned mine was discovered by a group of prospectors back in the 1860s and mining began soon after. The ore was so rich here that mining took place uninterrupted for decades… And although this was a silver mine, there is a LOT of gold and gold mining still in this district. The gold mining is continuing to this day, and it wouldn’t surprise me to eventually see this entire historical mine consumed by a modern gold mining project chasing deposits below the old workings seen in this video.

Something I wanted to expand on as I fear that I did not explain it well or that it was unclear in the video… What we saw at this abandoned mine were multiple generations of work. Do you recall near the very beginning of the video when I made the observation about the drill mark? As we learned, that work was from the 1920s and that short little loop was made during that time to bypass the caved portal dating back to the 1800s.

Given the size/shape of the workings and the artifacts that were present, it seems that the shaft and the workings we roped down were mostly from the 1800s. However, work was obviously done to expand these underground workings in the 1920s/1930s as evidenced by the air lines running up into the stopes past where the ore car was (plus the date on the dynamite box helps considerably).

The adit that intercepted the shaft at the bottom was likely run in the 1920s as well given the size and purpose of it. Also, for example, the air lines were running UP to the stope with the ore car and not down from above. Then, obviously, some exploratory work was done – likely in the 1960s, 70s or 80s – as evidenced by the plastic piping and the ribbons (possibly for surveying, possibly for sampling, possibly for core drilling – there wasn’t enough left to be able to say for sure). I would be very curious to know if the miners from that project made it past the large caved section in the talc that blocked us or not. They may have encountered that section and just have given up at that point. However, if they made it past that zone, they would have gotten into some very extensive workings and might have seen some very cool stuff. I also wonder if it was the latest miners that dumped that talc into the old stopes or if the older generations of miners did that?

I don’t know if the miners intentionally caved the adit on the bottom level or whether that happened naturally. Regardless, it is very caved now… We actually passed it earlier in the day on the way up to where we eventually gained access to the mine. I never thought that we would be standing and looking at the other side of that collapse though!

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You can see the full TVR Exploring playlist of abandoned mines here: [ Ссылка ]

You can see the gear that I use for mine exploring here: [ Ссылка ] and here: [ Ссылка ]

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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