Death Valley Gold Mine - Confidence Wash Hike - Inclined Shaft - Huge Quartz Vein - Multiple Drifts
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- čas přidán 7. 09. 2024
- Aug 26, 2022
Mine Exploration and Hiking with Tom and Julie.
In this mine exploring video we travel by Jeep to the wilderness boundary in Death Valley National Park, Nevada and start a hike to find a gold mine. It was a very windy and relatively cold day at the start of our hike. We hiked a few miles to the mine site where we found a large ore bin near the top of an inclined shaft. There was a head frame standing above the shaft at one point, but it has toppled over and is now flat. We explored several drifts that had beautiful quartz veins in them. There were several interesting artifacts around the mine site. There were also large piles of what appeared to be valuable ore outside the mine that never got hauled off to be milled. It was another fun day of hiking and mine exploring in Nevada and we hope you enjoy the video.
That big chunk of glass was the bottom of a 5 gallon water or acid carboy.
A big carboy is probably correct. I wonder where the rest of it is. We saw no broken glass anywhere. It sure would be fun to see a 5 gallon intact container.
would have sampled where the blue arrow was ....vein structure and mineralization looked really good ....fun explore and we smashed that like button ....SMASHED IT HARD !
You had best bring your burro so you can sling your sample bags across her back, Jeff. It is a nice looking vein, but my pack is already full of donuts. Plus, I'm not going to compete with you when it comes to finding gold. You can get gold from lead. Thanks for the comment! 👍 👍
Love your videos. Always interesting even in the smaller workings. Thanks for taking us along.
Glad that you found it interesting, Ed. Thanks for the nice comment! 👍
A very "tasty" explore indeed y'all!
I swear, I think you alls' "saved up" episodes are better than most folks' new stuff. 🙂
Always a pleasure, see you on the next one,
- Ed on the Ridge
Glad that you enjoyed this one, Ed. I have at least 20 smaller explores 'in the can' as the old movie filiming saying goes. Thanks for the comment and we'll see you next time. 👍
P.S. less than a month until we'll be on the road again looking for new mines.
Yeah Tom, Eric 'Butterbean' esch. Quite an interesting fighter. 5' 11" and generally weighed northward of 350 pounds. He was actually a great boxer. He had 91 fights. 77 wins, 58 of them by knock out. I still, occasionally, watch some of his old fights. Tell Julie I said hi, and keep on producing content. You two are my favorite adventure and mine exploring channel on you tube.
I still watch an occasional fight of his, too. He also did the kick boxing thing for a time. I remember when he first started getting known and many took him for a joke. Julie says"hi" back to you. Thanks for a very nice comment, we do appreciate it! 👍 👍
Thanks you two, all that debris makes for an interesting watch.
Thanks, Mick. Glad that you enjoyed it and thanks for the comment! 👍
very nice tom and julie and those beautiful flowers thanks for sharing.
You're welcome, Jerry. Glad that you liked it and thanks for the comment! 👍
Thanks Tom and Julie! Another great video.
You're welcome, Jeff, and thanks for commenting! 👍
This is so interesting. The mineralization is clear in every adit you explored. Having learned a lot over the years it's pretty clear these small operations to search for silver and gold may have succeeded? It's left to our imaginations why they didn't grow.
No RR or water nearby, and the cist of getting ore milled would end small timers fast.
I think that glass is the bottom of a large glass jug.
I'm feeling better and happy to see your video 👍🏻
Happy to hear that you are feeling better, Rick. They are nice mineral veins in these drifts. I have to believe that some profits were realized since the expenditures seemed small for the setup. I think you're correct that there was no railroad or water, but, the road in was probably in very good shape back in the day and not high up in the mountains making truck access relatively easy. That piece of glass was really heavy and I wonder where the rest of it went. Thanks for the nice comment! 👍
The Travels were very interesting all that Quarts looked like some silver/lead, copper and gold !!!; )
It's a fun hike down to this one. You might be right about the minerals. A little bit of everything. Thanks for the comment. Richard!👍
Thank you Tom and Julie for taking us along on that explore. that quarts looked really interesting nice colors. & What view. Seen you and Julie on mine adventures video. Stay safe and have a great weekend ⛏⛏🍻🍻👍
You're welcome David, and glad that you enjoyed the views. We run into the Mine Adventure crew once in a while. Thanks for the comment and you have yourself a great weekend, too! 👍 👍 🍺 🍺 🍻
@@TomandJulieMineExploring I’m making blueberry jam right now. Then raspberry. To enter in county fair. I’ve won several blue ribbons. Getting ready for ❄️☃️ that I don’t want to see. Lol. 🍻⛏
@@davidhettesheimer3685 We're like ducks now we migrate with the cold weather. Good luck with your jam. Hope you get a blue ribbon. 😁
> Greetings from Tejas to my favorite mine explorers. I had a 10 gallon ( 40 liter ) glass jug that was the same color glass you found. Couple common names for 1 gallon or larger bottles is demijohn or carboy. Older jugs were hand blown and took a good set of lungs to inflate a 20 pound blob of hot glass on the end of a blow pipe. Take care.
Hello Carl in Tejas. Someone else thought it was a 5 gallon carboy. That makes sense except I wonder where the rest of the glass went. We saw no broken pieces anywhere. If that was hand blown it would take a powerful set of lungs all right. Just that one piece was quite heavy. Thanks for your input! 👍 👍
Enjoyed the explore! I keep going back to old videos to make sure I haven’t missed one. I like you guys no nonsense approach to exploring but you do take time to show us the beauty of the desert. Be safe and Thank you!
Thanks for such a nice comment, Don. We try to keep things simple and real. Here is a link to our favorites playlist if you haven't already seem it.
czcams.com/play/PLBirOpgY-NV_n393pa-mL4RNYBMYUs04f.html
VERY OOL.THANK YOU
Thanks, Ralph! 👍
miners back in the day were genius with there bush fixes, excellent video Tom and Julie as always , thank you for the explore
Yes they were good at making do with what they had. Glad that you enjoyed it and thanks for commenting! 👍
You found some good stuff. These old mines really get the imagination going.
This one is not bad for a smaller mine. Glad that you found it interesting, Mark. Thanks for commenting! 👍
Thanks for another interesting explore!
You're welcome Roger, thanks for commenting! 👍
Beautiful scenery and blue sky.
More fun stuff from J&T.
Thanks you two!
👍👍👍👊😎
It is a beautiful area. Thanks for watching, George! 👍 👍 👊 😉
Hi Tom & Julie, hmmm I'm wondering if the old miners put little prospects in to get an idea of where the Quartz vein was and where it was going.
I was so surprised that the last mine didn't really go anywhere, it fooled me because I was expecting it to go a lot farther. The desert flowers look
so pretty this time of year. Thank you for sharing, much love to you both & Pickles. xx ❤
Hi Sue, every mine is different and that's due in large part to the randomness of the mineral deposits. I'm guessing these were not the biggest deposits and the miners took what they wanted and then moved on. Very large mines are less common that the smaller mines like this one. The desert always has it's own rugged beauty and when flowers are out you see the more gentle side of it. After all the recent rains next spring might be a significant flower bloom in the desert. Thanks for the comment. We are all doing well and hope you and your family are, too! 👍 👍😻💖
@@TomandJulieMineExploring Thanks, we are all doing well too. xx 🤗💞
Very amazing view and I like watching your videos
Yes, the views are great here. Glad that you enjoy our videos. Thanks, John! 👍
@@TomandJulieMineExploring I'm glad you are making your videos and your More than welcome
Looks like a bunch of really old workings.. Good explore!
Yes, quite old but not exactly sure of the working dates. It's hard to find much information on these smaller mines. Probably early 1900's. Thanks for watching, Max! 👍 👍
Hello Tom Hello Julie
The flowers are very nice .
It is always a little mystery that such beautifull flowers grow in this desert so much heat no water .
Absolute amazing.
This quarzveins looks very rich but the miners dont want them .
May be there is much richer stuff there.
But i think there is still Gold left behind .
May be some days the miners return and start again.
Thank you for your work.
Take care have a nice weekend and a good New week
Yours Frank Galetzka
Hello Frank, the desert flowers are beautiful and it is surprising because of the harsh conditions. This is a beautiful quartz vein and I'm sure that the miners took the richest part out already. There is likely gold left there but it's in a national park now do no mining allowed anymore. Thanks for watching and hope you have a great weekend! ☺👍👍
The butter beans could explain the toxic gasses💨
Exactly. Miner's shouldn't eat beans by the case then go in a small drift without putting up a toxic fumes sign. Thanks, Professor! 😂👍
The ingenuity and resourcefulness of those miners is just incredible. I wonder if they set up stills to make moonshine. I bet you they did.
Judging from the beer cans and bottles, and tobacco tins, that we see in the can dumps I know there was a lot of drinking and smoking going on. We've never seen any signs of a still, but who knows. Thanks for the comment! 👍
Just subscribed a couple months ago, now your one of my favorites.
Thanks for the comment and for subbing, Brian! Here is the link to some of our favorites. 👍👍
czcams.com/play/PLBirOpgY-NV_n393pa-mL4RNYBMYUs04f.html
Hello Julie and Tom. I guess this was still in spring since there were still wild flowers out there. Just a lot of probing and short prospects in this area. Butter Beans, that's cool all those old boxes and labels. Take care.
Hello Stephen, yes this was last March if I remember correctly. Yes, nothing huge here just a small operation on a big quartz vein. Thanks for watching and commenting, we appreciate it! 👍
Awesome mines again my favorite people! Loved the artifacts from so long ago!
Thanks for the nice comment, Walt! There are a few cool artifacts. Glad that you enjoyed it. ☺
Another nice trip as usual, thanks for bringing me along. I just celebrated my 76th birthday Tuesday the 23rd. Just getting to go with y'all on these trips even though I am just watching the video is great. Until next time God bless
Happy belated birthday, Jimmy. You're just a tad more than 10 years older than me. We're glad that you join us virtually and always enjoy getting your comments and blessings. 👍👍
That chuck od glass was interesting. It looked as it was from a bank vault or a protective glass wall. Tom you surprised me by not roping down that shaft!! LOL A great tour folks,thanks for posting.💜💓💜
Some have commented about that glass being the bottom of a 5 gallon carboy. Good thing we didn't climb down that shaft as we ended up being able to walk into it from a lower drift. Thanks for the comment, Jake! 👍 😃
Thx! That was a great explore! Nature is Beautiful! Much credit where credit due! Exceptionally hard work and skills demonstrated by those of yesteryear! We need more!
You're welcome and glad that you enjoyed it. It is a beautiful area of desert. Yes, the old time miners were a tough breed. Thanks for commenting and here is a link to more.
czcams.com/play/PLBirOpgY-NV_n393pa-mL4RNYBMYUs04f.html
Julie I know how you feel in that situation but once you get to walking you’ll warm up quick! Nice video, yes you wish those were gold bags Tom, it’s nice when you find material in these mines. Butterbean invested in that mine! Anyway great video, you both are great, stay safe! Julie looks like you are warmed up now!
Yes, once you get to hiking for a while you always warm up. I wish those were bags of gold lol. Wouldn't that be something if Butter Bean showed up there ready to work. He wouldn't need a hard hat with that noggin of his. Thanks for the comment, Ron. Always good to hear from you!👍
Awesome adventure thanks for sharing 👊
Thanks, Mandy. Appreciate your comment! 👍👊
So sorry about Pickles. Love your adventures
Thanks for mentioning Pickles, Bruce. 21 years and 5 weeks old she was. 😻👌
Man, when Julie walked out on that east dump next to that ore bin, there’s an old road disappears over by the next ridge! I would just have to go wander over there just to see what’s on the other side!
There are a few roads out there probably leading to old mining prosoects. I think one loops back to the main highway. So many roads to travel and so little time. Thanks for the comment, Harold! 👍
I have a bunch of questions for you. Not really I don't have any questions. I just have to say I really enjoy going on the journey with you guys. I hope you guys are enjoying your time at home.
I'm disappointed in you Eddie that you don't have any questions for us this week. I love your questions and now you have a week to think up some for the next video. It's been a good summer, but now w e're starting to think about hitting the road again. Thanks for commenting and hope the fishing is good for you! 👍👍
Actually the last couple days we've been hitting the gun range. And been shooting clay pigeons, and firing our pistols. If you come out this way this winter we'll have to go to the range it's really cheap it only cost $5 to hit 25 clay pigeons and $5 to shoot your pistol . And you only pay a dollar for four targets. The guys out there are really friendly and willing to help with anything it's a blast. And of course there's always the jamming some tunes. I really looking forward to seeing you guys you and Julie.
@@eddie9903 Sounds good, Eddie. Count us in for some range time.
great explore!!!!!
Thanks, Zackson! 👍 👍
Pretty fancy gas detector. I still carry a canary! LOL!
I've always been to lazy to hike that canyon.
It's a pretty tame hike as far as elevation and road/trail condition. Not sure what might be farther down canyon. It's one if the cheaper gas detectors. They only run for two years then get tossed. A canary might be cheaper lol. Thanks for commenting, Jim! 👍
Outstanding landscapes folks, beautifully filmed hike.
Thank you, Ervin. Glad that you liked it!👍
Thanks Julie & Tom. I think you have found 3 files in the last 2 weeks. Have a great weekend! Regards from Ody Slim
Hi Ody, three files that's right. I guess you could say it's file week. Thanks for watching and you have a great weekend, too! 👍
Enjoyed the episode, interesting mineral deposits and some neat artifacts, back then it was a hard physical game of lottery, spend some money and see if you can hit the jackpot, only thing is most of the time it was a loosing ticket lol, Looking forward to your next episode, you two are the
Best 👌
Mines come in all shapes and sizes. The vein here looked pretty good, and it doesn't look like they spent too much on infrastructure, so maybe they came out ahead. Thanks for the nice comment, Rick!👍👍
spectacular views!
Glad that you liked the views. Thanks for the comment! 👍
Hello Tom and Julie, Not exactly what most people expect to find in a Wilderness Area. It's interesting that there seems to be some surveys made not that many years ago. I believe the commenter is correct. The glass is from a large vessel or jug. It appeared to have some lettering on it.
Hello David, it's hard to say when these surveys were done since the paint is not exposed to sunlight and therfore doesn't fade. I agree that the glass must be the bottom of a large glass container or carboy. We didn't see any lettering on it when we were there although I agree it look like that in the video. Thanks for watching and commenting! 👍
Gangster Julie!
Haha, I couldn't resist that one.😂
Howdy y'all! Goooooddd Mooorrrrnnning. Interesting explore to say the least. Makes you wonder if they ever hit anything of importance. Ritchfield Oil. My dad worked there, and it was bought out i wanna say....1964 ish. Seems about right to me. I was just a young whipper snapper back then. Some of those places if they didn't assay two oz. p/t they couldn't raise the capitol or it was not worth trucking to a mill. Oh yea, ARCO bought out Ritchfield. Couldn't remember..........🙂
Gooood Moorrnning, Richard. I'm guessing this operation probably came out ahead financially. There didn't appear to be a huge layout for the equipment setup and the road in didn't require a huge road wall like the roads higher in the mountains usually do. Thanks for your input on the oil can. Very interesting. 👍👍
The thick glass may have been the bottom of a 5 gallon water bottle. In 1996 I found similar ones at a 1943 desert war movie filming site that definitely came from such bottles.
That sounds correct. Some others have commented the same. I wonder where the rest of it went. We were all over that site and didn't see any broken glass. Thanks for the comment, Jan!👍
That big piece of glass looks like the bottom of a big jug of some sort
That's about the only thing that makes sense, Daniel. We didn't see any other glass there.👍
I’d love to see a geological survey on those prospects! 🤔
That was a good sized quartz vein there. It was four feet wide and that's what was left after being mined out. Thanks, Daniel! 👍 👍
It’s a beautiful Door
It is kind of a neat door. Thanks for the comment, Rich!
Nice video
Thanks for the comment, Bradley! 👍 👍
As you said, the small mines need love. All of them were full of hopes and dreams. Love the small pick you found in the wash. I never saw one that small. Would that have been used with one hand? Thanks for bringing us along Tom and Julie!
I'm thinking that you could use that pick one or two handed. Often times they had a shorter handle than a full sized pick, too. Thanks for watching and commenting, William! We appreciate it! 👍 👍
The brick PGE stands for Pacific Gas & Electric
Thanks, Chuck. I figured someone would recognize that brick lettering.👍
It’s actually PCP for Pacific Clay Products.
That glass might be part of a lead acid battery box like they used on telegraph
Hi Mark. That could be. It's difficult to decipher all the old things we find around these old mines. Thanks for the comment!👍😊
Thanks for sharing Death Valley Gold Mine. I enjoy your channel. Happy exploring.
You're welcome and thank you for the nice comment! 👍 👍
Hello!
Hello!☺
Butter Bean has been in there making toxic fumes? lol
Lol, I can't say the words butter bean without thinking of the fighter. I still watch a fight of his once in a while for a chuckle. I'm guessing if Butter Bean ate butter beans there would be toxic fumes. Lol Thanks, Daniel!
Toxic Fumes. Sure, what did you expect? There's a big box of beans!!
Haha, that's right. Good thing I had the gas detector on. Thanks for the comment, J! 👍 😃
Just a heads up you should start the detector outside of the mine by at least 100 yards to ensure the meter is doing it's checks with the most possible amount of fresh air
That good advice and I would normally do that. I was fairly certain that this was a very short drift with not much to it. Still, you're right. Thanks for your input, Ryan! 👍
I had an uncle who worked for PG&E. Hadn't thought about them is years, or ARCO. A couple at least, maybe more. 👉
Thanks for the comment, we appreciate it! 👍 👍
That’s the Champion Group gold mine. The brick is PCP for Pacific Clay Products of Los Angeles.
Thanks for your input, Dan. Much appreciated! 👍
Great video again! Hey Tom,what is the pipe sticking out of the dirt? Resembles a exhaust for a engine or something.
I was wondering the same thing. I think that pipe was for water. I don’t know where it was coming from or where it was going. Thanks for the comment, Joseph. 👍
That big shaft of glass is acid if I remember correctly Australia
That what some others have said, too. Thanks for your input, Glen! 👍 👍
All of them little prospects probably didn't have high enough quality to be worth working back then but might be worth it today???
It seems like they took a fair amount of ore out without a lot of infrastructure spending. It's national park now so probably not allowed to prospect there. Thanks for the comment, Dan! 👍 👍
1:36 Fire Brick like from a forge or furnace. 6:01 I wanted to put in a gate at my Gold Lode to stop Vandals so Forest Service told me NO but to post signs that say that the Mine site is Toxic, WOW problem Solved, with fresh paint I suspect the claimant wanted a gate too. lol
That's what I figured, too. I kept thinking we would see at least more bricks if not the furnace or forge area itself. Thanks for commenting! 👍
@@TomandJulieMineExploring I suspect that the Butter Beans were the source of those Toxic Fumes.
@@TBI-Firefighter-451 haha, that's a pretty good guess!
Those are some gorgeous quartz veins! And that pile of gold ore at the top of the shaft looked like some pretty decent pay rock. Very surprising that this mine was not developed further. It seems there are likely good grades and the vein is quite thick. Maybe that's the reason for the recent survey markers?
How's Pickles doing these days? Is he still with us?
There are some nice quartz veins here. It's not uncommon at all for us to see what looks like valuable ore piled outside the mine that never got hauled off. I'm not sure why that happened so often. Thanks for asking about Pickles. Unfortunately we had to euthanize her on September 8th of this year at the age of 21 years and 5 weeks. She suddenly was unable to stand or eat. I'm guessing she had kidney failure. We buried her in our yard in Oregon in a nice little coffin I made several years ago.👍😻❤️
@@TomandJulieMineExploring
Very sorry to hear about Pickles. I've had cats my whole life so I am familiar with that kind of loss. We're currently nursing along a tabby with 14 years and still kicking. No doubt you gave her a great life given that she lived an exceedingly long time.
Will there be a Pickles 2.0?
@@TheRockgremlin She had a great life and loved going out at every stop we made. We are not getting another cat anytime soon. We spend 8 months of the year traveling in an RV and having a cat is not the easiest thing to do or the best for a cat. We will probably get another when we settle down somewhere in a few years. They are so much fun and such good company that we really miss having one. Good luck with yours.
It's funny to me how some mine's it looks like it was just 3 or 4 guys with a couple boxes of Dynamite and they blast into a mountain take some gold an leave , another mine is very elaborate lots of machinery expensive ore car Tramway
cabins, houses and it looks like they were there for 30 or 40 years
Very true. All mines are unique and that is part of the allure in exploring them. You never know what you will find. Sometimes you find a huge operation and sometimes nothing more than a small hole in the ground. Thanks for the comment, Robert!
that brick looks like it says PCB Ryan. perhaps pacific coast borax - Ryan CA?
That could be. Someone else guessed PGE for Pacific Gas & Electric. Too bad there wasn't another inch left on it to be able to read it. Thanks for your input, DF! 👍 👍
PCP actually for Pacific Clay Products.
Thanks for the correction. I was wondering why an electric company would have bricks with their logo on it.
@Hiker Dan
That prospect with the toxic gas warning…that’s where Chuck Norris goes to fart.
Haha, after eating those butter beans. Thanks for the comment, Pethoviejo! 👍
The future is here...even gas detectors talk to ya!
Haha, yes they do. It kind of took me by surprise the first time I turned it on and heard a woman talking. Thanks, Steven!👍
Have you guys checked out Brent up at Cerro Gordo?
No, we have not. We generally try to visit the less frequently traveled areas. It's definitely a cool place, except for the hotel burning down, that wasn't cool. 420? Works for us.😁
@@TomandJulieMineExploring definitely is a cool place. I seen because of the heavy rains and flooding he is dealing with road washout. Last video I watched he was trying to repair the road to get up there.
I figured you guys just did less populated areas which is understandable. Stay safe as always out there and keep up the amazing work.
I'm not surprised he's dealing with a washed out road. That's been a problem for mines up in the mountains forever. That's one reason you see such massive road walls on some mine roads. They got tired of rebuilding the road every time it rained. Thanks again!
Forgot to ask, what location is this mine, do you know the name? Thanks
This mine is in the southeastern part of Death Valley in the Confidence Wash. I don't know if the mine even has a name.
Champion Group, Gold Mine.
with all the rat droppings why re you not using a face mast with high grade filter's to breath through?
That wouldn't be a bad idea except and we appreciate your concern for our health. Wearing a mask takes a lot of the fun out of the explore, plus it's hard to talk clearly with one on. I rat droppings were going to kill us it would have happened a long time ago. After saying that I'll probably die a slow painful death. Thanks for your input, Larry!
So why didn't you explore the addit with the table where you could see the light???
We did. There were some cans back there in the rats nest and the light was coming through a piece of stove pipe that poked up to the surface. Thanks for watching, Dan! 👍
I must have missed it sorry 😭
@@danvigue2238 You didn't miss much. It only went 25 feet or so back to that light.
Toxic rat poop?😂😂😂❤❤.
We've been around so much rat poop that if it was toxic, we'd have been dead long ago. It is gross, though.🐀🐀
More and more electronic equipment comes with that same exact Chinese voice. I recently got a Wouxun GMRS transceiver and it has the exact same annoying voice.--- It would be kind of scary to meet up with Eric 'Butterbean' Esch in a mine! --- People think it doesn't get cold in the desert. The last time I was in Death Valley, in the early 1960s, woke up one morning to thick patches of ice on the ground and snow on the cactus.
These devices are kind of spendy and only last two years before the expiration date causes them to shutdown. We started buying the cheaper ones with the Chinese woman talking to you during startup. They seem to work well at least. I've always liked Butterbean for his unconventional ways. I sure wouldn't want to take one of his round house right hand punches upside my head. It would be lights out for a while. It gets plenty cold in Death Valley, especially at night and when the wind blows. I've been through 54 Minnesota winters so know a bit about the subject. Thanks for the comment, Duck! 👍 👍
I hope my GMRS radio lasts longer than two years. My FCC license is good till 2023.
@@DFDuck55 That two year expiration is just for air monitors. Your radios will last for a long time.