C-SPAN Cities Tour - Coeur d'Alene: Precious Metals and Early Gold Mining
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- čas přidán 4. 12. 2013
- Tour Crystal Gold Mine, one of the first hard rock mines in Coeur d'Alene's mining district. Owner Ray Cropp takes us 900 feet underground to show the treasures of the mine. Learn about the mysteries of the mine's origins and how it was re-discovered after being abandoned for more than a century.
I lived about 1/2 mile from that mine but didn't know it was there. There was an urban legend in the silver valley about two miners who stumbled onto a wealthy mine and kept it well hidden. Then, they just disappeared. The legend said they were killed when someone or some people followed them and found the mine. But everyone would always say something like "well, maybe I will find the old mine and I can pay off my house" like people today say "if I could win that lottery". When I was a kid we played all over that hill. Sledding in winter or hiking to the top and rolling huge snow boulders down the front. All the while that mine was right under our feet at times. When my first wife and I came back to visit after being gone for 15 years we were driving around Kellogg (ate at the old kopper keg) and a guy asked if we had seen the gold mine. When we drove up and I saw that mine and where it was at I about fainted. My avatar is the Sunshine Mine disaster memorial that killed 91 men. The gold mine is about a quarter mile west from the memorial on the same road just north of I90 freeway. It's VERY cool and there are HUGE fish in the flooded tunnels. No one ever thought fish could survive in mines until this mine was found. On the tours they drop a handful of fish food pellets or something like it in the water and those big fish hit the top water fast!! Worth stopping at if you go through there. They have a nice gift shop also.
Ray!!!!!
Cool!