Exploring the 8,000 Foot Tunnel Beneath Cerro Gordo!
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- čas přidán 7. 02. 2024
- In this exploration, I explore the "Estelle Tunnel" just 1.5 miles outside of the old silver mining town of Cerro Gordo in Inyo County, California.
Digging the Estelle Tunnel began in 1908. After 15 years of digging, in 1923, the Estelle Tunnel was driven 8,100 feet into the mountain - through nearly half of the upper Inyo Mountain Range. At about 7,700 feet in, miners cut through the “castle rock” vein, revealing small amounts of silver ore. At 7,500 feet in, a raise was driven 660 feet upwards, and then a 2,200 foot drift was driven toward the Jefferson Chimney.
However, the Estelle Tunnel supposedly never reached the Jefferson Chimney, nor would it ever find any other high-grade ore bodies. The 660-level drift ended up only 400 feet underneath the 1,100 foot level of the Union Mine in Cerro Gordo, but they never connected...
After digging through over 10,000 feet of rock, the Estelle Tunnel only produced a small amount of ore. The record from 1916 to 1926 shows 2,700 tons of lead-silver ore valued at about $80,000.
#mineexploration #mineexploring #mine #abandonedmine #exploring #exploringabandonedmines #abandonedplaces #ghosttown
Very interesting stuff! I have heard about a lot of the history of Cerro Gordo on Brent's "Ghost Town Living" channel, but I don't think he has shown any of this . Thanks for sharing!
Take a drink every time he says “cool” haha Great video 👍
Its a disease affecting u tube content creators
shows just how smart he is
Tried someone's advice and had a shot every time he said 'cool'.....Im absolutely hammered!
Nice vid. Get together with Brent
That shot at 2:50 was pretty spectacular with the mountains in the background and the lake!
Hey New Mexico, imagine seeing you here.... lol.
@@OGRocker1 I get around. LOL I actually explored this Estelle Tunnel way back in 2010 or something like that. It was a pretty impressive undertaking when they initially dug it. The Mine Junkie has made this excellent video chock full of historical information and great footage.
Check in with Brent up in Cerro Gordo for more about the Union mine. He may be looking for another experienced spelunker to help solve the mystery of the now known deeper levels of the Union that might connect to this tunnel
Agreed. They are two peas of a pod. Safer to explore with another person.
I very much enjoy your adventures! This video turned out great, and I love the perspective of the entrance from the end of the tunnel!
Keep up the passion and the research! ❤🎉
Very interesting to see. Thank you for sharing. Everyone stay safe, warm, happy 😊 and healthy. From Henrico County Virginia
That "room" near the portal would have probably been for transformers and resistor banks for the hoist that sat right outside the room on those concrete foundations.
This was a really great presentation with the maps and the history! Keep making videos like this one.
Hey man long time fan love your videos btw glad to see you doing okay🫡🤙🏼
@@0ppastopa Thanks for being a fan! I will definitely be posting more in the future. I've just been very busy with other things.
Just another mine junkie, new sub, thank you for keeping it real. ⛏⚒⛏Howdy from the Gold Hill mining district of southwestern Oregon.
Drinking game, take a drink every time he says "pretty cool".
I worked at an underground hard rock mine in big timber Montana. Tunnel 1 where we all went into the mine was 3.5 miles long and gained 1 foot in elevation. When you got off the train you could see the light at the end of the tunnel. P pretty cool move to work at
It's pretty cool....
Was there a few years ago with Yuu Yuu. That fluffy white mineral. Was wondering what it was then too. But we rode the Tdub there and broke open a watermelon at the end of the tailing pile. Great times.
Check with brent, he would probably be up for taking a crack at clearing that collapse if its not too far; he recently found an extra two levels at the bottom of union, if they link or not would very much be on his todo list
Great standard of timbering
Great background, timelapse shows depth traveled and good spatial awareness. Overall fantastic job. Too bad you couldn’t see all of it.
A couple questions -- what was the air quality in the tunnel like and what are the white ropes hanging down at intervals??
That far in, how was oxygen level?
2:32 If I'm reading this map correctly then the bottom of the Jefferson Chimney was never found/mined? It shifted due to geological forces?
That's cool. How do you access the other tunnel section? Is there another portal or is it beyond the collapsed section?
During the time-lapse portions, you passed several white strings or cords hanging down. They reminded me of old-fashioned ceiling light pull-strings, but I think that's unlikely in that setting...so do tell: what are they?
WOW ! I was thinking the same thing while I was watching
they are survey markers!
Dam man, shame about that collapse, i know Brent is looking for a way into the lower levels, if it was 400 ft short of connecting from the lower levels of union mine it might of been possible to extend that tunnel tunnel to connect it to the lower levels but then again i don't really know much about mining and if that would even be safe to do but between the collapse and shale rock, seems like it would be a huge undertaking.
its 400 feet lower. They never took the raise high enough.
That it is called the Estelle "Tunnel" implies that it goes thru the mountain or at least connects to something else. Now maybe they called it that from the beginning because they were planning to connect to other mines but it never happened and the name just stuck.
The Cerro Tunnel is an Audit or does it really go completely through the mountain to make a True Tunnel or is it an actual Audit.
A Tunnel is Not an Haulage Audit or am I wrong?
Does brent know about thiiissssss. Hahahah kidding. But yeah. Get ahold of him. I guarantee he’d be more than happy to give ya a tour
Didn't you check in with the guy who owns the Cerro Gordo mine?
all those crystals on the ceiling are zinc that means a big ore body of zinc on top of you.
I found the video to flow much better at 2X speed. Quite watchable that way. Also, don't take a shot of liquor every time Mine Junkie says, "Pretty cool". You'll be dead around the half way point. Otherwise a very good video. Covered a lot of territory. Thanks!
As a Australian i say challenge accepted 😂
Quit your crying
Being spoken incorrect ES- ( Telle)is a Norse name dating back to Norway into the 1200 year AD the name Telle is still in use today
Should contact Brent at cero Gordo. Aka "ghost town living" and try get a tore of the union mine and the hoist house
Are you by yourself?
4:36 The wash and erosion on the right side of the structure looks like feet. The one on the right looks like it has 5 toes even.
Just think what you could do with a Boring machine there. you could easily find the Jefferson tube and hit pay dirt that could easily cover the costs of the operation.
Or just dig it out by hand.😁❤️🇺🇸
Carbide Store ?
A 660 ft overhand drilling feat. Painful !! Tell us more
Incredible amount
of effort to go WHERE ??
in regard to the union mine, its silly to.think all the spoil got lifted up the Belshaw Shaft. There absolutely has to be day levels for tramming. These should be obvious by spoil heaps at their entrances
Great video 😊
you need a snow cat for winter i saw a video you had made in the winter
Who funded this?
I think your on private property. That is owned by Brent. You need to let him know your on his land. I will email him.
How do you know that ?
I'm not 100% sure but i don't think you can own under 10 inches unless you own the mineral rights, therefore you would need a miners license etcetera especially if it's a legacy claim which I assume it would be. Again I'm not sure how it works in the US-of-A as I am from Canada. I am familiar with Brents videos and I assume he would have the necessary titles in place to own/work it.
The fenced. Off. Was. For. Prisoners
Invent a way to push a pipe big enough for a man through that collapse...
your speech style slow and halting, sounds more like your pinching out the last little toilet nugget when you do finish a sentence. Your narration was very close to the visual footage. Real Young man not AI generated. No random stock footage that does not match. A Very informative Well written and produced project.
😂😂😂😂😂
Agreed .
Oh dear! 'Cool' is an overused adjective in this video. Left after five minutes, never to return. Cool!
Only thing left they couldn't burn down with negligence 👎
Better get off Brent's property before he catches U on it
😂😂😂😂😂
How do you know the boundaries ?? Guessing ??
I hope you got permission from Brent Underwood to explore on his property.
If not...he needs to be BUSTED
That's what I was thinking! I was hoping Brent would be going along!
Your certain of that ownership claim?
He should be ok it is not part of Brent's property as this is just off the road that leads up to town. I have been in the morning star with permission but have been told it's not part of Cerro gordo as well as many portals below and around Cerro gordo
It’s not on his property. It’s defaulted back to BLM.
Replace the word "Beneath" with "near".
It’s a “COOL” game. Learn some new words.
You know, if you're going to make a CZcams video about a mine.. . You should do a little bit of research so that you would be able to explain what all the stuff is you're looking at, instead of saying hmmm, I wonder what that was used for, or, oh very cool. I'm just saying. I could only get through 8 minutes of this video.
@ghosttownliving