Weird Mine Takes Us In One Side Of The Mountain And Out The Other
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- čas přidán 7. 09. 2024
- There are a lot of weird and cool things about this abandoned mine and it is difficult to know where to start in discussing them… I suppose, we can begin with the underground portion of this mine, which might as well have just been called the “Stope Mine” given the sheer amount of stoping here. In a gold mine (precious metal), you can have a lot of drifting with very little stoping. However, in an industrial metal mine like this one, you’re going to see a lot of stoping because they need volume to eke out a profit with a mineral with such a low weight/price ratio. Even with that said, the sheer amount of surface stoping and, particularly, the amount of stope activity on that tunnel running through the mountain was, well, impressive. The layout of the stope structures were often weird as well - I’m thinking of everything from that “carousel stope” near the beginning to the way that a lot of the stopes were divided and folded in on each other (harder to convey that on camera).
And speaking of that tunnel… Yes, that was a true tunnel! To be a true tunnel, it must have openings at both ends and this one did. That is exceptionally rare in mining and it was a fun surprise to discover one. The waste rock on the side that we entered from was tiny and so I hadn’t even turned my camera on in order to check out what I assumed was just a tiny prospect. Instead, it kept going and going and going until it popped out on the other side of the mountain. So, I had to go back to the beginning and start over again with the camera on this time.
And the surface stuff? That elaborate network of rails outside was just amazing to me… I am a big fan of rail and so to see all of that rail set up - almost like a mini railroad - was spectacular. It didn’t make sense to have the camera running during the whole time that we were walking around, but that complex rail network ran all over the surface of that side of the mountain. I can’t think of any other mines that I have visited with a more extensive rail network on the surface.
This was primarily a lead and zinc mine with the first year of production listed as 1893. Copper, silver and gold were listed as secondary minerals. Other than that, I was able to find practically nothing on the history of this site. It did change names a number of times, which does nothing good for preserving records or in aiding one trying to track down information.
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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!
#ExploringAbandonedMines
#MineExploring
#AbandonedMines
#UndergroundMineExploring
Speaking of open stopes, those viewers from the Tucson area who were around in the 60s and 70s may remember the mines on the north side of the Santa Rita Mountains associated with the ghost town of Helvetia. The road in took you past a hill, half of which was a giant open stope in the shape of an opera shell. In the back was a vertical shaft that led down to a series of drift levels. Sadly, all these mines were eventually sealed or blown shut.
If the ore bodies weren't interesting, what was on the other side of the mountain was the icing on the cake! Needless to say, miners were busy for a while. Thanks Justin and Crew!
What a journey. Loved the look of the rails twisting through the mountain on the back side of the tunnel. It was an impressive scene.
Great exploring Justin.
I agree Eb, howdy my down-under mining mate, ...🦘🤠🍹
@@OGRocker1 G'day OG! What a small world it is! How good was this episode! We have to get over there one day soon.
Definitely very neat railroad Justin. I too enjoy those. Following tracks, be they old freight train lines, logging railroads or mining tracks. I was especially envious when in an episode on Frank's channel (I think) the friends he was exploring with and him got an old electric trammer running.
I enjoyed this video a lot. Thanks. It's a real stope opera.
Hi Justin, that was a pretty cool explore around the hills and that first mine was a good one with the way it wrapped around itself.
I confess I have never seen a tensioner quite like that either, still a very cool find though. Thank you for sharing, much love. xx ❤
Thank you, Sue. Yes, this was one of those where I couldn't decide if I liked the surface or underground stuff better.
@@TVRExploring I'm inclined to agree. x
Awesome video!
Thanks for what you do!
I suspect the pipe ore chutes were simply for high grading into small containers, while the bulk of the ore went down the ore chutes.
Great upload what a tremendous amount of work these miners acomplished its just mind blowing!
Cool mine, I still find it hard to believe how hard those old timers worked. Thanks for doing the video
Whats a miners favorite day? Give up? Winzeday ..... Regards from Ody Slim
I was going to say Payday! 💰
with all the work that has been done here, they had high hopes for the area and the mine, was like a swiss cheese, all the holes, not organized at all. another great explore by you and your friends
Brilliant commentary once again on an amazing mine , this channel just keeps getting better , many thanks
Thank you for the kind words. I'm glad you're enjoying the content.
Man how far did they have to man haul all the rail and timber? This was cool, I dig all that rail! I just cant imagine this kind of hard core mining taking place now a days where would you find enough commited folks to support the effort? Great video I really enjoy these thanks!
Cool mine for sure really enjoyed it
that is a way cool mine Justin, more, more ...... ⛏⚒⛏ 🍻
Yes, I particularly enjoyed this one.
That was ace mate. Loved everything about this mine. 👍👍👍👍👍
So other than the initial starting date, and that's probably rough guesstimate at, because they could have been there for a while before someone realized that they hadn't filed the claim due all the exploratory holes poked everywhere around the outside of the tunnel.
They must have used a million sticks of dynamite, couple thousand feet of primer wire, and who knows how much was used of rail, lumber, and consumables such as carbide, nails, track spikes, drill bits, other such things.
Just the extent of the outside rail system, would have worn out who knows how many picks n shovels alone, that's not including the actual mine work itself consumed.
It did appear that majority of the lumber appeared to be second hand from the looks of it, because it wasn't the raw surface found timber, nor did it all have the fresh milled appearance that most of the mines you see in the dry climate mines.
How close were there any roads to the tram lines, or were there any.
I recall seeing a road off in the distance from when you pointed out the second tram going down to a station.
You didn't mention if they were processing the oar on location, are if it was transported in it's raw form to another remote location somewhere some distance away?
Sorry, but you know by now that I tend to be very long winded about most everything.
Very interesting how they always seemed to circle back around the stopes one way or another.
Something else that caught my attention, for as much waste an oar as they obviously moved, there were actually very few actual oar shutes that i recall seeing, and as much as they twisted around plus up into huge stope areas there wasn't but a few altogether in total.
Unless I missed something obvious to everyone else, but I recall one made of pipe, at best half a dozen wooden ones, and maybe two locations were a wench was possibly used of some sort.
Other than the one laying outside, but considering the shear amount of stopes, I'd have figured they'd had been 10 times at least that amount.
And no miner's graphiti, are oar cart counts on the few oar shutes anywhere.
Anyone else notice these two things that stand out to me as unusual, and what happened to all the rail and ties that were inside.
Because I didn't see any piles as is normally the case in most mines with that amount of distance they covered, and I can see maybe part outside, but no way they pulled everything inside and sent it out there well still actively mining the inside.
Just few things Justin that I find unusual for typical miners to normally do without doubt.
Wow very cool!
Your ever in the area I'll show you some anthracite mines.
This one was a lot of fun
Enjoyed that man! Quite the maze mine journey 🤩 You always take us on amazing views!
This should be called : the here and there everywhere mine wow interesting place with some very nice surprises inside and outside wow, nice one again Justin.
Good afternoon from Southeast South Dakota
Cool that the line of the tram is left in place ,reminds of the tramlines around cerra gordo .
I should be very intresting to se a effort to restore the tramtowers and tension station's , on some sites ,in cerra gordo some of the ore buckets is still left hanging on the lines.
In Sweden we had two old ore tram lines that was scrapped quite recently, the lime tramway forsby- koping was the one of the longest in the world, totalty scandalous the owner got permission to tear it down. Should have been preserved!
Another excellent explore.
Super cool, like an ant farm
Wow, thats some mine. Like swiss cheese.
Great explore, thanks for finding this one.
Another amazing mine system!!! Wow!
this stopes for you!
Looks like there was a lot of lensed ore bodies in this area
WOW!! I think this might be my favorite mine. Thanks.
It was definitely one of my favorites.
Awesome mine. I have seen pipe chutes before in the oatman Arizona area
2:27 This mine is fake, it's a movie set! You can clearly see the plaster at this part.
Jokes aside, great video 👍🏻
Looked like some swiss cheese mining. Could of used a drone to find more secrets. Liked the cable tensioner. I've used simular myself. Good day.
They definitely Swiss-cheesed that mountaintop. The drone would never have worked in the wind that was whipping through there that day...
@@TVRExploring Yep. That wind did sound like it was strong.
The stoll in the opening of the open stope that was hit by rail was the guy pounding it in tight was using a long hammer so he wasn't right under the overhang is my guess set it in place stand back 10 ft to whack
That tram line cable tensioner was one of the coolest things I’ve seen. A great example of how crafty those miners were and had to be way out there in those days.
Just curious on this one... Silver, Gold, Taconite, (Iron Ore), Manganese, what was the mineral they were after here...?
Great video. It looks like a lot of people would have worked there.
Yes, it does seem like it.
swiss cheese mountain.. :)
This mine area is very interesting.
I always wonder how the miners live there .
No water nothing around .
Or is there a settelment near by.
Thank you for the video and the look in the past.
Yours Frank Galetzka
Reminds me of war eagle mine area / colombia mine area whole mountainside is swiss cheese, thank you again TVR funny you going to spots i’ve been to many moons ago
Great video, a lot of workings there. They muat have been getting a lot og
Swiss Cheese ahoy!
With all the stopes and tunnels, are the ore pockets the size of swimming pools, or is the ore distributed like veins and capillaries, and they're just following small amounts? Also...how much dynamite would it take to make all the tunnels and stopes, or was a lot of this just done with drills?
so you found a tunnel and not a adit lol
Exactly!
Could you tell us what state you are in?
Lucy wants to know if you drop popcorn so you can find your way out ?..
No need for popcorn. Mines have an order and logic that one can follow... If they become particularly complex, one can always resort to the "right hand rule" in order to avoid becoming turned around.
It's like a block of Swiss cheese.
Many stopes, chasing ore !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
adit and stope what is the difference? been watching your channel for a year or so,think I'd know the difference, nope
An adit (rom Latin aditus - entrance) is a horizontal (or near horizontal) passage driven into a hill/mountainside. It often has a slight upward slope for drainage (which can also help with haulage), but if it is very sloped, it will be an incline shaft. A stope (uncertain origin, possibly from step, as ore is often extracted in steps/benches from ore bodies) is an excavation in a mine where ore is being/has been removed. For mine explorers, the chamber left after the ore has been removed
Thank you, great explanation
Follow the exterior rails with a drone
Have you considered using a metal detector in your explorations?
For all the rotten pants laying around, must been some bad food, and the shits going around 😂
Hey guys, you should be careful about exploring old mine tunnels because of the potential buildup of noxious gasses in them. There's a reason why there are ventilation lines in them.
Although you may have good intentions, your comment is insulting for its ignorance and its presumption of our ignorance. You are clearly not familiar with underground mining and are simply regurgitating alarmist nonsense that you heard somewhere in an effort to seem knowledgeable or to somehow involve yourself.
We have explored over 1,000 abandoned mines now... Do you think that we have not all also worked as professional underground miners? Do you think that we are unable to identify which abandoned mines present potential air issues and which do not? Do you think that we do not carry gas meters? The really funny thing is that this is actually one of the safest, LEAST LIKELY mines that we have ever visited to harbor bad air.
No miners Graffiti ?
That was a bit odd, huh?
YO! YOU STILL HAVE THAT VIDEO OF THE DRAGON COMING UR WAY, CAUSE I CAN'T FIND IT! YO?
Dragon? Are you referring to the mine with the weird sound? That would be the Engilchek video. Otherwise, I will need more info. Unless Justin knows what you are talking about.