Exploring the Most Incredible Gold Mine We've Ever Seen. (Part 1 of 2)
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- Опубликовано: 5 сен 2024
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This incredible gold mine was a once in a lifetime exploration for us. This mine was astonishingly well-preserved, and contained equipment that I have never seen in any other abandoned mine. The Mammoth Mine claims were staked in the 1880's and the mine was worked for decades after its discovery. Production from the Mammoth Mine was staggering. The mine was actually part of a massive complex of mines with hundreds of miles of workings. The exact production values and volumes are unknown, but this was one of the largest mining complexes in the United States.
This mine produced gold, silver, lead, copper, zinc and probably some other more obscure metals as well. The veins that were targeted in this mine were rich and contained a variety of metals in high concentrations. Unfortunately, the vein was highly unstable and the mine is in mostly poor condition. In fact, we were only able to access a couple thousand feet of workings, which thankfully were loaded with interesting equipment.
#minesofthewest #urbex #abandonedmine #mineexploring #abandoned #mining #exploring #desert #travel #history #adit #shaft #underground #minerals #silvermine #goldmine #exploringabandonedmines
Neat mine! It was very similar to my first mine that I worked at for 29 years the Dome Mine in Timmins ON Canada, which closed after 115 years of operation. I retired due to a stroke, but had 43 years of underground mining mostly in the gold mines here, and an almost 10 year stint at the deepest base metal mine in the world, the Kidd Creek mine also in Timmins ON Canada.
I’m so excited to see the inside of what’s left of this mine having peered into it’s opening a few years ago. It looked way too sketchy to explore. I’ll stay out and stay safe and watch the experienced mine explorers. Awesome job guys.
Hats off to you. This mine is a hard one to film. So many false floors, humidity, and all consuming darkness. This is your best video for sure.
The best of two worlds, an abandoned mine filled with industrial archeology.
always love the intro music ...that is a cool Chicago Pneumatic double piston compressor ......I remember when TVR did a vid on this mine ....huge mine ...a lot of cool artifacts .....cool explore there sonny Jim
Thank you sir!
LOL was clearly done at the same time you can hear him (TVR guy) rambling in the background. That said the quality of the camera seems better here…great color and low light detail.
I'm gonna meet you some day !!
just got back from DV going back next December! I'm north of Seattle!
So come on let's go 😜😜 awesome mine if any goons strip this one I hope they next shit a porkopine keep up the good vids folks 👌👌👌
Gonna say the same to you as I said to Justin - Appreciate you keeping the details obscured on this museum. I owe you a round for that if our paths ever cross. Fantastic footage! Atmosphere conditions there are often troublesome. Be extremely cautious if you ever decide to push further, seriously ratty ground.
We tried and decided it was too sketchy, like you said, the ground was horrible.
I think about the first day the compressor was installed and they were teaching everyone how to use it. Amazing.
It always amazes me that all this BIG HEAVY mine equipment had to be transported there by team and wagon if the mine dates to the 1880’s. Mind boggling. Different breed of individuals for sure, but back then I suppose it was just how things were done. Still amazing!
Most of the equipment shown in this video is much newer than 1880s, so it probably came out via a truck.
A lot of memories came back, when I started working in the coal mines and we rehabilitated old abandoned galleries. Lovely job. Keep pushing dude.👍
Wow, I don't know what to say, there was just so much machinery there, what an awesome place and now I can't wait to see part 2.
Thank you for sharing, much love. xx ❤
I would hate to see that compressor scrapped, yet I would love to rip it out and rebuild it. Couldn't tell if the motor was torn down or not. Definitely one big mine. Can't wait to see it. Thanks for the video
That compressor is a CP = Chicago Pnuematic. It has double acting compression which means it pumps in each direction of the pistons. So that unit is old but not that old and there are plenty of them still being used and can be found pretty easy. The real old ones from the 1880's to early teen.
s would be single acting pistons and believe it or not there are still some of those being used today Here is a fun fact for anyone that is interested. Its been over 150 years since the early air compressors were made, they have not invented a more efficient compressor than the old piston machines. seen in this video.
Thanks for the info.
Ingersol rand centrifugal compressors supercede piston compressors
@@jarvislarson6864 Better think again grasshopper. Besides I've worked on Centac's for nearly 40 years. I know exactly what a Centac can and cannot do.
For reference, the device used to bring power down from the overhead lines for a trolley/train like that is called a pantograph.
Thanks!
In its day, that was one big mining operation. Thanks for documenting the machinery, tracks, and all the equipment that was used. Thanks for not noting where this mine is located, keeping out vandalism. Haven't seen a gold mine operation in the states using this kind of mining approach. Thanks again for the explore.
I just can't believe that that mine still has all that in it!!!
It's so Kool and it needs to be protected!!!
Don't worry, it is protected. It's a well known mine in a tourist town and has been sealed. Very high in the mountains.
Awesome Mine what a step back in time. I am so happy you do not disclose the actual names or locations, Some of the mines and towns i explore has been unfortunatly been vandalized, and destroyed by relic hunters and its sad, so its nice to see other places that have not been destroyed by people. Thanks
i agree. it sucks to see mines get vandalized. Just can't share true names and locations thats for sure.
Stunning photos! I would print some of them out in really big format and hang them on my walls framed. Absolutely beautiful colors. 👍
Very nice find. An open pit where I worked had overhead lines that powered Dresser 685's. We called the power intake pentographs but, that was a completely different design and, I don't think that name would apply to the power system on these locos. Still loving your lights. I intend to do with walking draglines what you do with these old mines but, I can't get it done until I'm no longer with the company.
I love this stuff. The single gang plug at the beginning appears to be just two slots meaning polarized. The white ceramic knob is knob and tube wiring. Asphalt cloth insulation on that wire. Popular up until the 30’s. I grew up with this as a kid in the 60’s.
The loci at the compressor station was battery powered. The trolley style frames were configured slightly differently. The box with lid on the loci held some large batteries, I have operated and rebuilt several over the years.
I love those old electric motors, how well they were engineered and how esthetically pleasing - let's hope it stays there as part of a museum...cheers
Lol that stuff probably all still works to
Well Done! ...looking forward to part 2
Copper
Thousands of tons
They also had their own railroad.
You should’ve seen what was in mine .
You used to be able to drive right in there and load up whatever you wanted.
Everything is pretty much rusted!
You should’ve seen it 50 years ago everything was there!
Sad thing is the guy that owned this mine.
Died broke!
The two old motors coupled together are a motor generator set
likely to change 440.volts incoming power to 40 volts dc for the trammer.
the tiny water tank is a drill water tank to supply water to the rock drills under pressure.
the large round timber is called a tree timber as it's just a log with the bark removed used as a timber.
the linkbelt hoist is an old crane part
@14:35, the steel plates are referred to as steel lagging or liner plates, the span between the steel sets used for ground support.
Those old CP compressors would clean up nice for a museum. Great video.
I recognize some percussion air rock drill parts laying in the shop, rotation pawl ring and hammer. Judging by the size I would say off a ring drill or column-bar drill, often the same drifter (drill) was used on both styles.
The hole going down is just miners following an ore body. Hoist that ore up and load it out ...
Miners will go up/down/sideways/anyway needed to get decent ore. You can always use the space as a disposal site after the high grade is taken out.
Awesome equipment! Such a shame it’s so wet down there causing so much rust and decay. Incredible amount of ‘stuff’!
Great video!
👍👍👍👊😎
Wow, I thought our mines here in Wales had nice machinery in them, but that gold mine was one of the best mines I've seen, and that is hard to say because our mines are amazing. Makes me want to jump on a plane ASAP 😂.
Don't know how I randomly found channel, but obviously subscribed
Wow amazing mine. With all the water I didn't expect to see the winze drop down as far as it did without being flooded. Beautiful stills as always. 👍
That is so cool I have never seen anything like it before.
Thankyou Sir for the Tour ,look forward pt2.
Kudos for the off-camera lighting on the still photos. Makes them pop.
My Uncle worked this mine, he said there is plenty of Tungsten left, the gvt. shut it all down any way.
Is this in Nevada? What year was it last worked and why in the hell did the government shut it down?
@@TheDamageinc81 Because that's what the government does, sticks its fingers in everything.
@@ExploringCabinsandMines OH I'm am well aware of how government wants to be in everyone else's business.
I worked tungsten mines back in the 1970's. The issue was not the Gov't shutting them down, it was the price of Korean tungsten. Our Sheelite ore could not compete on the world market so we shut down too. The good is that all these high value mineral locations are known, and if globalization actually comes off the rials, some US mines may reopen 🙃
Thank you for sharing your fines without you sharing this tons of people probably wouldn't know it existed thank you again
Thanks for watching, very glad you enjoyed!
I wonder if surface supplied ventilation kept the humidity down during operation? Can you imagine how all that moisture wreaked havoc with the machinery and anything to do with electricity? Super cool vid. Thanks!
wow what a gem. thanks so much for this video!!!!!
Muchas gracias 🙂
I can't add to what I'm reading down in the comments other than to say I'm in Awe! What a time capsule!
Sweet, DC electric motor driving 2 compressors. A DC battery loci parked at the compressor station. Very few have seen sights like this. I have been fortunate to have seen many. I like these videos, brings back many memories.
They really should take all that equipment out and clean it up and put it in a museum so everyone can see it!!!
That Air compressor is a CP!! Chicago Pneumatic! That is SO cool! I had no idea they made equipment that big but it certainly strikes me as yeah, of course they would! That is some old equipment!! Look at the size of the bolts holding that thing together! Wouldn't you just love to take that thing out of the mine and restore it back to it's brand new condition?!?!? That would be seriously awesome, to see that machinery all restored back to it's original Glory, all the brass polished and the iron repainted the same color? There's now way they didn't build that right where it sits, they couldn't have done it any other way. I can see in my mind's eye that man all bringing down all the part of the machinery and using the locomotives to move it into place. That would have provided all the air the mine would need to run all of the drills. it must have been a massive operation for it to require such a huge source of compressed air!
So, I was exploring a mine a few days ago and thought, I’ve seen this before on RUclips. Been trying to re-find this video since
Hello from Australia amazing explore opal miner here
Greetings from Brazil
@19:30, the single drum is an air tugger. Mostly used for hoisting materials up raises, sometimes used for dumping problematic cars if seen near the grizzly at a shaft station. A slusher is mostly a double drum, though occasionally they can be triple drum.
The tugger is near the winze (internal shaft), also there is a hoist drum near the winter. Likely the tugger was used to aid in landing material on the collar (floor next to the winze).
Wow just wow speechless what a timecap very heavy industual heavy-duty the place must be massive tones on tones
That was one massive operation.
Great video. Thank you
Great video.
Growing up around sawmill and mechine shop there was always bolts and parts so you didnt have to teavel just for bolt
Good morning from Southeast South Dakota
at 9:05 is a Motor Generator set. referred to as a MG set it was used to make DC power to run the trolley or charge big batteries
This is an amazing find and I hope you do not let people know of the exact location because people will certainly steal everything there
Wow, great video and so beautiful pictures, good job 👏
Thank you sir!
Looks more like a rust factory than a gold mine, seeing the mine is more enjoyable than looking at the equipment.
I wonder if any of that equipment could still be used or even operated anymore. I doubt it but its cool to think about it
Just kick ass is all I got to say!!!
What is the purpose of the steering wheel looking thing? Certainly don’t need one on track but what else would it be? Nice video!
Thats probably the Handbreak.
9:00 looks like alot of coils in that electric motor are gone.
That was a huge mine!
WHAAAATTT MAMMOTH!!! AND YOU DIDNT HIT ME UP LOL!! Thats my back yard
Fake name!
@@MinesoftheWest HAHA ok lol :)))
That equipment must be worth a fortune it's unbelievable how they just left all that to rust away to nothing!!!
I'll bet it would still work with some work!!!
Nice job on the video. That's a 100% a time capsule. Sad thing people will be watching this video. And they'll be stripping in the thing. Nice to see all tools still in their place.
Best mine ever!
Those Electric locmotive's eletric motors would likely have enough torque to pull your house off it's foundations! I wonder what you could do with motors that big, and the proper gearing. The small room you walked into to look at was likely the forge, the forge itself looks like it was removed but the massive overhead vent for the heat and waste gasses is lying on the floor right in front of you when you first entered. it would have hung directly over the forge itself, there would also have been an anvil but the blacksmiths never left those behind, nor would they have left their hammers and tongs behind either. The Blacksmith"s job was to make any parts that were needed to fix any number of things if there weren't replacement parts or if the replacement parts were either not available or were too expensive. in older mines they would have also specialized in tack for mules and horses for mines that kept horses and mules, mainly mules especially in the 18, 19th and the early to mid 20th centuries. Many mine kep mules underground for the tire life of the animal, well, almost the entire life of the animal. once the mule began to get old and couldn't work as hard as it did when they were young, they would take them out of the mines and let them live the rest of their lives above ground and were not ever required to work hard afterwards, for most of them anyways. But it wasn't a good life for them, and being underground for a long time began to affect their eyes as well, and when that happened they were also retired and taken topside. It's a good thing Mankind was able to create electricity and electric motors, they made a lot more sense than a mule and didn;t need to be fed and watered and rested etc. a locomotive worked hard and never needed to rest, so you could have men mining 24 hours a day in multiple shifts. But the Blacksmith was an integral part of the mine. if there was a curve that the train rail needed to have to go around a corner, the Blacksmith was the guy to make it happen.
I like the 10 part 16 to one gold mine in Allegheny California better that still in operation to day.
Those locomotives are called "motors".
13:09 ... How many times do you think the miners have smacked their legs on that thing? Lol
Lol 😆
That generator is huge and must have ton of copper
I've seen them take batteries into the mines and start up those locomotives and muckers!!!
this mine is amazing
Q just how did they manage to transport and then install all the really heavy equipment, locomotives, ore cars, electric motors, compressors, etc.
Those ore cars look like they may have been Grandby Cars.
Awesome!
Think about how did they get all that equipment down there? It’s so heavy looking then how did they assemble it?
That electric line for the train, catenary I think it's called, looks dangerous as hell being that low. But it can't be much higher because the ceiling is so low.
I was looking at what was seemingly two electrics motor coupled together near the beginning of this clip, it made no sense till I thought about it. What if it's a DC generator ran by an AC electric motor? why else would those two be coupled together. The train is probably ran by lower voltage DC because it's safer?
Pre OSHA.
DC motors also have far more torque than ac when compared to similar power consumption.
Wow. Impressive.
Q - where would they get the power to drive the electric motor that was powering the air compressor/s? Because most mines were in very remote locations.
Amazing
I find this fascinating. I've always found mines to be very interesting. I've heard that every piece of gold on earth has come to us by way of astroids. Gold is finite not unlimited. I think that's what made enjoy gold mines even more. Rare
Look at the size of that nut on those motors or whatever it is!!!!
Can you imagine the wrench that turned it???!!!
that is special.
Ya Sonny Jim, Hurry up for Part #2 will ya.
Monday!
There's no sign of any grease having ever been used on the witch at 21:51
So it don't get vandalized turn it into a museum clean only so people could walk by and not trip
Somebody correct me a if I am wrong but I don’t think those are compressors in the beginning of the video. I think they are steam engines hooked up to a generator that would supply power to the mine.
No, it’s a compressor.
@@MinesoftheWest haha yeah I realize that now. I should have watched the entire video before I commented lol. Great video can’t wait for part 2.
That is amazing to see steam engine with generator rhat looks complete
No pedal small dash lever, forward,reverse
I would guess the locomotives were DC power from the cable. To produce the DC, they used AC motors to generate the DC. That is what the 2 electric motors did.
Should buy that mine at get working machinery again
Those compressors are a bit serious kit, there has been a lot of money spent in there.
Just imagine how cool it would be to fire up that old girl (safely of course) , and see her in operation once again after lying dormant for so long.
That look like the fire went though it all..
Glad that you're not revealing where this mine is and what its real name is. It would be stripped out in no time if the wrong people got in there.
Glück auf
Pretty crazy mine. Not sure what you mean by a false floor though. Mines are full of holes covered with wood. They can become unsafe. They can become a hazard if covered with dirt and you can't see the wood. What makes the wood false is a mystery to me. If my wood floor is covered with carpet, i don't call it a false floor.
It is called "jargon"... look it up!!
Is that air compressor a Chicago pneumatic?
what heck is all that eqiment for
Loading and hauling raw ore.