Special Visit To The Incredible 16 to 1 Mine: Part 3 - Milling Gold & Last Of The 0 Level
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- Опубликовано: 13 авг 2019
- This video starts where we left off exploring the 0 (zero) level and we proceed as far as we can on this level… In the next video in this series, Duane shows us a fantastic map of the 16 to 1 Mine and does a great job showing where we’ve been and where we’re going. Of relevance to this video, you can see how much farther the 0 level extends beyond the caved section where we were blocked from exploring. There is still a lot of gold back there!
Duane’s comment about mining the “Compromise” was a reference to the Compromise raise, which resulted from a compromise between the 16 to 1 and the Alleghany Mining Company to establish a clear boundary between their competing properties. The 16 to 1 drove the Compromise raise along their side of the line between the 300 and 700 levels and, as luck would have it, almost all of the high-grade gold ore in this zone ended up on the side of the 16 to 1 Mine.
The main part of the mill was abruptly closed in 1997. However, as you heard, the high-grade ore is still being processed in the bottom part of the mill to this day…
As mentioned previously, I have to spread the history of this mine over at least several videos because it is so lengthy. So, here is the next segment, which, again, quotes from the excellent “Gold Mines of the Alleghany-Forest Mining District” by Raymond W. Wittkopp and Wayne C. Babros:
“In 1911 Johnson sold the Tightner to J.M. O’Brien, Arthur De Wint Foote and associates of Grass Valley for $500,000, payable over a period of years, and moved to Berkeley. During January 1918 he died in Albuquerque, New Mexico of tuberculosis, probably complicated by silicosis.
During 1908 Tom Bradbury persuaded his brother Theodore (“Cap”) and Cap’s San Francisco friend, Yeates Lawson, to join him as partners and drive a new tunnel further down slope, at the present mill level. This was the main adit into the mine for 58 years and is still used for air circulation. Tom and his young nephew, C.A. Bennett, surveyed the crosscut. They ran out of funds and optioned the property to a partnership of Wilson and Vander-Beugle, who drifted north and discovered $100,000 in high-grade. However, Wilson stole the proceeds and ran.
At the Tightner Mine, according to an interview with A.D. Foote in Mining and Scientific Press in 1922, during the period 1911 to 1918 when O’Brien and Foote ran the mine, it produced $1,700,000, with about $400,000 more for others (i.e., H.L. Johnson). During the same interview A.D. Foote stated,
‘We had an experience that was delightful for a time. It was rather interesting. Driving north on the vein, we struck a bunch of quartz about 30 feet wide and perhaps 100 feet long. We stoped up on the footwall getting indications of gold. In fact we milled about 5,000 tons which went $2.49 per ton. Then in putting up a raise from the stope, we ran into coarse gold, and worked to the hanging wall over the former stope of poor quartz, taking out $750,000 in gold in a space less than 100 feet square. Some of it was so rich that we had to cut it up with chisels to get it to the mill…We found numerous bodies that yielded $75,000 to $100,000 in the course of three years.’”
Bear in mind, that the dollar amounts mentioned above were when gold was selling for less than $20 an ounce!
In the next video, we will see the lower workshop, a great map of the mine and then we’ll head into the main underground workings of the mine - where we won’t be coming out again for a while!
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Our guide on this tour, Duane, has a RUclips channel of his own in which he has posted videos he has taken in mines where he has worked. It can be found here: / @muleskinnermining8661
For more information on the Sixteen to One Mine or even to buy physical gold or stock shares from the company, one can visit their website at: www.origsix.com/
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All of these videos are uploaded in HD, so adjust those settings to ramp up the quality! It really makes a difference.
You can see the gear that I use for mine exploring here: bit.ly/2wqcBDD
You can click here for the full TVR Exploring playlist of abandoned mines: goo.gl/TEKq9L
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
If your going on a guided tour you want a guide like Duane. Not only having the knowledge but enjoys telling you about it.
It must be nice to have people willing to listen too. :D
the shame of humanity.
He sounds incredibly passionate about it. Which I love
You’re correct... I took my kids to an old mine here in Georgia and the people giving the tour (I realize there’s a difference between this video and the tour they were giving) were just bland and not happy to be there to take about the mine or the geologic history of the area. I was pretty bummed when I found out that the person walking us around had absolutely no clue what he was talking about. He was given a script to remember and that’s it.
Hi, I am thoroughly enjoying watching these episodes, it really interests me to see the actual process of how the gold is extracted and milled then refined, so cool. You can see that he is really passionate about what he does. Thanks for sharing, I can't wait till the next one. x
Thanks, Sue. I'm glad you're finding these interesting... I agree with you in that most of the time we just get a hole in the ground with an abandoned mine. So, it is interesting to see how all of the different parts - such as the workshops and mills - work together to get the gold to its final form. Thanks for watching and commenting.
I love this stuff. Thank you. I used to work with slurry pump salesmen. With the mining industry, every punctuation mark is replaced with F* or S*. Every time there's a mining disaster, I get glued to the story because it feels like those miners are family.
Haha, yes, that's very well said about the f* and the s* replacing punctuation! You'll hear a lot of creative swearing around miners...
Thanks for another amazing installment of this mine series. You are a very lucky guy to get such a detailed description of the whole process and a amazing guide
The difference in the timber is oak vs softwood (fir, pine). The softwoods will expand when wet and the cellulose opens up so much that fungus can penetrate. With oak when it’s wet it swells and the cellulose gets tighter and won’t let anything penetrate it. Hardwood is becoming harder to get and way more expensive and just isn’t cost effective to use so they just use softwoods now.
Soft wood will be rotton in less than a year in those constantly wet conditions unless treated.
Why cant concrete be used
@@eaglewi Concrete tends to snap if impacted and won't bend with loads. Wood bends with loads and won't snap quite as often when impacted. Plus costs. Factor it all together and using wood is cheaper/easier. PLUS can't really do concrete arches in unusual bends/angles, where with wood just nail it in place + cut to fit.
Simon Tay actually in those mines the water has minerals in it. Those minerals will leach into the wood and pretty much petrify them over time. Think stalactites and stalagmites. The cost of oak is $3.85 a bd ft were the cost of pine is about $1.50 a bdft. It’s not like the wood is above ground exposed to UV light and has a lower oxygen level. Softwood will get the job done and is a more renewable resource than oak. 5 years vs 50.
erik litchy just to add to what Christopher said, concrete also gets soft as it gets damp. If you put any pressure on it then it would just snap. It would have to be reinforced and the cost of steel is just too great. Understand that the more it costs to mine the more valuable it becomes. Price of gold would escalate so much you couldn’t afford it.
Wow, some very interesting mining machinery of yesterday, big thanks to Duane. More please.
The best explanation of a mill I have ever seen! This guy's knowledge is incredible!
It's such an eye-opener to hear a real miner say whats happened in the mine, and what the parts are called and why certain things were worked in a certain fashion. Thanks for taking us along once more.
Incredible series. Enjoyed this immensely. Thanks for the tour Duane!
Duane is a gold mine of information. Fantastic series!
I see what you did there...
That’s an awesome place and just imagine the amount of gold still in there. I would love to work for Duane, just to listen to him talk about the history alone is worth it. Heck I’ll even crawl thru the manhole into the ball mill just to hear him talk. Thanks for sharing
Haha, I agree!
That is the most comprehensive, detailed tour I have ever seen. The mine & equipment are all just impressively
gigantic. It was so nice to see everything is in tact & in working order to. Duane did an excellent & thorough job
with the tour. Thank Justin for the videos. Hopefully there will be another video! Regards from Ody Slim,
Lots more videos to come... At the end of this video, I was talking about the 800 level where we are going next.
@@TVRExploring I cant wait for the next video. Where was Chuck?
Wow, Gets more awesome every week. Kudos out to Duane. Nobody can beat this series
Thank you! We were very fortunate in having an awesome guide at an awesome mine...
Such a great place for so many reasons. Thank you for sharing it for everyone
What a great thing to be given a tour like this. Great information and historical information as well. Thank you to the mine and mine personnel for doing this and letting us get a glimpse into their world.
Yes, we feel incredibly lucky to have connected with Duane and to have been granted the access we got.
Great job man thank you for taking us along! What an amazingly rich old mine, imagine how much Gold is still there.
There's a lot of gold still in there!
Great video. Lots of excellent information given first hand; can't beat that. Thank you!
Hats off to you and of course Duane for a great tour, can't wait for next installment.
wheres this mine located ?
@@nannettemackenzie5108, the mine is located in Alleghany California, in Sierra County.
“Gly”: Now that’s a big spiral classifier! The one we used at our gold claim was only 24” in diameter. They work well for recovering coarse gold but like he said you really need a shaker table to recover the flour gold.
Yes, I was impressed by the size of that wheel as well!
Interesting,Thanks for the look, Cool mill man too.
Really cool tour series and nice editing! We couldn't even see the part when you filled your pockets with that high grade ore!😉 hahahaha
Haha, thank you! Glad you're enjoying the series... Wait until you see the cool stuff underground!
Worked in the mine for a few years, the Ray rock was my claim to fame. Good times for sure!!
Thankyou for the video work.Big shout out to your guide.I have been in the 16/1 Mine and have personally met Mike Miller.I still remember the day going down into the mine.At the time I went ,they allowed you to look and pick a little in the large ball room area.They had magnificent ore samples on display.i have found gold in the Downyville area.Nothing to retire on.The amount of work and energy that goes into an operation like the 16/1 is phenomenal. I was there about 2003. I left California in 2014 to CoeurDAlene,I’d. I have been to the town of Wallace and up to the old mining areas there. I love the mining history and have been on my own treks in California and Nevada.Now I’m in Alaska and have already scoured the areas from Fairbanks to Anchorage and will continue.This visit of yours brought back fond memories of the area.54 years in California but the political atmosphere was too much for me.Stay safe.
Thank you for watching and for the comment... It is an impressive site, to be sure! I'm glad you found some gold around Downieville. I wish more people were still mining, but it is hard now with all of the rules and regulations. It sounds like you've gotten around a fair amount. Which was your favorite area?
TVR Exploring I lived in the Placerville area.I contracted electrical from 1984-2014 in Sacramento.I had an outcropping of quartz on my property in the Omo Ranch area.Too busy to do anything but tinker.I am fascinated with the mining history and would go to sites and do the research. Took my daughters with me but never got crazy enough to do something with them or myself and get injured. As your detailed video shows,mines are extremely dangerous.Your guide did give you the primo tour.He loves the work or he wouldn’t still be there.I’ve watched other videos on mines where they give pretty good coverage.The gold crystalline formations mixed with the quartz are beautiful specimens there. The bank vault,the newer gold processing areas are nice to see.I took a shorter tour which included that massive chamber. Yes,the gold is there but getting to it is very expensive. However as was in the recent past they did have a huge payday. That is the fever that drives one on.God bless you and your friend in your adventure.
Amazing video friend thank you and please keep the great videos coming friend from Scotland 😊🎉🎉
The amount of engineering and sweat equity that went in to building out this mine is astonishing.
Yes, it is an amazing gold mine.
Fantastic..Enjoyed the mill tour..STay well
Fascinating and well done series with a great guide! I've been hearing of the 16/1 since I first got interested in gold mines. Now I'm getting to see it!! Many many thanks (and a big dose of envy!)!
Thank you very much.
New video. Looking forward to watching when I get home. Thank you. 🙂
I really enjoyed this series, thank you.
This is like BARN FINDS old cars except it a GOLD MINE WITH GOLD JUST SITTING AROUND
🙂👍👀😎 that is very cool. I’m looking forward to next week 😀👍
This is the second time watching all the segments .. absolutely incredible tour, and what a great guide .. seems like super cool people.
AMAZING ! So glad you got this footage !
Me too!
What an awesome view. Massive set-up.
Thanks for the information on this mine,I like when you give history of the mines you vist.
As far as mining videos go doesn't get any better than this thank you
Its amazing to me that over the century they have upgraded and retrofit new equipment right into or over the old original stuff. I can only imagine how much gold is still in all of the ore laying around on the floor of that mill.
Yes, miners recycle and innovate with a lot of old equipment. We've seen that time and time again... And, yes, there is still a lot of gold at this mine.
Simply amazing seeing all the equipment still there. What I would give to get in there and do some cleaning in the mill. All that material still laying there😳
Thank you for this series! Amazing!
Thanks for coming along...
Thank you for taking us along.
This is real gold seeing a tour like that cheers to all involved from uk
Really enjoying this series, thanks for documenting the mine for us. very cool.
Glad to hear that... Thank you.
Just love watching these episodes amazing
Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.
Man. some of the best footage I have ever seen.. Great work Guys....!!!!
Thank you very much!
Ok. That process is amazing. Lol. Our glorious bucket. He's a passionate man.
Thank you for sharing this knowledge .
Wow! Very cool 👍🏽
A very nice part 3 that guy tells great stories, hope they open that place again.
Yes, he was a great guide. The mine is still operating.
One of the best videos I've ever seen!
Thank you very much. Hopefully, you'll like the others in this series as well - especially when we get to the 800 level underground and below...
Many thanks, I really like this series, have watched it several times. Question about the finishing room, at time 25:43 to 25:45, there seems to be a huge shaker table under the stairs, it's like 3x the size of the 5 X 12 that Duane points out. Is that like a triple wide 'industrial strength' production table? Yeah, it looks like a reinforced wall, it was on the 3rd or 4th viewing that I noticed it! Plus, can't believe the size of the Ball Room, seems like one sizeable earthquake and the entire mountain would collapse on it! Thanks again.
I take it that 'Duane' was they guy running the tour for you? He was the absolute star of the video. No nonsense, easy to understand. I loved it.
Yes, Duane is the guide. And, yes, I agree.
Great tutorial on the mill operations.
That is very interesting. Wallace Idaho is part of the Silver Valley which the Bunker Hill Mine where I worked is at. There are still a number of gold lead silver mines running in the valley. If any of you get up that way there are a number of museums with some great stuff. Back in the 50's much of the underground machinery was built in the area.
There were foundries in the area, Nevada City Foundry, and Joshua Hendy Iron Works in San Francisco, for example. It is interesting that the hoist ended up in Alleghany California.
It's so beautiful around there. I would go camping in Downieville and explore the old diggings. So much to see and explore around there.
I've worked underground, in the mill. And gold room. Love it all haha
It's a hell of a mine...
Fascinating video.
It's nice to see someone wearing their self rescuer and H2S monitor. Great video.
great info thanks fellas
Great tour, thanks for
My dad used to work in this mine! He worked in this mine, my grandpas mine, and the big mine in Grass Valley, Ca., the Empire Mine!
Those are pretty much the two premier mines in Northern California. So, that's an impressive work history! Which mine did your grandfather have?
Great job on the videos!
Thank you!
Crackin stuff!
I wonder how much it would cost in electricty and man power to run the entire mill per hour and how many tons per hour it would process?
Great great series! Thank you and Duane for taking the time to walk me around the 16 to 1
Don't know what it would cost to run the mill, but on average the mine is paying PG&E over $5,000 a month just for running the pumps and compressor.
Wow this man is such a wealth of knowledge.
Unreal man unreal great footage
Thank you!
Awesome. Thanks.
Been there, done that, got the t shirt. Many years in the "big mine"😎
This is just awesome! By the way, I actually reclaim abandoned mines under the AML Program. It's just awesome to see how these old operations worked. Thank you!
Unfortunately, there aren't many of them left...
14:00 The The Coeur d’Alene Hardware and Foundry Co. is still around, they’re called Cda Metals
You can definitely tell Duane has a passion for what he does.
This is cool having a guide!
I agree 100%.
Gold fever is strong with this one.
These videos are excellent. It's great to see this still in operation, plus what a great guide! You can tell he truly loves the place. How many miners are left at this mine?
As of August 2019, there are three miners and a mechanic working there.
@@muleskinnermining8661 I saw another video on RUclips from the 90's and there were quite a few people working there. It was amazing the difference from then till now. Thanks for the info.
@@glennpupino4890 , in the 1990's there were 60 or more employees.
Im all in and ready to quit my day job. Ill get her running and no time😂
Really cool series, never knew this was in Alleghany. Been camping out there a few times.
Thank you. Yes, this mine is the crown jewel of Alleghany.
Digit , bedrock metal detecting is my thing but this process ROCKS Ty TyVm
V good explored👍👍👍👍👍👍
I love the passion for the trade. I could watch a video about sweeping floors if the guy explaining it cared this much.
I wish some of these old mom and pop mines would start back up. I know it would take money but these older mines still have a tune of potential to make some serious money
Great Vid thanks
Cool! 👍
That rock that you refer to as "sheety" [@ 10:12] - the Boriana mine outside Kingman is full of that stuff. It's dangerous as hell! A sheet of it comes down on you and either cuts you in half, or squashes you flat as a pancake!
Such a cool place!
It is indeed!
Cool video 👍
That was great
Simply facinating. It's mind blowing to see innovate thinking compared to educational teachings of today.
I agree 100%
Very cool listening to a real miner.
He knows his stuff, to be sure...
the shattered and faulted rocks show that it is bedrock that was shattered at the start of The Flood 4,350 years ago.
The gold is in quartz veins because they were dissolved in solution of boiling hot water and as it passed through the rocks cracks some of it cooled and precipitated out to make the quartz vein with gold dust and larger blobs.
That is why much gold has soft round edges.
Amazing
Amazing historic mine still operating much like it has for last 50 years.
this is one extensive mining site justine. very impressive milling operation. sorry, we didn't get to see any raw gold in the ore. i'm learning more and more in each video. whooooo to jake. cp.
Thank you, Carmine. Yes, we were very fortunate to have Duane as a guide since he was so incredibly knowledgeable.
Blow the hell out of that slab and keep going. Forget the gold keep blasting. This is an awesome video thank you!
I agree. I'm sorry they didn't keep running through this one... Thanks for the comment.
Cedar lasts a long time, sikk footage someone is gonna find a nice vein. Bring it on and make it a reality
Thank you. Yes, if someone gets into those original workings, they're going to make a fortune!
2:18 3 years old brand new timbers. The top timber is new but the board nailed on the bottom with most of the mold looks older.
Watching this, I need some coffee. Strong coffee.
Maybe you could fine a gym show on RUclips? Or a dog show, specifically a poodle dog show.
22:30 Give me one hour in that ball mill with my crevicing tools
Haha, yes, I would think that especially you could do a lot more than cover the gas money for the trip!
Beautiful place
would be fun to clean-up the that mill - wonder if they need volunteers? :-)
Fill a bucket for the road!