Bringing An Abandoned Gold Mine Back To Life: Part 3 of ?

We broke into a lot of new ground after clearing out that big collapse I showed in the first video in this series. I started into this new ground in the last (second) video and I will wrap it up with this video, which is more of an exploring video than a “working” video. However, as all of our recent work has been focused on consolidating the gains made from the big breakthrough, it will essentially be nothing but video of us working on different projects for at least the next couple of videos. By “consolidating the gains”, I am referring to laying down air and water lines, getting the tracks in shape to handle heavier equipment, cutting fire breaks and getting a fire control system in place, etc.
That big collapse at 1660? The ground there is really bad and we’re discussing simply running around that section by driving a new drift off of that drift to the right of the workshop. The ground from 1200 to the workshop isn’t great either and it is also very twisty. So, we’re looking at possibly running a new drift around that section as well. This will make it a lot safer for everyone and, who knows, we might even hit a vein of gold along the way…
I’m glad that the videos have finally caught up with the extent of this gold mine that we have opened up because now there is finally some context when I explain where we’re working on the mine and what we’re working on. I’ve not been able to explain some things in the comments because there was no way for someone to understand what the hell I meant if I started talking about the 1200 raise or whatever.
I know, I know… I still need to show the upper levels. I show the second level in an upcoming video and I’ll show the first level when I hike up there again or when we start working on opening it up. Oh, and I still need to show the remains of the mill below where we're working now.
There were some cool artifacts in the areas we covered - like that little skip car. However, this whole drift level was under water for quite some time and I know that the crew from the 1990s took some good artifacts with them. The upper two levels never flooded and they were not worked by the crew from the 1990s. So, I can’t wait to get up there.
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All of these videos are uploaded in HD, so I’d encourage you to adjust your settings to the highest quality if it is not done automatically.
You can see the gear that I use for mine exploring here: bit.ly/2wqcBDD
As well as a small gear update here: bit.ly/2p6Jip6
You can see the full TVR Exploring playlist of abandoned mines here: goo.gl/TEKq9L
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. But, you know what? We enjoy doing it! This is exploring history firsthand - bushwhacking down steep canyons and over rough mountains, figuring out the techniques the miners used and the equipment they worked with, seeing the innovations they came up with, discovering lost mines that no one has been in for a century, wandering through ghost towns where the only sound is the wind... These journeys allow a feeling of connection to a time when the world was a very different place. And I’d love to think that in some small way we are paying tribute to those hardy miners that worked these mines before we were even born.
So, yes, in short, we are adit addicts… I hope you’ll join us on these adventures!
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