very nice my friend ....you had me and Slim on the edge of our seats with all that beautiful quartz with heavy iron staining and oxidation....great place for a Gold Bug 2 and we saw a home made classifier...bet you are walking on a lot of Gold my friend....gotta get with ya when it warms up....
Thank you. Yes, this one sure seemed to have all of the telltale gold markers, to be sure! Ha, yes, you wouldn't want to head up in this part of the mountains now! It's covered in many feet of snow. I should be back in the U.S. in May this year.
Is gold found in rose quartz? I found some that's pink and purple and pretty vuggy... got rained out today but I plan on going back to explore that area thoroughly
I am thinking that the equipment that you found was a steam donkey. ( a boiler with a steam powered winch attached). They were usually attached to wooden skids and pulled themselves from place to place. Once set up on a foundation they can run hoist head rigs, stamp mills, electric generators, etc. A very versatile machine! Thanks for exploring the old stuff!!
Boy what a find outside! Lots of rotating equipment along side that boiler! That piece of equipment along side the boiler is either a steam engine or an air compressor or both. Some steam engines doubled as air compressors as they had a steam side and an air side. Hard to tell. It appears the large pulley had some type of clutch on it. Very, very interesting to say the least! All that heavy equipment all the way up there. Great Find and a Great Video!
Thank you for the additional details. Yes, it was hard to see everything given how much was partially buried and how much was hidden by the brush. I can't imagine the miners getting that equipment in there because the road down to the mine is insane. At one point, a sheer cliff has to be traversed. The old timers were tough!
@@TVRExploring Probably a good thing you didn't do too much clearing around the boiler to get a better look. All that brush may have been the only thing keeping the equipment stuck to the side of the mountain. Stay Safe!
@@TVRExploring Probably in the winter, via a sleigh :) That looks to be a very large steam engine, you might want to mention it to any mining museums or old machinery clubs around... really big ones are rare, and that one might be preserved enough to make it worth restoring. Too bad I don't live near it :)
The bottom level could pass as a typical Cornish mine (minus the billions of flying midgies) mad to think how hard quartz rock is to see it all crumbled away like that. That upper working (much better midgie free, must be the water in the lower one attracting them?) seems to look familiar with some of the stuff I have seen over here too, bit of a exploring drive to chase what was there. Great find at the end by Chuck, looks like it could be to power some stamps? There should be some foundations for it all there somewhere in that undergrowth. Always makes me wonder how they transported it all there, maybe a hundred years ago it looked a little different, may have been a coarse road going to it.
I wouldn't be surprised if Cornish miners ran this mine given the heavy Cornish influence in the area. Indeed, there is probably a good amount of stuff still hidden in the thick brush there. The road dropping down to this mine is unreal. At one point, one has to drop down a sheer cliff. I know plenty of people that won't tackle this road even with Jeeps as it terrifies them. So, I just cannot imagine them getting that heavy equipment in there... By the way, do you speak any Cornish? I've been receiving some lessons in Cornish and by this point, I could probably ask someone for their name and phone number.
I used to live in Quincy, my boyfriend at the time and I spent countless hours and drove lots and lots of miles via ATVs all over Plumas County trying to locate mines of any significance. Unfortunately, he was killed a couple of years ago and I had to relocate. We did find a couple of mines (have no idea where they are now), I loved looking for them and someday I'm going to get back up there and maybe try and find them. Thanks for your awesome videos, takes me back!
Thank you very much for the comment. I'm sorry for your loss. There are some beautiful spots in Plumas County (along with some great mining history) and so I'm sure you had some fun times up there...
Eerily beautiful....and chances of gold still being there...prospects high....maybe someone will file a claim or two....parts looked like the mountain was ready to come crashing down....glad y'all stayed safe...and didn't swallow any bugs !! lol...thanks for ANOTHER great adventure !! love them !!
Thank you. Yes, there were a lot of markers for gold in there, to be sure. Some sections were very solid, but that area of bad ground about fifty feet in was no good at all. I believe that is the section that extended up to that upper level I went into.
It's hard to find, but my exploring buddy has a real talent for it. Still, I'm sure there is an amazing amount of stuff still hidden back there in the brush.
That whole canyon is covered with adits that presumably run underground into quartz (most of them, unfortunately, inaccessible). So, it must have blown their mind when they first came across this site.
I kept expecting to see a stamp mill near that boiler. I once found a quartz mine that didn't even have an adit. It was just a huge cliff face of quartz about 40 foot tall and it looked like they had just kept cutting the whole cliff face off. The entire area littered with broken quartz all over the ground. I figured they had a stamp mill there at one time, but I was just guessing since there were no machine artifacts left to get clues from.
Your videos are always so interesting to watch but I cannot fathom how you didn't get yourself lost in this mine, which seems more like a cave compared to most of the other ones. Wish I could do this, I love exploring.
Thank you. Yes, this one definitely looked more like a cave - especially the upper section. I thought it WAS a natural cave when I first saw it. Closer examination revealed otherwise, but your point is exactly right. Yes, exploring is good fun!
@@TVRExploring I notice you mostly explore mines out on the west coast, seems as though. It would be really interesting to see you guys find some mines, and or caves on the east coast to explore and video, if you ever have the chance to!!! 😊
Yeah, even with a good road, a 40 mule team and plenty of men, that big piece of equipment would be a large job getting it to that place ! Their information and assays must have been very good to take the risk ! Ok, so I'll admit it, I'm envious of you guys! Thanks for sharing and take care. 👍
Thank you. The road down to this mine is crazy. At one point, a sheer cliff has to be traversed. So, I can't imagine the work it would have taken to get all of that equipment in there. The old timers were tough! And, yes, for that much work, I'd imagine they were extracting some good gold.
I am always amazed by the resourcefulness and tenacity of the people who hauled all the iron and steel into these places. The Rose Quartz is beautiful. I, too wonder how much gold was left behind. Thanks again for taking us along.
enjoyed the video, just a thought on getting the heavy equipment there, i see 1914 in the further reading, im pretty sure in the usa you had tracked dozers by this time, ive watched a lot of the timber production videos in early film which records the progression from horse hauling to early crawlers , its a possibility,!
Indeed it is a possibility. To access this mine, one must take a very rough road down a sheer cliff and so it would have stretched the capabilities of the miners to the limit, but the old timers were tough.
I think that boiler may have been a steam donkey. Would explain the base we found being upright like that and the position of the boiler in the creek. But would also cancel out my theory of said boiler being from a certain other mine that was closed after a sudden flooding event.
That's way over my level of expertise to be able to say for sure, but that's a distinct possibility. I'm sure there is a ton of stuff still hidden in the brush there that would help supply the answer.
Any idea what years this mine operated? Stainless steel was invented in 1913, but didn't come into widespread use until the mid-1920's. That big machine looks a bit older than that. They must have installed the stainless fitting some time after the machine was moved in there. Fascinating to think about everything those guys faced to mine in that place! Great video! Looking up that ore chute at 6:40 gives me the heebee-jeebees! The lower boulder is held up by nothing more than that little lip of rock! Nothing else! The upper boulder stays in place only because it's jammed against the lower boulder. Those are some damned big chunks of the Sierra, my friend! Not good at all for your life expectancy to be hangin' around there for any length of time!
I don't know when it started as it is very difficult to track down old records in California. I put everything I could find in the description. That area started being worked in the early days of the Gold Rush and so I expect the workings there are fairly old (relatively speaking). Yes, there were more than a few pieces of the Sierra ready to come tumbling down in this one.
Some of the earlier videos show some great fishing spots... We haven't come across any in a while though. However, the next time we do, I'll linger on them a little longer for you.
That boiler is cool. I bet it powered the stamp mill. All of that equipment must have been higher up the mountain in a mill and came down with age and the help of snow. Awesome video.
I like seeing the old steam technology, pieces like that boiler must have been a nightmare to move and install. There must of been quite a bit of gold for them to goto so much trouble.
I love the old steam technology too. I seriously can't imagine them getting that in there... The road to the mine has to drop down a sheer cliff at one point. I agree that some good gold must have been coming out of there.
The info you added at the end in your description seems to indicate that this mine was producing high amounts of gold, its a shame that there were so many cave ins but the adits definitely seem to be saturated with moisture, which probably didnt help. I have a question though, generally how long is the process between yall heading to and filming a mine to the point where you post it up here? Seems like youre posting multiple videos a week so I am just curious if you go on a month long excursion hitting new mines every day or if you are out there almost year round finding these treasures?
Yes, given the amount of men, material and adits, the evidence would seem to suggest that this was a good gold producer. I'd love to have seen the operation that was here in its prime and to know how old it is. The summers are very busy with exploring mines and that is the supply of videos I dish out until the next summer season starts and I replenish the supply. I also visit mines when possible during my time overseas for the other nine months of the year, but the majority of the mine videos come from busy days during the summers. Eventually, the low hanging fruit will have been picked in regard to abandoned mines and I will have to start reducing the posting frequency unless the small amount of money that comes in via the ads that play before the videos increases enough for me to be able to sponsor more ambitious exploring trips.
Great video again. In a mine like this when it's full of quartz do you ever take any ore samples to see if there is any gold still left? With that much quartz in the mine it would seem like there had to be some gold in it.
No, we never take samples given the unclear status of some of the claims. No reason to bring any headaches upon ourselves. I agree that it seems there is good potential for gold there...
Hey, hiya! New sub here, I have to tell you, you are a mad man! Do you ever experience fear? Some of the adits you explore are insane! They have death written all over them, sketchy as all hell and there you are.. "Well I think I'll climb over this collapse..." just as calm and cool as a cucumber. Crazy! I really enjoy your videos! Take care and be safe!
Thank you for the sub. I'm glad you enjoy the videos. Actually, while I'm exploring, I don't experience fear because I'm so focused on what I am doing. Afterwards, I can look back on a mine and think that it is one that I wouldn't want to go into again.
The miners are after the gold that is inside of the quartz veins, not actually the quartz veins themselves. In other words, gold can often be found with quartz, but not all quartz has gold with it. Some quartz is barren. So, the miners will leave behind barren quartz as they chase the gold-bearing quartz.
@@TVRExploring Thanks, I've wondered about that. Many times in your videos you show sometimes massive amounts of quartz and I couldn't imagine why the miners had left it behind.
Cool! That buggie quartz actually had real bugs in it! Lol. Stainless Steel was introduced in 1915 but didn’t become widely available until about 1929 right before the Great Depression. I’m guessing those fittings are probably from the 1930’s since prior to that Stainless Steel was used more for architectural construction. Oh! ...and check that teapot! It might be silver!
I just said stainless steel because that was the first thing that came to mind given the way it looked, but I'm no expert. How old is the technology for nickel-plated nuts and bolts?
TVR Exploring Experimentation with electrochemistry began in Europe back in 1805 but here in the US electroplating developed commercially in the 1850’s.
That first mine looks like the floor is covered with ore over most of it, like they had it ready to be hauled out, but then never did. I'ld love to go over it with a good metal detector,
I'm not an expert, but it would seem like it. Obviously, there was gold in there before for them to do that much work. So, perhaps someone with a metal detector could uncover more?
Thx for the description. After looking it up online, $1 in 1918, is $16.64 in 2019 (US average). In San Francisco it's $24.16. So $9 per ton in 1918 is $150 per US average, or $220 locally. You had me at free gold though :-) -Jake
If you're concerned about getting lost, always go to the right when you encounter a fork. If you get confused, turn around and go to the left every time you reach a fork. That'll take you back to where you started.
I wonder if they were trying to move the equipment and lost control causing it to fall or slide down below? Perhaps the tea kettle was in the right place at the wrong time.
When it's full on summer like it was when we went you would never in a million years find that boiler or adit it's so over grown with Willow. Can't even walk through the crap it's so thick.
It would really be interesting to see how productive this mine was with all the quartz. You would have to think it was but sometimes quartz will fool you.
Given the number of adits scattered around this site, they must have been tapping into something pretty good. Interestingly, none of them seem to go back that far. So, it seems that most of the good quartz was near the surface.
I am not sure of the correct Mineralogical term . That may be called Bug Quartz ? Thanxs guys for another great video . That view of the mountains is Awesome .
Don't tell anyone but Major William E. Downie had his 99 ounce day with his rocker not far from this mine. From his book, "Hunting for Gold." Pub. 1893.
And northeast less than a half mile away from the tailings pile is three shacks/structures, maybe that's where they were taking the ore to process? 39.792222° -120.848487° image date 3/21/2014
For the benefit of those that don't see the response to the other comment: That's a cabin, shed and workshop that belong to a family that owns a claim farther down the mountain. It's a small sliver of private property surrounded by National Forest and the Forest Service has been pressuring them constantly to give up the property.
Bro in one of your videos from Feb 2018 - the last part of that video - those crystals formations looks like asbestos.. careful - bring a back up mask just in case
Tremendous luck in finding those adits. That 1918 resources report is fascinating but creates some questions. The date of the report, 1918, is most likely when the inspection was fabricated but as they report that, 'Drilling is done by hand' the report doesn't jibe with the evidence of the labor reducing equipment like a huge boiler and other steam driven gear. That would have been a lot of single and double jacking! It's assumed that the labor-saving gear arrived later. The amount of ore taken out of individual mines reported by the federal government for 1918 was $75,000,000 but there was a dramatic reduction in 1920 of more than $11,000,000 due to increased production costs and a shortage of labor which doesn't quite figure since there were hundreds of thousands of GIs returning from the Great War in Europe. It's written that lumberjacks and shipbuilders received better pay than miners but I'm unable to find an actual dollar figure for either while mining did pay from $3.00 to $5.00 a day plus a fringe benefit not available to other occupations, high grading, the ability to fill a lunch pale or pant cuffs or hat with as much free gold as could be carried. This lasted until the advent of the changing room where mine owners, in an attempt to halt their product walking out the door instead of going to the mill, required miners to change clothes while the more extreme attempts at halting high grading was to require miners to strip down naked and jump over a bar placed a foot or two above the floor. Gold blasted from the country rock was not the smoothest mineral and...well, you get the idea. And then someone had to pick it up...ick. One other note of interest contained in the report was its use as a prospectus. Taken from the Resources Report above: "The Rose mine is a very good-looking prospect, and from panning of ore appears to be well worthy of extended development." This can actually be a very innocuous statement but many, many western mines were supported by stockholders back east who knew nothing about hard rock mining. Picturing a man with a shovel digging a hole may be a little deeper than his head and then proceeding to shovel the gold from the bottom of the hole into a bucket connected to a hand-cranked windlass operated by his partner. Of course, in reality, there was much more involved and until or unless the prospect shaft happened to hit good, profitable pay the stockholders were dunned for the funds to continue exploration or actual processing of what gold, silver, or other semi-precious or even utilitarian material the optimists hoped to dump in carts and send for processing. So, how does the mine owner keep the stockholders willing to keep pouring money down a barren hole? They would pay a government employee or private individual to write up a report with glowing accolades about what a finely timbered shaft had been driven or how 'all the surrounding mines had great prospects of hitting the Big Bonanza' or how the head frame was 'one of the grandest in the entire mining district with timbering to last 100 years.' Not a single mention of the ore, or lack of ore, was reported but the money kept coming until the stockholders got wise or went bust. Or on occasion, the mine paid! That part never lasted as veins pinched out, mines flooded or caught fire, or the value of the ore was not sufficient to pay transport and processing costs and pay a return to investors. An Irishman had sunk a shaft of many dozens of feet when a stranger walked up to examine the hole. He then asked the Irishman if there was any gold in the shaft to which he responded, "Not a wee bit and even less as yee goes down." Some information was acquired from the California Digital Newspaper Collection and while interesting contains typos that make it difficult to decipher. In other words, any errors are attributable to them, not me. Thank you Justin and Chuck, you've never shared a mine that wasn't interesting!
Thank you. Yes, in the wetter environments, the underground mines will almost always be flooded. Coal mines are not good abandoned mines to visit either as they have a lot of issues that make them more dangerous than other mines.
That's the mouth of a giant horse, the pile of square quartz were its teeth. That huge thing you guys found out n the creek was a weapon used by giants and their horses. Compare some of your caves to horse anatomy on a massive scale and you'll see for yourself.
very nice my friend ....you had me and Slim on the edge of our seats with all that beautiful quartz with heavy iron staining and oxidation....great place for a Gold Bug 2 and we saw a home made classifier...bet you are walking on a lot of Gold my friend....gotta get with ya when it warms up....
Thank you. Yes, this one sure seemed to have all of the telltale gold markers, to be sure! Ha, yes, you wouldn't want to head up in this part of the mountains now! It's covered in many feet of snow. I should be back in the U.S. in May this year.
keep us posted ...me and Slim are looking forward to it....
@@Askjeffwilliams they are killing me
Whooo-eee, I don't think I've ever seen you leave a comment on someone else's channel. Very interesting stuff! 💰
Is gold found in rose quartz? I found some that's pink and purple and pretty vuggy... got rained out today but I plan on going back to explore that area thoroughly
I am thinking that the equipment that you found was a steam donkey. ( a boiler with a steam powered winch attached). They were usually attached to wooden skids and pulled themselves from place to place. Once set up on a foundation they can run hoist head rigs, stamp mills, electric generators, etc. A very versatile machine!
Thanks for exploring the old stuff!!
Yes, that makes a lot of sense. Thank you.
Boy what a find outside! Lots of rotating equipment along side that boiler! That piece of equipment along side the boiler is either a steam engine or an air compressor or both. Some steam engines doubled as air compressors as they had a steam side and an air side. Hard to tell. It appears the large pulley had some type of clutch on it. Very, very interesting to say the least! All that heavy equipment all the way up there. Great Find and a Great Video!
Thank you for the additional details. Yes, it was hard to see everything given how much was partially buried and how much was hidden by the brush. I can't imagine the miners getting that equipment in there because the road down to the mine is insane. At one point, a sheer cliff has to be traversed. The old timers were tough!
@@TVRExploring Probably a good thing you didn't do too much clearing around the boiler to get a better look. All that brush may have been the only thing keeping the equipment stuck to the side of the mountain. Stay Safe!
@@TVRExploring Probably in the winter, via a sleigh :) That looks to be a very large steam engine, you might want to mention it to any mining museums or old machinery clubs around... really big ones are rare, and that one might be preserved enough to make it worth restoring. Too bad I don't live near it :)
Your video is always so interesting. We read all of the information. Thank you for making it so enjoyable.
Thank you! I'm glad to know that at least someone is reading the descriptions!
Thanks Justin & Mr McBride its interesting they recon the rose quartz vein was so big and yet never fully mined. good one.
The bottom level could pass as a typical Cornish mine (minus the billions of flying midgies) mad to think how hard quartz rock is to see it all crumbled away like that. That upper working (much better midgie free, must be the water in the lower one attracting them?) seems to look familiar with some of the stuff I have seen over here too, bit of a exploring drive to chase what was there. Great find at the end by Chuck, looks like it could be to power some stamps? There should be some foundations for it all there somewhere in that undergrowth. Always makes me wonder how they transported it all there, maybe a hundred years ago it looked a little different, may have been a coarse road going to it.
Maybe they used horses or mules to get there?
I wouldn't be surprised if Cornish miners ran this mine given the heavy Cornish influence in the area. Indeed, there is probably a good amount of stuff still hidden in the thick brush there. The road dropping down to this mine is unreal. At one point, one has to drop down a sheer cliff. I know plenty of people that won't tackle this road even with Jeeps as it terrifies them. So, I just cannot imagine them getting that heavy equipment in there...
By the way, do you speak any Cornish? I've been receiving some lessons in Cornish and by this point, I could probably ask someone for their name and phone number.
@@TVRExploring No speaky Cornish lol I have a friend who is learning it and is obsessed.
I used to live in Quincy, my boyfriend at the time and I spent countless hours and drove lots and lots of miles via ATVs all over Plumas County trying to locate mines of any significance. Unfortunately, he was killed a couple of years ago and I had to relocate. We did find a couple of mines (have no idea where they are now), I loved looking for them and someday I'm going to get back up there and maybe try and find them. Thanks for your awesome videos, takes me back!
Thank you very much for the comment. I'm sorry for your loss. There are some beautiful spots in Plumas County (along with some great mining history) and so I'm sure you had some fun times up there...
Eerily beautiful....and chances of gold still being there...prospects high....maybe someone will file a claim or two....parts looked like the mountain was ready to come crashing down....glad y'all stayed safe...and didn't swallow any bugs !! lol...thanks for ANOTHER great adventure !! love them !!
Thank you. Yes, there were a lot of markers for gold in there, to be sure. Some sections were very solid, but that area of bad ground about fifty feet in was no good at all. I believe that is the section that extended up to that upper level I went into.
16:11 The forest is swallowing up this old stuff, good eye for even finding it. That stainless steel looks to be very high quality for sure.
It's hard to find, but my exploring buddy has a real talent for it. Still, I'm sure there is an amazing amount of stuff still hidden back there in the brush.
Love when i wake up and a TVR video is sitting there waiting for me, gonna be a good day !
Being one of the original prospectors discovering a mountain rich with so much rotten quartz had to have been incredibly exciting.
That whole canyon is covered with adits that presumably run underground into quartz (most of them, unfortunately, inaccessible). So, it must have blown their mind when they first came across this site.
I kept expecting to see a stamp mill near that boiler. I once found a quartz mine that didn't even have an adit. It was just a huge cliff face of quartz about 40 foot tall and it looked like they had just kept cutting the whole cliff face off. The entire area littered with broken quartz all over the ground. I figured they had a stamp mill there at one time, but I was just guessing since there were no machine artifacts left to get clues from.
Awesome been waiting. Stay safe Justin love your vids 👊
Your videos are always so interesting to watch but I cannot fathom how you didn't get yourself lost in this mine, which seems more like a cave compared to most of the other ones. Wish I could do this, I love exploring.
Thank you. Yes, this one definitely looked more like a cave - especially the upper section. I thought it WAS a natural cave when I first saw it. Closer examination revealed otherwise, but your point is exactly right. Yes, exploring is good fun!
@@TVRExploring I notice you mostly explore mines out on the west coast, seems as though. It would be really interesting to see you guys find some mines, and or caves on the east coast to explore and video, if you ever have the chance to!!! 😊
Awesome as usual. Great find.
Thank you!
Yeah, even with a good road, a 40 mule team and plenty of men, that big piece of equipment would be a large job getting it to that place !
Their information and assays must have been very good to take the risk !
Ok, so I'll admit it, I'm envious of you guys!
Thanks for sharing and take care. 👍
Thank you. The road down to this mine is crazy. At one point, a sheer cliff has to be traversed. So, I can't imagine the work it would have taken to get all of that equipment in there. The old timers were tough! And, yes, for that much work, I'd imagine they were extracting some good gold.
so awesome seein someone braver than me climb inside! we live in gold country and explore these kinds of places frequently, thanks for sharing!!!
Very nice. U found the short teapot after the stout boiler, song included, steamed up & pouring.
Haha, it couldn't have worked out better!
I am always amazed by the resourcefulness and tenacity of the people who hauled all the iron and steel into these places. The Rose Quartz is beautiful. I, too wonder how much gold was left behind. Thanks again for taking us along.
enjoyed the video, just a thought on getting the heavy equipment there, i see 1914 in the further reading, im pretty sure in the usa you had tracked dozers by this time, ive watched a lot of the timber production videos in early film which records the progression from horse hauling to early crawlers , its a possibility,!
Indeed it is a possibility. To access this mine, one must take a very rough road down a sheer cliff and so it would have stretched the capabilities of the miners to the limit, but the old timers were tough.
As always great video so lucky to have such history beautiful play ground yous have to play. Look forward to nxt video stay safe thanks lads👍🇮🇪☘
Thank you. Yes, we're fortunate to not live too far from such country... We took it for granted growing up, but not anymore.
I think that boiler may have been a steam donkey. Would explain the base we found being upright like that and the position of the boiler in the creek. But would also cancel out my theory of said boiler being from a certain other mine that was closed after a sudden flooding event.
That's way over my level of expertise to be able to say for sure, but that's a distinct possibility. I'm sure there is a ton of stuff still hidden in the brush there that would help supply the answer.
Any idea what years this mine operated? Stainless steel was invented in 1913, but didn't come into widespread use until the mid-1920's. That big machine looks a bit older than that. They must have installed the stainless fitting some time after the machine was moved in there. Fascinating to think about everything those guys faced to mine in that place! Great video! Looking up that ore chute at 6:40 gives me the heebee-jeebees! The lower boulder is held up by nothing more than that little lip of rock! Nothing else! The upper boulder stays in place only because it's jammed against the lower boulder. Those are some damned big chunks of the Sierra, my friend! Not good at all for your life expectancy to be hangin' around there for any length of time!
I don't know when it started as it is very difficult to track down old records in California. I put everything I could find in the description. That area started being worked in the early days of the Gold Rush and so I expect the workings there are fairly old (relatively speaking). Yes, there were more than a few pieces of the Sierra ready to come tumbling down in this one.
Very nice you guys ever find any cool fishing spots man if you like the fish you should throw that in there every once in awhile lol awesome video
Some of the earlier videos show some great fishing spots... We haven't come across any in a while though. However, the next time we do, I'll linger on them a little longer for you.
That boiler is cool. I bet it powered the stamp mill. All of that equipment must have been higher up the mountain in a mill and came down with age and the help of snow. Awesome video.
That was a fun experience, thanks for sharing your adventures!
I like seeing the old steam technology, pieces like that boiler must have been a nightmare to move and install. There must of been quite a bit of gold for them to goto so much trouble.
I love the old steam technology too. I seriously can't imagine them getting that in there... The road to the mine has to drop down a sheer cliff at one point. I agree that some good gold must have been coming out of there.
There was no welfare, no unemployment, no disability insurance. Want to eat, work! They were on the work first, pay later plan. No gold, no pay.
The info you added at the end in your description seems to indicate that this mine was producing high amounts of gold, its a shame that there were so many cave ins but the adits definitely seem to be saturated with moisture, which probably didnt help. I have a question though, generally how long is the process between yall heading to and filming a mine to the point where you post it up here? Seems like youre posting multiple videos a week so I am just curious if you go on a month long excursion hitting new mines every day or if you are out there almost year round finding these treasures?
Yes, given the amount of men, material and adits, the evidence would seem to suggest that this was a good gold producer. I'd love to have seen the operation that was here in its prime and to know how old it is. The summers are very busy with exploring mines and that is the supply of videos I dish out until the next summer season starts and I replenish the supply. I also visit mines when possible during my time overseas for the other nine months of the year, but the majority of the mine videos come from busy days during the summers. Eventually, the low hanging fruit will have been picked in regard to abandoned mines and I will have to start reducing the posting frequency unless the small amount of money that comes in via the ads that play before the videos increases enough for me to be able to sponsor more ambitious exploring trips.
Awesome man. Thanks for your video.
Great video again. In a mine like this when it's full of quartz do you ever take any ore samples to see if there is any gold still left? With that much quartz in the mine it would seem like there had to be some gold in it.
No, we never take samples given the unclear status of some of the claims. No reason to bring any headaches upon ourselves. I agree that it seems there is good potential for gold there...
Oh yea buddy! That vein looks juicy!!!!!
Not bad, huh?
Another great documentation of mining history! Thanks!
Great video and amaxing mine keep up the grewt work as always stay safe
What flash light do you use?
I always like it when you find machinery,Thats the Interesting part for me!
Yes, we always like finding the machinery too!
thumbs up . chucks finding some good stuff bushwhacking
The guy is amazing. I can't believe some of the stuff he spots.
@@TVRExploring yes i might have to hook up with him while your gone overseas for some exploring bushwhacker style lol
Hey, hiya! New sub here, I have to tell you, you are a mad man! Do you ever experience fear? Some of the adits you explore are insane! They have death written all over them, sketchy as all hell and there you are.. "Well I think I'll climb over this collapse..." just as calm and cool as a cucumber. Crazy! I really enjoy your videos! Take care and be safe!
Thank you for the sub. I'm glad you enjoy the videos. Actually, while I'm exploring, I don't experience fear because I'm so focused on what I am doing. Afterwards, I can look back on a mine and think that it is one that I wouldn't want to go into again.
@@TVRExploring I get it. Focus is everything. It's what's allows you succeed where anyone else less committed, would bail.
+TVR Exploring, I am very curious, if the miners were after the quartz vein(s), why is there so much quartz left?
The miners are after the gold that is inside of the quartz veins, not actually the quartz veins themselves. In other words, gold can often be found with quartz, but not all quartz has gold with it. Some quartz is barren. So, the miners will leave behind barren quartz as they chase the gold-bearing quartz.
@@TVRExploring Thanks, I've wondered about that. Many times in your videos you show sometimes massive amounts of quartz and I couldn't imagine why the miners had left it behind.
You're welcome.
Cool! That buggie quartz actually had real bugs in it! Lol. Stainless Steel was introduced in 1915 but didn’t become widely available until about 1929 right before the Great Depression. I’m guessing those fittings are probably from the 1930’s since prior to that Stainless Steel was used more for architectural construction. Oh! ...and check that teapot! It might be silver!
Gly Coolness probably nickel-plated not stainless steel you do not use stainless steel in a steam engine cost prohibited
I just said stainless steel because that was the first thing that came to mind given the way it looked, but I'm no expert. How old is the technology for nickel-plated nuts and bolts?
Ha, yes, plenty of bugginess all around!
TVR Exploring
Experimentation with electrochemistry began in Europe back in 1805 but here in the US electroplating developed commercially in the 1850’s.
Ed Carl
That’s a good point!
8:58 take a sample of that ore and get it tested.
I know, right???
That first mine looks like the floor is covered with ore over most of it, like they had it ready to be hauled out, but then never did. I'ld love to go over it with a good metal detector,
Yes, I'm not sure what the story is with that, but it definitely looked like ore ready to be removed.
Thanks Guys for another great video
Thank you.
Wonder if there could be any gold left there ?
I'm not an expert, but it would seem like it. Obviously, there was gold in there before for them to do that much work. So, perhaps someone with a metal detector could uncover more?
Fantastic....
Thx for the description.
After looking it up online, $1 in 1918, is $16.64 in 2019 (US average). In San Francisco it's $24.16.
So $9 per ton in 1918 is $150 per US average, or $220 locally.
You had me at free gold though :-)
-Jake
Thanks for doing the calculations on that. Very interesting...
What does the term right hand rule mean when exploring a mine.
If you're concerned about getting lost, always go to the right when you encounter a fork. If you get confused, turn around and go to the left every time you reach a fork. That'll take you back to where you started.
Thank you!
I wonder if they were trying to move the equipment and lost control causing it to fall or slide
down below? Perhaps the tea kettle was in the right place at the wrong time.
There is some beautiful rose quartz on the east side of the Columbia river across from the town of Vantage.
Great video man!!
Thank you! Slightly different scenery than Rome, no?
Yes man! Think I'll stick to the classroom slightly safer!😅
Quite fascinating on the find I bet no one else has seen that in a very very long time
When it's full on summer like it was when we went you would never in a million years find that boiler or adit it's so over grown with Willow. Can't even walk through the crap it's so thick.
I'll second that. I walked within a few feet of it on a prior trip and missed it...
Man that steam engine would have been impressive when running. I believe Mr McBride can smell adits, cause they sure are well hidden.
I'd love to have seen it! Yes, he has an amazing talent for spotting things that are hidden away.
👃😁
As my kids use to say, "Way Rad"!
It would really be interesting to see how productive this mine was with all the quartz. You would have to think it was but sometimes quartz will fool you.
Given the number of adits scattered around this site, they must have been tapping into something pretty good. Interestingly, none of them seem to go back that far. So, it seems that most of the good quartz was near the surface.
Just had to see where that was and it looks pretty remote.
It is indeed. Not the easiest place to reach either...
Neat quartz. Doesn’t look very safe. Thank you for a very good video.
Yes, this one was a bit crumbly!
Correct me if I'm wrong, but was that just a ton of poison oak all around the adit?
No thank God! We were at around 6,800' elev poison oak doesn't grow up that high. In that area it doesn't at least.
I am not sure of the correct Mineralogical term . That may be called Bug Quartz ? Thanxs guys for another great video . That view of the mountains is Awesome .
Thank you. I'm not sure of the correct terminology either. It is definitely a beautiful spot!
I bet you could've used a cup of tea after all that climbing around
Ha, indeed, that would have been most welcome!
this was good
Wow a lot of quartz beautiful, thank you 😊
Ah, yes, I forgot to suggest this one to you as well. There are some really nice quartz veins in this part of California.
Awesome I found it thank you 😊
Don't tell anyone but Major William E. Downie had his 99 ounce day with his rocker not far from this mine. From his book, "Hunting for Gold." Pub. 1893.
And northeast less than a half mile away from the tailings pile is three shacks/structures,
maybe that's where they were taking the ore to process? 39.792222° -120.848487° image date 3/21/2014
For the benefit of those that don't see the response to the other comment: That's a cabin, shed and workshop that belong to a family that owns a claim farther down the mountain. It's a small sliver of private property surrounded by National Forest and the Forest Service has been pressuring them constantly to give up the property.
i just found your channel man. i love it.
Thank you. Glad you're enjoying the videos...
Great video, very interesting
Bro in one of your videos from Feb 2018 - the last part of that video - those crystals formations looks like asbestos.. careful - bring a back up mask just in case
I bet they took hot water out of the boiler for the tea pot
You must be traveling everyday to find such mines. Thank yo
The summers are very busy.
At 2:35 it looks like an
Old broken pick axe on the left side
Yeah, it could well have been. I was so distracted by the bugs at that point that I wasn't taking much in.
Tremendous luck in finding those adits. That 1918 resources report is fascinating but creates some questions. The date of the report, 1918, is most likely when the inspection was fabricated but as they report that, 'Drilling is done by hand' the report doesn't jibe with the evidence of the labor reducing equipment like a huge boiler and other steam driven gear. That would have been a lot of single and double jacking! It's assumed that the labor-saving gear arrived later.
The amount of ore taken out of individual mines reported by the federal government for 1918 was $75,000,000 but there was a dramatic reduction in 1920 of more than $11,000,000 due to increased production costs and a shortage of labor which doesn't quite figure since there were hundreds of thousands of GIs returning from the Great War in Europe. It's written that lumberjacks and shipbuilders received better pay than miners but I'm unable to find an actual dollar figure for either while mining did pay from $3.00 to $5.00 a day plus a fringe benefit not available to other occupations, high grading, the ability to fill a lunch pale or pant cuffs or hat with as much free gold as could be carried. This lasted until the advent of the changing room where mine owners, in an attempt to halt their product walking out the door instead of going to the mill, required miners to change clothes while the more extreme attempts at halting high grading was to require miners to strip down naked and jump over a bar placed a foot or two above the floor. Gold blasted from the country rock was not the smoothest mineral and...well, you get the idea. And then someone had to pick it up...ick.
One other note of interest contained in the report was its use as a prospectus. Taken from the Resources Report above: "The Rose mine is a very good-looking prospect, and from panning of ore appears to be well worthy of extended development." This can actually be a very innocuous statement but many, many western mines were supported by stockholders back east who knew nothing about hard rock mining. Picturing a man with a shovel digging a hole may be a little deeper than his head and then proceeding to shovel the gold from the bottom of the hole into a bucket connected to a hand-cranked windlass operated by his partner. Of course, in reality, there was much more involved and until or unless the prospect shaft happened to hit good, profitable pay the stockholders were dunned for the funds to continue exploration or actual processing of what gold, silver, or other semi-precious or even utilitarian material the optimists hoped to dump in carts and send for processing. So, how does the mine owner keep the stockholders willing to keep pouring money down a barren hole? They would pay a government employee or private individual to write up a report with glowing accolades about what a finely timbered shaft had been driven or how 'all the surrounding mines had great prospects of hitting the Big Bonanza' or how the head frame was 'one of the grandest in the entire mining district with timbering to last 100 years.' Not a single mention of the ore, or lack of ore, was reported but the money kept coming until the stockholders got wise or went bust. Or on occasion, the mine paid! That part never lasted as veins pinched out, mines flooded or caught fire, or the value of the ore was not sufficient to pay transport and processing costs and pay a return to investors.
An Irishman had sunk a shaft of many dozens of feet when a stranger walked up to examine the hole. He then asked the Irishman if there was any gold in the shaft to which he responded, "Not a wee bit and even less as yee goes down."
Some information was acquired from the California Digital Newspaper Collection and while interesting contains typos that make it difficult to decipher. In other words, any errors are attributable to them, not me.
Thank you Justin and Chuck, you've never shared a mine that wasn't interesting!
Thank you for the great comment. Love the information and the kind words!
Are you ever in any of these old mines and look at something and think "holy crap..thats friggin gold"?
Yes, we see gold underground sometimes in the placer mines.
I really like your videos.
in Taiwan all mine are underground and very deep very wet.
Only gold or coal mine
Thank you. Yes, in the wetter environments, the underground mines will almost always be flooded. Coal mines are not good abandoned mines to visit either as they have a lot of issues that make them more dangerous than other mines.
Should have brought some Raid
Yeah, that was crazy...
why does Gold hang out in Quartz?
I'm terrible at explaining it, so Google would probably be the way to best understand that one...
👍🏼❤️very cool
Say waste rock 10 times, win a nugget!
cool man
Would like to have a pickup truck load of that stuff...!!!
You'd need a helicopter to reach it now!
That's the mouth of a giant horse, the pile of square quartz were its teeth. That huge thing you guys found out n the creek was a weapon used by giants and their horses. Compare some of your caves to horse anatomy on a massive scale and you'll see for yourself.
😀👍
I wish someone could send me a small piece of that pretty white quartz.
Have you ever found Gold?
Yes, we sometimes see gold in the old placer mines.
Hope those aren't mosquitoes, or you might be going home a quart low.😁
Fortunately, they were not this time... Plenty of times though, we do get swarmed by mosquitoes.
Just a little sketchy with all the missing pillars.
A bit. The section maybe fifty feet or so into the adit where all of the rock had sloughed off was pretty bad.
All those flying bugs are making me feel all creeped out like they are going to start crawling on ME next!!! UGGGGHHHH!! /( 0.0)\
It sux when you inhale them.
@@ADITADDICTS I would just back out of there and leave it to the bugs I think...or art least come back with mosquito netting!