New Discoveries in the Abandoned Sunset Mine
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- Опубликовано: 14 окт 2024
- Previous Video Exploring Collapsed Adit #3:
• Investigating Large Co...
The Sunset Mine began operation in 1902 and was run intermittently until briefly closing in the 1920s, which saw copper prices drop as an effect of World War 1. The US Bureau of Mines drilled and found large amounts of copper in the early 1950s, prompting the operation to increase production and become a major regional contributor of copper.
The mine has 5 levels totaling 12,000 feet of tunnels, the lower 3 of which are flooded and inaccessible. We noted the portal to level 2 as completely caved and the portal to level 1 and 3 partially caved. The collapses are so severe that there is little remaining in this mine that can be explored. We did, however, find great ore samples of copper, quartz, and pyrite in the parts of the mine that remain intact.
Hi! I hear in this video that you obtained a map of the mine’s layout. How did you come across that resource? Always impressed by how prepared and researched you guys are heading in. Would love to learn from you and keep the history of these places alive
Thanks for doing all these great videos
Sick video! Ive been there a dozen times. You missed one portal though. Really cool inside, but dangerous. I am the one who left the red ladder. It's not original. Lot to see in that area!!
Right on! At some point we'll go back and look for that portal then, thanks for the heads up!
There are supposedly quite a a few other mine sites up the valley along the same road on either side of the creek. There is one adit for sure that as of last time I was up there (2010's) was open about 2-3 miles past sunset.
The Non Pareil mine is up a ways on the same side of the creek, which we explored. I’ve heard the same thing about several adits on the other side of the creek. There isn’t an easy way across the creek that we found so accessing them is probably a matter of seasonal timing when the creek flow is lower
Where is the huge, tall ceiling adit entrance as seen in many modern photos? It's enormous, but I had no luck finding it on my last trip.
Copper in Quartz if not fractured or included makes good Cabs and such.
Some people pay Bucks even if they have to stabilize with Epoxy.
The "building" did in fact exist I put eyes on it (from a distance) in the mid 2000's on one of my visits to the area. It was at the far end of one of the large stopes visible from one of the big surface collapse areas. Had some windows and at least a couple stories. Don't think it was possible to get to it though but I wasn't neary as brave (or skilled) at going underground as you guys.
Great video! Do you know of anyone who has been there in the past year? I went up there (did not realize it was not OK to cross through the construction site to get onto the mine road) but could not find anything other than the mill foundation and one collapsed adit.
Thanks! I don’t know of anyone who has visited since the road closure. We just tabled it for now and will be visiting once that all clears up
You should take more than 1 light under ground and I don't count the light on a cell phone as 1. Costco has a 3 pack of 500 lume for under $30, FYI. Now find the Copper King, Ravine, some across the bridge.
We had a few extra small flashlights with us for our own visibility but I was using an old GoPro with a poor aperture so they didn't show up on video well at all. We've got plans to go visit the Merchant Mine next spring so we'll be in that area for sure!
3 light sources... EACH. Have fun & B safe!
We had 3 sources each, the 9000 lumen flashlight needed for good lighting with the Hero 5 only has a 30 min battery life. Our other ~150 lumen light sources just didn't show up well in video despite being more than adequate in person
I explored these about 10 years ago. Did you go down the other side of that vent. Go through a hole on the left and then it goes down like a toilet bowl, then it drops down like 300'?
It's the cave in at 10:13
We have had plans to explore that for a while now. At the moment the trip is on hold due to construction blocking access to the site for the next few years. As soon as that lifts we will be documenting the remaining entrances
@@themountainexperience5692 Sounds awesome, I can't wait for the video! Did you talk to any of the prospect shops in Sultan. They told us about the "Copper King", the one you are referring to that is large enough to drive a escavator into. And also they claimed that inside of one of the adits, there is a fully in tact old ore cart, and that one of the museums in that area is offering a 250k reward for whoever can retrieve it. Again, 10 years ago, so don't know if someone already did, but it was suppose to be one of the tunnels completely under water so who knows 🤷♂️
Ah yes, there is a prospect nearby called the Copper King. We searched for it once unsuccessfully, finding it's smaller neighbor the fully collapsed Copper Queen instead. Construction will still prohibit access to that area for the next few years. But from what I recall the Copper King is just a prospect, it may not be the same one if they are mentioning an area big enough to drive an excavator into, unless they mean the sunset. The two are not connected to my knowledge. If that ore cart is in one of the flooded sunset levels, it will probably never see the light of day. People have tried in the past to reopen those levels to no success
Small hole left side in all that pouring water, HUGE in there and very scary. Rope up, I only know of 1 person other then you 2 that has gone in that belly crawl adit.
I thought it looked a bit sketchy, wasn't sure if it continued down. We'll bring rope gear if we get the chance to go back next year, appreciate the heads up
You guys are in one of sketchier mines I have seen and I have been in a few .Dangerous, be careful water in a mine is not your friend.
you missed my favorite section of the mine! you looked right at it too... 10:40 in the video. if you go down that way, opposite of where you did, past that fallen timber you'll find a HUGE room, and in it there are two REALLY deep holes/shafts. its a steep and loose decent to get to the first one, and really spooky getting to the second one, no fall zone for sure. you gotta climb up an equally steep bit to a saddle between the shafts. We left a couple dollar bills on top of the saddle, if you can get to them you can have em ;)
from the saddle you can see where the tunnel continues, but its right on the other side of the massive shaft, unlikely you could reach it without a 20 foot ladder and some huge balls. unfortunate because you might be able to access the rest of the mine from there. We've talked about roping up and decending into the further shaft because it sounds like it goes down several hundred feet, the echo of falling rocks there is just unreal. feel free to message me for more info!
We are actually in the process of planning a trip to explore that section with a rope setup once this lockdown lifts. I didn't realize there was so much down there though! I guess this means a third Sunset video is on its way
@@themountainexperience5692 did ya go back?
I attempted to climb that saddle about 10 years ago and before I made it to the top the whole thing felt like it was sloughing off. Never made it to the top of the saddle. It always sounded like a river on the other side? As for the other hole I talked a guy there once that said he had been going there regularly since the 80s. He said it went to adit 1 right below. They used to tie string around rocks and retrieve them there. I also have a friend that went into the main adit 2 in the 60s into a cathedral like ceiling. He said that when they looked up they could see daylight but they weren't in the area where the is a known airshaft is. I always figured they were looking out a new hole broken to the surface. Not on the map.
@@rideandrestore1992 its definitely spooky! We had a feeling that that was the case, but never tested it. Inside adit 1 there are two holes shafts about the same distance apart and about as deep into the mountain, one of them is completely plugged, the other not at all. Its such a bummer that the lowest adit isnt accessible, i recently tried to open it, moved a bunch of rock, dirt and trees but we got nowhere in several hours of work. If anybody has a mini excavator, the road is drivable all the way to the mine now...
Wow I also tried digging out the lowest tunnel. Not gonna happen. It's 600 feet and likely plugged the whole way. "My friend that entered the lowest tunnel in the 60s said it was very dangerous to enter back then. Collapsed, rotted, sagging timbers. I always thought about getting inside the wooden building because it accesses a manway or climbing that saddle. It'd be pretty cool to get further inside but better stay out! The book "mines of the northwest" talks about Sunset Mine quite a bit.
I was wondering what that sound was
Where is this at? What state?
This is in western Washington
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