Getting To Know Kay Cooper (Mine)...
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- Опубликовано: 12 дек 2024
- I was actually on my way to another abandoned mine when I took a wrong turn in the desert (I know; it happens even to me…) and ended up at this one. I’m not one to pass up an attractive exploring opportunity and so I added this one to the list for the day as well.
As you saw in this video, I started at the top of the workings and explored my way down as it seemed most logical to follow the route the ore seemed to have taken. I don’t know about you, but I had the impression that the miners here spent a lot more time laying down track and constructing chutes and trestles than they spent actually mining the tungsten here. Despite all of the mining infrastructure, it doesn’t seem like very much good ore was taken out. The workings on the hillside as well as the shaft with the headframe seemed to be the newer part of the mine. I have seen the video of another mine explorer that visited this site and he went down the shaft. Perhaps somewhat unexpectedly, the shaft ended up being relatively uninspiring as there was just one small drift level at the bottom and it didn’t really go anywhere. It may have tied into that “pit of doom” next to it at one time, but rock debris prevented this from being investigated. There were a number of dead birds at the bottom as well (if memory serves correctly, they were crows).
To me, it seemed that the deep “pit of doom” is the oldest part of this mine. It wasn’t clear to me if there was a headframe over the pit at one time or not. There were some boards on the right that were obviously once part of some larger structure, but I’m unsure how they fit into the puzzle. It would have been awkward for the miners to work around the deep pit and so it seems likely that the large pocket cleared out to the left of the pit may have been the first area mined in that section. Obviously finding something worthwhile, the miners would have then followed the ore body down for a significant distance, creating the pit (that is an operation I would love to have seen in its active prime). I’d be curious to know what is at the bottom of the “pit of doom”. Given its age, the possibility of there being mining artifacts down there is tantalizing, and there are also likely drift levels branching off. Some days we just don’t have ropes and climbing equipment with us though.
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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!
#ExploringAbandonedMines
#MineExploring
#AbandonedMines
#UndergroundMineExploring
I have been down many shafts in California and Nevada, I really appreciate the hard work of these miners, some of these workings were over 100 miles away from Civilization !! and the harsh weather in a tent during the winter !! They were strong in there motivation and just tough people !!
I'm sure you've seen some amazing things if you've been down those shafts... The old timers were tough! I am frequently amazed by where they worked and the conditions they worked in as well.
see's sign that says unsafe mine, enters in casually anyway. I love your videos.
gotta head down the manway on the shaft..someone refurbed that shaft with a new metal gate on the ore shoot......with new air pipe too.....something is down there
The visit to this one was unplanned and so I didn't have the right gear with me to get down that shaft, which bothered me at the time. However, later, I saw a video of what was down there and we didn't miss much. It was a small chamber that was blocked off by rock and debris. So, maybe there was something good down there at one time, but not anymore. I'd love to know what they turned up in testing to inspire them to build that headframe and drive that shaft down!
Sometimes for me it's just as interesting seeing the buildings, ore cart tracks, and the areas outside the mine where the miners would process the ore. It really helps to paint a picture of what it was like when the mine was operational all those years ago.
I am a big fan of seeing the stuff on the surface as well for the same reasons you mentioned. I particularly like stuff relating to how the miners lived (like old cabins or bunkhouses).
I still can't get over how brave those people were with working in that every day ! It seems it would be like playing Russian roulette........ EVERYDAY !
Thanks for sharing and take care. 👍
The old timers were tough!
Another great explore, thanks for dragging us along.
That head frame was awesome. ...I'm very surprised that no one has torched it. Must have been very remote desert. Thank you for another precise document!
Jeffrey
Hi Justin, Thanks for the video. As usual, I appreciate the hard work you put in to make & share the video. Ody
Thank you, Ody. You've been along with us since the beginning and it is much appreciated.
@@TVRExploring The pleasure has been all mine,, Regards
So much going on at this mine at one time! Tons of labor putting all this stuff together with so many confusing transfer points and a maze of rails, was still so interesting and awesome to see! Thanks for so much amazing videos, but I do blame you for me not getting enough sleep at night only because I'm constantly saying I'll watch 1 more video then go to bed, and of course that never happens😂
Very good mine, always enjoy your videos.
Thank you
Another mine exploring channel did a video on this mine and actually had included a prior photo of the vertical shaft near the gate and ore chute near the massive pit. It had a very cool metal man lift that ran on the 4x4 vertical guides, but someone came in with a saws all or something and cut the track timbers (which you could see the cuts) and took the man lift cage. Very cool site for what seems like very little adits.
Great mine, especially for an accidental find. You'll have to go back some day with rope to see the rest. I'm looking forward to the mine you were actually heading to before the wrong turn.
Ha, yes, I wish all wrong turns worked out this well!
The hill was swiss cheese with openings another great video stay safe and keep them coming
Ha, yeah, they sure burrowed all through it, but it didn't look like they found much of anything.
TVR- Just wanted to make a minor correction in terminology. Trestles, are normally not use to empty Ore Carts or Gondolas. The part where they empty the Ore Carts is called a Tipple. On a Tipple there is a definite end to the rail with some type of "Stop" mechanism, (whether a piece of rail tie that has been secured to prevent the cart rolling off the landing area), or an actual knuckle bumper like on a railroad. Below this structure there will be some type of loading area for horse drawn carts, cable ore cart tramway or for trucks, (modern day coal mines).
Just thought folks might like the extra info.
-Shane McGuire
Interesting assortment of workings! Those undercut stopes are pretty scary, loved the ole’ rock test. Nice job as always!
Thank you. Yes, this one pretty much had it all, didn't it? I hadn't thought about that before...
gotta say ....me and Slim just love to see when you upload a vid......Slims fetches the Hard tack and beans and I get the Sarsaparilla....good stuff my friend.....thanks for doing what you do....
Thank you, Jeff. I always appreciate your comments. Sarsaparilla, hard tack and beans? Haha, that's a tough combination to top. Rocket fuel for miners.
This one turned out to be surprising toward the end. Did you notice the 'J' bolts that were hooked down thru 'U' bolts in the shaft? It's at 14:18 on the video. I got the idea that they were used to hold up the horizontal beams until they were fixed in place. I just had never seen that before. Regardless of how much or how little there is to any of the mines you visit and record it's really great that you do. Every one of them was someone's dream of riches, their winning lottery numbers. Most often, unless it's run by a corporation, the prospector who discovers a pay streak sells his claim off, even if it had the potential to be incredibly rich just so he could go prospecting for the next big bonanza. It was literally an addiction to the 'rush' of the discovery. There was hardly a single miner that first arrived at Sutter's Mill that stayed to become wealthy even on claims that became extremely rich lode mines. Thank you for exploring and for sharing.
Very interesting as usual. I wonder if this mine didn't have something to do with a war time economy, when we were in great need of Tungsten.
Yes, it almost certainly did. There was a huge boom in tungsten mines when the government was guaranteeing the market for it, which abruptly collapsed when that support stopped.
Was hoping you could go down that manway in the shaft. Really cool workings.
I've seen video of what's at the bottom and we didn't miss much. Just a small chamber blocked off by rock and debris...
Nice work! it's one of those times where I'd actually advocate for a drone to access the otherwise inaccessible
Holy shit, you finally said no! Good call..
LOL! Yes, it does happen on occasion...
Pretty cool, thanks for the tour!
But I do want to say thank you for showing me my history even though I live in Canada you Americans are still part of US Canadian history I don't care what any prison says but you still have a good president and most Canadians wish we had him as a prime minister so thank you again for listening to my rant you guys are like our big brothers and please never forget that
The pack rats make n good use of that ore chute in the beginning.
Probably got more productive use out of it than the miners ever did...
Your videos are always awesome to watch. And the videos quality and smoothness is amazing. Thank you!
Thank you.
Cool mine video wat inhospitable place that mine most mines do be looking forward to the premier episode wat views take care see on nxt adventure best regards from Ireland 👍☘🇮🇪
Im loving these videos.
I have driven very near there and never knew it
Do you have any idea what the 90 degree elbow (red) pipe was for at 14:00-14:03 on the right at 1:00-2:00 position. Is it air for tools or breathing? Thanks Great video.
Will b worth testing some ore from there.even the waste piles.
Hi from Australia again this was an extremely interesting post this week i was most impressed with the timber head frame it was in not to bad a shape for its age.
Also all of the artifacts that were still laying around were very cool to see. I really like to see the very clever way that the old mines adapted their ways to shore up the mines in some of the difficult situations that they worked in.
And ofcourse the hard condition's that they toiled away in day in day out .thanks again for showing us some great footage. As i have said before stay safe and keep the wonderful footage coming.
Thank you. Yes, we're frequently amazed by the ingenuity of miners - especially the old timers... It was great seeing the headframe so intact still.
at least it's dry in there...Aaawww poor bunny !... have fun and be safe...!!
I love your videos I love the insect to show how you get into brass Canadian you guys have way more history than us in the parks department is trying to shut you down please stop showing the beginnings of your adits trust me as a Canadian I would love to travel to see them what if the parks apartment gets a hold of them they will fill the men and I would love to see your history your history is more pronounced Bernard dinar history and I would love to say I was American just see your history I also feel American I have two brothers that live in the United States I have two brothers that live in Canada my dad was from California so we have a good time if you understand what I'm trying to say your history is our history and please don't let the parks take this away from us I love seeing the inside of Mines because here in Canada we don't have that opportunity
Part two? Going down the main shaft. I wish !
I'm afraid not. This was an unplanned visit and so I didn't have the right gear with me.
I feel like there must be a lot more underground on this one, thats an awful lot of infrstructure to be building to look after those few small adits and a couple of big holes so your idea that there are drifts off the pit of doom seems to fit well. Tungsten is heavy stuff so I suppose a mine could do well with a smaller ore body if it was high grade but still thats a lot of upper workings for not a lot of gain..
Interesting that none of the adits appeared to go in very far, but instead just had another ore chute or ore pass. It was all down and out, down and out.
Yes, it seems like they took out more rock just creating those features than they ever did actually mining, doesn't it?
The upper working's didn't look that extensive, even thought they went to a lot of effort to search for the precious minerals. I bet if you could get down that shaft or that open pit it would certainly be a different story down there. Didn't see much spoil heaps outside though, maybe a short lived mine? Great vid as always, another one ticked off the list :)
I've seen video of what is at the bottom of the shaft and it is surprisingly underwhelming - just a small chamber blocked off by rock and debris... I don't think anyone got rich off of this mine!
That's a shame, wasn't much spoil was there.
No, there wasn't. They put a lot of work in, but I don't think they got much out.
@@TVRExploring They lost their shirts on this one. That was a whole lot of powder, timbers, and rail they went through up at the top for maybe fifty tons of ore out of that small stope.
Have you heard of, Kenny Veach, and the "M" cave? He supposedly disppered somewhere in the wilderness up there and was never found. He was an avid hiker, like yourself. Perhaps one day we'll know what happened. Enjoy your videos, cheers!
Do you ever take the metal detector around the old mines?
What era / decade do these mines date to?
And where did the timbers come from? Nothing to be seen nearby that could be used... hauled in by cart and sheer brute force?
Well, it has been worked off and on for a while. So, they date to different decades. The most recent stuff probably dates to the 70s or 80s and the rest goes back decades before then. Yes, the timbers come from far away and then get muscled into place.
@@TVRExploring 60s or earlier. MSHA came into being in 78; there are a lot of standards for warning signs that were not at all followed here.
Gotta clean that lens haha
That drove me nuts when I was editing the video!
That pit looks natural and not minded.
Sure is a lot of rails etc outside set up for such small and short tunnels
Puzzling 🤔
Yeah, this one left me with a lot of questions too...
cool man
You ever run into any wildlife in these mines?
Nothing other than rats, bats and bugs...
Were you on your way to the Victory Mine when you took a wrong turn?
I was. I wish wrong turns always worked out this well...
Now there is a mine that's in need of spelunking gear.
11
Cool 😎 !
Did I miss the beginning of it never said what the mind was minding mining whatever would be nice to know
Looks good, just be careful. Thanks
This was supposedly tungsten.
Thanks for letting me know how it's me understand this setup and what's going on and where it's being shot
@@TVRExploring Explains a lot. War production changed up economics of some commodities; tungsten and manganese are the two big ones. The DOD basically single-handedly created and ended the New Mexico manganese industry on its own terms after WWII by creating and then shuttering ore-buying arrangements to create a strategic reserve.
"let's see what we can hear"
👀👂
That black spot on your lens or camera sensor drove me nuts the entire video.
Me too. It's been replaced.
Thumbs up tucson's az
Gud one, next time careful..... While taking footage
wonder if Cooper and Peterson ever made any $ from this deposit...........
I doubt it.
Not a chance.
"Discriminating miners"!
Discriminating miners... Black Shale Matters!