We recently visited an interesting medium-sized mine out in the middle-of-nowhere Nevada. The mine is developed by multiple shafts and drops to the 500′ level. The workings below the 300′ level were wet, rotten and caving, so we didn’t spend much time down there. Otherwise, it was a pretty straightforward and fun place. It is great to see ore cars still in place where the miner’s left them.
Part of the “Old English” Mine, the tramway hauled ore over the mountain from the mine to the railhead. Only a few tramways still stand and this double rope one is quite impressive.
I first checked out this tramway in 2003. This year, 2013, we made two trips to the top. The first trip was in some deep snow.
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This was a huge mine camp with a long history of operation that we were able to get a private tour of in 2003. At the time, the camp was guarded full-time by caretakers. They showed us around and gave a great tour, even allowing us to go underground and look around, something many mine operators are afraid of.
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We recently visited an immense underground mine; spending hours underground exploring its twisting passageways late into the night.
The haulage adit is a steep 800′ decline to the main body of workings. That is a long drop just to get to the start of the mine!
Bill leads Dan and I to a fork of Lemoigne Canyon with a few historical inscriptions. It is hard to know if they are real or not but it is a interesting and seldom seen area.
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Was this old mining adit made into a fallout shelter? Maybe it is one of Charles Manson’s secret hideouts? Perhaps a local resident and miner set it up as an apocalypse bug-out shelter? Maybe one of many in the area? Your guess is as good as mine! Someone stockpiled supplies out here near Barker Ranch in Striped Butte Valley area of Death Valley National Park during the 1960s.
A couple of months ago, we took a quick trip to Utah. One of the places we visited was a small set of Anasazi ruins in two alcoves near Angel Canyon. It was an interesting hike to get out there. Some bushwhacking was involved.