Delamar Mine

The mines at Delamar are extensive. They were once separate individual mines but were connected when Captain De Lamar bought them all.

I’ve been here a few times over the years and it’s still one of the best. There are huge stope rooms, square set timbering, winzes, raises, chutes, ladders, drifts, cross-cuts… all set across sixteen levels and over (according to one report) twenty miles of workings. A later mining operation came in and open pit mined the upper three levels of the mine. Most of the workings are now collapsed and inaccessible, but I’ve never fully explored the mine. I know there is more to see. Plan on a couple of 8 hour days, underground, if you want to see everything – it is a lot of walking. Be prepared though, this one doesn’t give up her secrets easily.

Delamar Mine

80 photos

Micah at an ore chute.

Geared ore chute. Missing its handle though.

Rock collapse at another ore chute.

The force of the collapse snapped the iron wheel handle on the gate.

Looking down a winze on the 10th level.

Back at one of the hoist rooms.

A look at the double rails, used to tip over the ore car to drop its load into the ore bin. A sheave wheel would have been high in the rafters.

Micah explores some workings.

Ore bucket chute.

100 ft ladder.

Another shot of the timbered hoist room in 2007.

Ore chutes.

Micah in the dusty haulage adit.

Dust covered storage bins.

Micah.

One of the main intersections - no mold on this day.

Micah on the 6th level.

Cute little bat.

Another hoist room.

60+ ft drop.

Dan and Micah in the huge 4th level stope.

This is a huge room. Our lights barely shine on the far walls.

Micah stands high on the pile of square set timbers. Across the room, you can see a drift on the 3rd level. It is hard to reach now.

Part of the pile. Those timbers are probably 6 ft long.

Working our way around.

Into more stopes.

One of the exits of the 4th level stope room.

Micah and Dan at the top of the 4th-6th level stope.

Looking down into the abyss.

Back to the 4th stope room.

Dan leaving the 4th level stope room.

Some of the timbers are rotting.

A closer view of the mold slowly rotting the timbers.

Another shot of the mold. Tasty.

Ore car.

Micah decides if he is going down a winze.

On the 6th level, we find some break-down.

At the bottom of the 4th-6th level stope room. A small compressor tank sits behind Dan and Micah.

Ore car.

Checking out the 4-6 stope room.

We were somewhere up there a little while ago.

Looking up at some square set timbering that still hangs in the stope above us. Only the compression of the walls sqeezing together is keeping it up there.

Some carbide writing on the 6th level. It dates from 1937.

Stope 658 on the 6th level.

Bats!

Another car.

More bats!

Some intact square set timbers in a stope.

Micah exploring around.

Close up of some bats.

This won't be open much longer.

The miners knew this was poor ground and timbered it well.

Dan in a curious backfilled passage.

Another long passageway. You do a bit of walking in this mine.

Stope work.

Dynamite remains.

Dan coming through a tight spot at an ore chute.

Another long walk.

On the top of the 4th-6th level stope room trying to figure out how to get to the bottom of the vertical stope.

Looking down a 4th level winze.

One of many ore cars in the mine. Most are missing their trucks and wheels. Some are much easier to find than others.

A tricky area to walk around in.

Brad in the huge 4th level stope room.

Bill in the huge 4th level stope room. All of the square set timbering and some of the roof has fallen.

Brad exploring in the fallen timbers.

Bill is deep on the 4th level at the bottom of a stope.

Long way down.

Bill climbing down a timbered manway.

Brad at an ore bin. Note the geared bin gate and wooden guide above Brad.

Massive dust piles in the 10th level haulage.

Ice? Snow? Nope, it's mold. Must have been wet year in 2002. This is at a major intersection on the 10th level.

Brad and Bill look up into an ore chute.

Checking out the upper reaches of a square set stope room. There are at least half a dozen rooms like this in the mine.

100+ ft drop to the 11th level.

Brad and Bill at another hoist room.

Brad and Bill in one of the underground hoist rooms. A hoist would have pulled ore cars up the rails from lower levels and dumped into a bin behind the wall.

Note the native timber for walls in this hoist room. It is a little easier to reach than some in the mine, hence the graffiti.

Bill at the top of a winze.

Bill decides to climb down.

We have our spotlights on him. Somewhere near the end of the ladder, he discovers the last few sections of ladder are missing.