“Steel Indian” Mine

I’ve been wanting to check this remote mine in the Great Basin region of Nevada out ever since I first read about it years ago. We visited it in 2010 and it turned out to be a nice find.

The site has minor amounts of equipment on it and a few thousand feet of drifts and stopes. I definitely need to go back and do some more exploring.

"Steel Indian" Mine

102 photos

What's left of the ore bin.

Much of this ore loading facility is gone. What a shame. There was so much more here; like probably a jaw crusher.

Looking down at the miner's cabins from the mine dump.

Ore bin

Mining camp

Old rails in the sagebrush.

A hike around the back of the camp and we discover a very old portable drilling rig.

The engine and internals are long gone, but it is still a very interesting and rare find.

"Joplin Special Clutch Hoist"

Drill rig

Part of the braking wheel.

I can't read all of the lettering, but it does say "Keystone Driller". This could be an early model. The Keystone Drillers were first used in the 1880s and popular at the time.

The engine and cables are missing.

Look at those steel wheels! The large rear wheels have slots for tread or spikes.

A look at the front.

Steel wheel.

Parts tray full of nuts and bolts.

Gear driven! I wonder if this was steam or gas engine powered?

Rig derrick.

If you look close you can see a bit of well pipe under the wood.

On another trip to the camp.

The whole thing is leaning and slowly succumbing to the elements.

Mining camp

Walking around the mine camp, we find what looks like the remains of a mobile compressor unit.

Compressor.

Ore bin

We decide to take a quick look at the mine.

Powder storage

Ore chute

We check on the drill rig.

Some open stopes.

Laddered stope.

Drill rig

One of many switches.

Large steel wheels

Rails in a drift.

Hoist works

Some sodastraws are forming in one section of the crosscut haulage tunnel. We saw a few bats in here too.

This is starting to turn into a long walk.

Into the mine

Another stope room. There were quite a few.

Ore chute and rails

Stope and stulls

Stope

A bunch of pipe at the bottom of a stope.

We found an interesting ore car. It looks like it was used for hauling equipment or lumber.

Looking up.

As you can see, it is just a platform.

Another side rail and switch.

Two ore chutes from stopes above.

Laddered raise.

Daylight shines in the stope

The switch arm is still here.

Platform car is still here

Blast door deeper in the mine.

Car for hauling lumber?

Looking up a raise that would have been used to bring ore down on a car or bucket of some sort. Note the greased roller.

A hoist would have sat here. An old Prestone anti-freeze can has been made into a shade around a lightbulb.

I'm standing where the hoist would have been.

Some drill steel sits on a work bench.

Here is the skip that would have traveled in the vertical raise. It was mostly likely used to haul people.

Drill steel

Work room

Looking up

One last look at the workbench before we head back outside.

Drifting along

We head down to the miner's camp. This was probably the manager's cabin.

A big Caterpillar engine sits outside.

The inside is torn up by thoughtless vandals.

The ore chutes

The miner's cabins are just empty little apartments.

Window of hope.

Another long tunnel

Skip car?

Higher portal

Top of the stope

Leads to a railed drift

Stope

Drill heads

View down into camp

We find a wooden door

Another stope

Ladder down

Boxcar looks for cell service.

Heading down

Dump