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Ramshorn and Skylark Mines

Ramshorn and Skylark Mines

I took a trip in 2016 to a couple of mines high up in the Central Rocky Mountains of Idaho. I love finding old mines with tramways, and these two were great. A large silver-lead strike was made at the Ramshorn mine (and the Skylark above it) in 1877, and

Catalonia Mine

Catalonia Mine

Not too long ago (in the late summer of 2015, to be exact), we drove to this little abandoned mining camp in the backcountry of Nevada. As we got closer, we discovered the old road was completely overgrown and lost in the willows. So we got out of our trucks

Marietta Mill

Marietta Mill

An old mill lurking in the hills above Virginia City, Montana, has almost completely fallen into ruin. Years of harsh winters and neglect have left hardly anything left standing to explore. The mine, now collapsed, was active intermittently from 1918 to 1940 and once had a 900-foot-long adit. Besides the

Law’s Spring

Law’s Spring

Over the summer a few years ago, we explored the Ponderosa pine forests of northern Arizona. One of the spots we visited was Law’s Spring. It was an old campsite along the historic Beale Wagon Road. The Beale Road was born from a need to travel over the newly

Old Yard Cabin

Old Yard Cabin

Winnekta Mill

Winnekta Mill

It is rare to find a Chilean mill out in the wild, not to mention one that is ten feet in diameter! The original 10-stamp mill was built on the site sometime before 1910. The mine was already doing well by then and making shipments to the Anaconda smelter in

DE Mine and Cave

DE Mine and Cave

Out in central Nevada, we found a small cave inside of a larger, abandoned mine. The miners probably broke into the cave in the 1880s or thereabouts. Seeing a barrel set in the mine to catch dripping water was interesting. I’m guessing the miners were using it to collect