Awesome Mine Perched On The Edge Of A Cliff

This abandoned mine had little trouble ending up on the “favorites” list. The setting was awesome. The layout of the underground workings was quite interesting. It delivered with the interesting artifacts left behind. I even loved the miner’s trail that I discovered on the way down. And great aesthetics on top of all that? Yes, I’m into it. Sign me up for more.

This was primarily a lead and zinc mine (we’ve had very good results with those types of mines over the years) with copper, silver and gold as bonus secondary minerals.

There is surprisingly little historical information on this mine in the public domain. What I did locate stated that the ore body was discovered in 1901. Apparently, a large amount of work was done in 1911 and again in 1919. However, there are no records available past 1919. What we saw inside of the mine though strongly suggests that work was done at this abandoned mine as recently as the 1950s. I am, of course, referring to the dates written with the carbide lamps, but also to the equipment that we found underground.

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Several kind viewers have asked about donating to help cover some of the many expenses associated with exploring these abandoned mines. Inspired by their generosity, I set up a Patreon account. So, if anyone would care to chip in, I’m under TVR Exploring on Patreon.

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.
I hope you’ll join us on these adventures!

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[Diamonddavej]

Geologist and mineral collector of 40 years. The mineral at 21:42 is galena, not covellite. Galena has a faint violet blue colour and in large masses like this, and especially when a little weathered, it can take on a silvery bluish violet cast. The parent rock looks like limestone, or a marble, which is a typical host of galena. On the other hand covellite (Copper Sulfide) occurs in the enriched zone of copper deposits. If it were covellite there would be a lot of bright green and blue secondary copper mineralisation in the mine, especially in any wet areas e.g., blue copper sulfate (chalcanthite) would coat the walls. However., when Lead ore weathers it not colourful, just white, greys and sometimes black (platternite, cerussite, sometimes anglesite) and maybe some rusty colours from weathered pyrite and rarely minimum or litharge (Lead oxide, red lead). Galena sometimes contains a little silver, so it's likely they were trying to extract silver from the galena i.e. it was a silver mine. 32:05 might be barite. 34:40 might be low oxygen, weathered sulfides and sometimes rusting metal in old mines can remove oxygen from the air. Could also be a CO2 build up. Weathering of sulfides is exothermic, generates heat. You should get a confined space gas detector, if you don't have one already, they are not expensive.

[paranormaladventurer]

Thank you for taking all these risks to document mining history! It is valuable for future generations to learn about how our country used to do things.

[johnbrownlee]

Great to see a lot of artifacts still in the

[squadman]

Wow. What a way to make a living that was !!! Makes me appreciate my cozy, retired life !!

[mysterycrumble]

just home from work and this lands in my lap! what a lucky boy i am!

[StirlingLighthouse]

Happy days when TVR drops!
Thanks a bunch 🙏

[paulcooper]

That was a really nice mine!
Thanks for sharing 🇨🇦

[shanemcguire]

You're holding an old Cylinder Head Gasket. Likely for a flat head 4 cylinder engine like the one out on the waste rock pile. Those were L Head design engines like your Briggs and Stratton Lawnmower Engines. These however are water cooled. They utilized either a Boil Off type or closed type with a fan and Radiator. Low RPM, lots of torque, and normally designed to run at a fixed RPM.

[seedy-waney-bonnie]

That turn table is great to see. Thank you.

[bradvanbibber]

Love the California Red Barrel cacti all around the mine site! Awfully far from your usual stomping grounds!

[lesbendo]

Lunkenheimer was founded by Frederick Lunkenheimer in Cincinnati in 1862-1994. Originally called the Cincinnati Brass Works, they manufactured parts for steamboats and military equipment. Later on the company branched out to providing parts for both the automobile and airplane industries. 🇨🇦

[EZippy]

Lunkenheimer made whistles and valves for old steam engines.

[davewebb]

A cool explorer mate.. always a good day when I wake up to another Tvr video..stay safe.

[damxgopak]

Bunch of guys really worked their asses off in there hope they did well.

[williamwintemberg]

A most interesting mine! Lots of artifacts and individual ingenuity. It is amazing how low the back is in most places. Thanks Justin and Company!

[kathyarmstrong]

Oh goodie, a mine with miney mine things!

[mssawask]

My Grandpa was a copper miner, and liked Hills Bros Coffee. I have several cans like that. And some prince Albert tobacco tins

[robmez]

Stunning filming once again, love the detail you relay to us watchers

[rolfsinkgraven]

A most interesting mine! Lots of artifacts

[ralphpatrick]

That nice trail had to be built for the pack animals. Can you imagine that hoist, in pieces, on it’s way up?
A really good explore. Thanks, Justin!