Thanks to the owners for preserving the history. A good amount of respect leaving that newspaper for the eyes of others. Doing a better job of education into our past than our own government which seems to destroy as much of the historic mines as possible.
Not just mines, all knowledge, inventions from 1800s to 1900s is systematicly erased or still classified,, history is made up, the story is told and made up, pre planned by the satanic elite(one Bank for the whole world) since 1700s,.the world is a show like a carnival ride, where truth is suppressed,
@@AdmiralJT, when I write simple truths, the truth is self evident,,,4-6 words it is deleted before it is posted,it just dissapears,,actual simple truth knowledge that everyone should know,,even kids understands, but they want no one to know about, knowledge, truths, it is systematicly hidden, deleted, made a Joke of, etc,
you finally got the vid out ....been waiting for this one ... how did you like the tight squeeze ...James is a cool Kid huh....no fear at all ..... did you see the skip car stuck in the shaft ....good job exploring the 5th level...... love the smell of Sulfur down there huh..... rock is very unstable due to constant hydrothermal activity ....keep em coming sonny Jim
Just got to say your awesome man! They do a great job of documenting these mines don't they? Time to get some pumps and hoses down to the #6 level. Stay safe out there
Haha, yes, getting down below the third level was VERY tight. We had to leave our packs and all of our gear behind to be able to slip through and even then I scraped my arms up. You have to put your arms over your head to be able to fit, otherwise your shoulders will jam you up. Yes, seeing that skip car still hanging there was really cool. I am not used to seeing that, I assure you. And, yes, very unstable rock in there - definitely no echo in that mine!
Love the "Knife Switch Gear". Don't want to slip any where near that stuff. Definitely OSHA Approved! Lots of ore chutes and timber fractures. Some neat "Knob and Tube" 110 volt wiring. Cool explore! Good Job!
" Gold rides an iron horse " That ore rich in Sulphur is some very good looking soil. I used to have ovaltine with powdered milk. Yum, peanut butter and grape jelly sandwiches on whitebread. Thanks Justin for the forty year old memories.
One of the names of miners you focused on was Peter Mazlum. Just a few years after putting his name in that mine, he fell 480 feet to his death in the Clermont mine. Born on May 15, 1913 and dying on September 29th, 1935, aged 22. He would of been a miner at least at age 17. His father, also a miner, Todor (Thomas) died just 2 years later on August 24th, 1937 after being shot in the head in what was determined to be a justifiable homicide. His family is buried in the Goldfield Cemetery.
That's very interesting. Thank you for sharing those additional details... That really transforms them from random names scrawled in a mine to fascinating individuals and histories.
The carpenters were so talented and fearless . Not enough appreciation of their work .. Wish there was any documentation on their doings. Can't find any .
The timbermen and timber repairmen at my old mine were craftsman. You can tell the difference. You look at timbering that is full of wedges and you know. Great timbering uses little if no wedges to make up for cuts that were short. You get timbermen who can build the old square set stuff and you can art.
The best footage I’ve seen of this mine yet. I had a fourth great paternal uncle that lived in Eureka, Nevada and Goldfield. He died at Goldfield and is buried in one of the cemeteries. Goldfield is on my bucket list to visit. Excellent!
4:25 Yikes!!! Hey Justin, didn't anyone notice all the dynamite? Looks like a bunch of sticks to the left, and then a full box without the box, still wrapped in wax paper sitting right in front of that wash tub. Anyways i have to say I've been a fan of your videos for a while now, and I've watched them all. Some more than once. The 16 to 1 series will never be topped by anyone, unless its you. So I continue to watch every week. Thanks for sharing all this "Good Stuff" with the world.
Just watched Jeff Williams video of this place not long ago. Happy I watched yours, got to see a lot more of the place. It's a shame about the flooding and the ladders, I'd love to see whats further down.
Great Vid!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I sure hope they keep those ladders in good shape. A lot of pressure on some of that wood and timbers. Been holding back trouble since 1937. Yikes. Some of those areas really look sketchy. I can't imagine all the work that took just to get those timbers down there!!! A lot of ore shutes. Fascinating.
The mine actually dates back much further than 1937. The graffiti from then may have been random or the last work of that particular crew or any other of a number of scenarios... Regardless, yes, it would have been a tremendous amount of work to timber that mine and to even just get all of the wood and equipment in place.
Really, this is how most abandoned mines would look if people weren't stripping them for souvenirs for their garages or front yards. The reason this mine hasn't been looted is because the owners live on the site. It's a rare treat to see a mine that hasn't been trashed!
Very good explore! Jeff got down the shaft but didn't film the drifts much; thanks for doing this! Lots of rotten rock down there, must have made setting off charges exciting! Oh...a bunch of the "miner's graffiti" down there had to have been done by later explorers like yourself, if the hoist was shut down in 1929! Unless miners went down to personalize their work areas or something. I was very glad to see this, thanks again!
Yes, Jeff visited the day after we did. He went more into the history and the geology, while we went deeper than he did. So, I figured our videos would complement each other. And, yes, the miner's graffiti could certainly be from surveyors, geologists or early mine explorers.
Hi Justin, that was one sketchy mine, what on earth were the miners thinking by even trying to start a mine with such unstable ground ?, I guess greed won over safety. Thanks for sharing, it was awesome to see those old mine carts though, take care. xx💖🤘
I stoped watching movies in the early 90s,, i go do awesome outdoor activities instead, motorsports of all kinds, snowboarding, mountain biking, hiking, baseball, weightlifting, etc,,,i have too many hobbies to waiste any of my life watching fiction,,as a mechanic I'm always full of projects,,
Pretty cool video with great text . Was looking at Goldfields History . Did you know Virgil and Wyatt Earp came there in 04 . Virgil was hired as Deputy Sheriff in 05 and died there 9 mos later of pneumonia ? After his death Wyatt left Goldfield . WOW !! .. gubs
That whole place is one big sneeze away from complete collapse. I'm really surprised you went into some of those areas. I mean, timbers splintering on all three sides... dammit, Justin. Be careful! 🥴 Aside from my rant... it was really cool that the owner arranged for your tour. James did a good job showing you around. 👍 And wow... worth a billion dollars today? That mine was NOT playing around!
Yes, no echo in that mine. The ground there is pretty bad... With the amount of gold coming out though, the miners, understandably, thought it was worth it!
@@TVRExploring I think all three videos complemented each other nicely! We all found different things to film. Everyone gets to see something different.
Great video for sure. I am a bit curious about one thing though. The date on the newspaper is quite a bit earlier than some of the miners graffiti you showed us. It doesn't seem likely that they removed ore without using the hoist?
Wow! So much graffiti and amazing artifacts still down there. What is James's plans for the mine? In that wetter section on the fifth level it looks like there is alot of rich ore still down that drift. Pretty cool he invites guests!
That newspaper is impressive if origional to that location as that doesn't look like it's been abandoned since then, it looks cared for? 8 minute mark, I couldn't believe he was going to attempt to go down that ladder after how rickety it looked and how loose it was, glad it moved or it could have collapsed. whilst he was on it. Wow, colourful towards teh back. At least the dryness helps keep the wood looking like it was put there yesterday.
Good to see a mine allmost in pristine shape that News Paper is full of history of witch is being destroyed by thugs now have no idea how much longer this mine will last with those breaking timbers. Thanks to the owners for showing this to us
I've to get down and see John and chat with him. I love the mine and the history, actually kinda drawn to the goldfield history. I wish he would start some reclamation on parts of it. I hate seeing the mines getting closed up by blm or just not operational.
Great video. Seems like the winze/raise traveling parallel to the shaft has collapsed. Seeing those crushed posts in the shaft stations is crazy. Also, is there concrete around every level station?
No, there is no concrete on any of the stations that we passed through. And, yes, it was pretty wild to thread ourselves through all of those snapped timbers.
Fantastic of them saving a complete gold mine. Can they get the hoist running and bring up the skip car to part of the shaft is solid run it up down to show how it was done.
Always amazes me how much wood is used in the mines, this shaft is no exception, just mind blowing all that heavy timber then shuttering, but seeing how bad the ground is lower down, it's quite understandable why they needed to do it. Interesting explore down there, quite a few trial levels they backfilled. Would they have pumped the water out of the lower levels or has that taken years to fill up since the mine closed?
There is an unbelievable amount of wood underground at this mine... Yes, I believe pumping was required for the lower levels of the mine. That's somewhat odd to think of given that that is in the middle of the desert, but we've encountered water in some unexpected places before.
No, they're not. A lot of force is applied to bend them into the desired shape... The twisted rails reflect the raw power of collapses or blast damage.
Really, that aspect of this mine is how all abandoned mines should look if people didn't take so much stuff away to put in their garage or front yard...
A interesting explore in a bit of a crumbling mine,very interesting things too see, in the text below the video you say you were not carrying ropes so what happens when that guy would have stepped fully on that very bad looking ladder? getting him out with a rope hours later wil hurt more than when his adrenaline is still running high, if reached in a fast way that is.(stepping on that ladder was a bad move anyway )
I've noticed that the old timers tended to skim the cream off of the top and left a lot of gold behind that would be economical to produce today were it not for all of the rules and regulations in place.
Incredible incredible incredible explore!!! Interesting that the mine itself appears to be colapsing rom the outside to the shaft..I seriously doubt this mine in this state could be restored to functioning.....most likely if ever it would require open pit mining.....
Yes, it is getting squeezed from all sides. And, no, I don't think there is any way at all that it will open again to underground mining unless a completely new shaft is run... And, even then, open pitting it would seem far more likely.
Surveyors, geologists, early mine explorers... The graffiti was not necessarily from miners actively working the mine. Or they were hauling ore out of the shaft of one of the mines that the Florence ties in to.
What air meter would you recommend that's reasonably priced? Also what tips would you give to someone new to exploring mines. I don't know of any in my area but when I got money to travel I'd like to safely smoke a joint deep under ground. "Safely" being the key word, I would be smart and careful about it.
I use a BW Clip single-gas oxygen meter. It's around $100 and is a disposable meter that's good for two years without calibration or new batteries. Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) meters are also available and I own one; I encourage you to buy both if you're exploring mines with sulfide minerals and especially wet mines with sulfides.
Was that a communications antenna on top the head frame? Or a flag pole? Absolutely amazing winch station that hasn't been gutted by tweakers. There's more miner graffiti in this mine than I can remember seeing in any other mine. The whole place looks like it will only take one or two earthquakes to collapse the whole thing.
I missed whatever was on top of the headframe and so I did not ask about it. The owners live on the site, so that has, fortunately, protected it from methheads ransacking the place. Yes, the graffiti in there was pretty phenomenal, for sure. And, yes, the Florence is definitely closer to the end of its life than the beginning!
Looking again at the video the thing on top the headframe looks like a Shakespear (brand) fiberglass VHF (possibly business band or radio telephone) or CB radio antenna.
Not sure I believe the owners story about the newspaper dated 1929. The graffiti in the mine is newer so that hoist had to have been in operation after 1929. I don’t doubt that he found that newspaper somewhere on site, but it’s not been on the arm of that chair since 1929.
My breathing was labored because it was extremely difficult getting down to the lower levels. I couldn't show it in the video because I didn't even have the space to wear a GoPro camera. Very tight squeezes and climbing over stuff... Oxygen meters are standard equipment for us.
Wow! All that timber construction makes me ask, How long did it take them to build this? If I had a Metal Detector, I'd volunteer to go along. 27:43 The calculations are the earliest version of TurboTax! =P
Many abandoned mines would look like that if people didn't strip them out for souvenirs for their garage or front yard... The reason this mine looks so complete is because the owners live on the site and have prevented that from happening.
Miners grafiti at 10:30. Aili Koski, Orvokki Koski and Lauri Gustafson is all Finnish names. Would be interesting for their relatives to see this. I bet they were working immigrants from Finland.
Well, they live on the site of the mine and so that keeps looters away. Otherwise, yes, this site would have been completely stripped and someone would have set fire to the headframe and buildings by now.
The interesting thing about that was that the gold price actually increased during the depression by almost 15 dollars, and couple that with more available labor, and it resulted in a boom for many gold mines.
I maintain that any mine can be rehabilitated and reopened given adequate reserves, high enough prices, a pile of cash, and the right crew of maniacs! Sadly, this one looks in sufficiently bad shape that those conditions are unlikely.
@@TVRExploring That's no kidding! I started looking at the mine I'm supporting now back when gold was $1300/oz., only three years ago. Needless to say, we're all pretty pleased with how things are going. We've made enough running fire assays that I expect to buy a 5-ton Young buggy by the end of the summer. If I wanted to mess with this one, I'd buy a bunch of slushers, a JCI 50M (miniature LHD), and all the shotcrete, mesh, and rock bolts in southern Nevada! The altered garbage country rock in the Florence reminds me of the stuff on the north side of the Banks. I recently hand-mined some samples in that one and the results were promising. Pyrrhotite is a decent indicator for gold and silver grades in this district.
Well, there lives depended on them not failing. So, they were pretty motivated to build the mines well. I've seen underground housing in some larger mines...
Thanks to the owners for preserving the history. A good amount of respect leaving that newspaper for the eyes of others. Doing a better job of education into our past than our own government which seems to destroy as much of the historic mines as possible.
Not just mines, all knowledge, inventions from 1800s to 1900s is systematicly erased or still classified,, history is made up, the story is told and made up, pre planned by the satanic elite(one Bank for the whole world) since 1700s,.the world is a show like a carnival ride, where truth is suppressed,
@@unfairfight3625 American exceptionalism and liberty are a threat to their agenda.
Watch fall of cabal
@@AdmiralJT, when I write simple truths, the truth is self evident,,,4-6 words it is deleted before it is posted,it just dissapears,,actual simple truth knowledge that everyone should know,,even kids understands, but they want no one to know about, knowledge, truths, it is systematicly hidden, deleted, made a Joke of, etc,
you finally got the vid out ....been waiting for this one ... how did you like the tight squeeze ...James is a cool Kid huh....no fear at all ..... did you see the skip car stuck in the shaft ....good job exploring the 5th level...... love the smell of Sulfur down there huh..... rock is very unstable due to constant hydrothermal activity ....keep em coming sonny Jim
Just got to say your awesome man! They do a great job of documenting these mines don't they? Time to get some pumps and hoses down to the #6 level. Stay safe out there
looks like if you try to go too deep in this mine your gonna get wet. lol
Haha, yes, getting down below the third level was VERY tight. We had to leave our packs and all of our gear behind to be able to slip through and even then I scraped my arms up. You have to put your arms over your head to be able to fit, otherwise your shoulders will jam you up. Yes, seeing that skip car still hanging there was really cool. I am not used to seeing that, I assure you. And, yes, very unstable rock in there - definitely no echo in that mine!
Am I the only one that read that whole comment in Jeff's voice? 😂
Dude the full box or two of dynamite on the first level
Yeah I saw it also at 4:30
Yup. Sitting right under a support that is splintered and getting ready to fail. That’ll be fun.
Those timber’s are fighting a losing battle! 😯
Yea I thought it was weird he didn't say anything
Crazy mine! It's a shame that so much of it had collapsed, but at least there was a couple levels that could be explored. Thanks for sharing!
Wow thanks to the owner for allowing this. That yellow stuff at 24.15 looked like native Sulfur.
Love the "Knife Switch Gear". Don't want to slip any where near that stuff. Definitely OSHA Approved! Lots of ore chutes and timber fractures. Some neat "Knob and Tube" 110 volt wiring. Cool explore! Good Job!
That whole mine looked on the ragged edge of collapse. Great to be able to see it before it's gone forever.
" Gold rides an iron horse "
That ore rich in Sulphur is some very good looking soil.
I used to have ovaltine with powdered milk. Yum, peanut butter and grape jelly sandwiches on whitebread. Thanks Justin for the forty year old memories.
Gold also rides in Sulphides !
One of the names of miners you focused on was Peter Mazlum. Just a few years after putting his name in that mine, he fell 480 feet to his death in the Clermont mine.
Born on May 15, 1913 and dying on September 29th, 1935, aged 22. He would of been a miner at least at age 17. His father, also a miner, Todor (Thomas) died just 2 years later on August 24th, 1937 after being shot in the head in what was determined to be a justifiable homicide. His family is buried in the Goldfield Cemetery.
That's very interesting. Thank you for sharing those additional details... That really transforms them from random names scrawled in a mine to fascinating individuals and histories.
Nice to see more of more sketchy parts of a really Cool old mine Nice Tour!!!; )
The carpenters were so talented and fearless . Not enough appreciation of their work .. Wish there was any documentation on their doings. Can't find any .
I agree. The engineering and craftsmanship involved in putting that together is incredible.
The timbermen and timber repairmen at my old mine were craftsman. You can tell the difference. You look at timbering that is full of wedges and you know. Great timbering uses little if no wedges to make up for cuts that were short. You get timbermen who can build the old square set stuff and you can art.
The amount of work put into creating that mine was incredible, as was the loads those timbers were straining to retain. Great video, stay safe guys.
It is really an incredible feat of engineering.
That place has a 10.0 sketch factor. I'd be afraid to accidentally touch one of those timbers.
I thought that headframe and hoist room look familiar, 😆 Time to get some pumps and hoses set up and start pumpin!! Yall stay safe out there
I am amazed at the pressure the timbering is under. All the signs of that stress everywhere.
Yes, there is a lot of pressure bearing down on those timbers from above and from the sides.
The best footage I’ve seen of this mine yet. I had a fourth great paternal uncle that lived in Eureka, Nevada and Goldfield. He died at Goldfield and is buried in one of the cemeteries. Goldfield is on my bucket list to visit. Excellent!
It is definitely an interesting place to visit. Tonopah (nearby) is too...
4:25 Yikes!!! Hey Justin, didn't anyone notice all the dynamite? Looks like a bunch of sticks to the left, and then a full box without the box, still wrapped in wax paper sitting right in front of that wash tub. Anyways i have to say I've been a fan of your videos for a while now, and I've watched them all. Some more than once. The 16 to 1 series will never be topped by anyone, unless its you. So I continue to watch every week. Thanks for sharing all this "Good Stuff" with the world.
Excellent to see all the gear and the original look basically intact! Extremely dangerous in the mine itself though!
Yes, I agree with you on both counts!
Just watched Jeff Williams video of this place not long ago. Happy I watched yours, got to see a lot more of the place. It's a shame about the flooding and the ladders, I'd love to see whats further down.
Not one dislike,,this is a awesome video, that place is imcredible,, thanks so much for creating it,,
Thank you very much. Glad you enjoyed it...
Great Vid!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I sure hope they keep those ladders in good shape. A lot of pressure on some of that wood and timbers. Been holding back trouble since 1937. Yikes. Some of those areas really look sketchy. I can't imagine all the work that took just to get those timbers down there!!! A lot of ore shutes. Fascinating.
The mine actually dates back much further than 1937. The graffiti from then may have been random or the last work of that particular crew or any other of a number of scenarios... Regardless, yes, it would have been a tremendous amount of work to timber that mine and to even just get all of the wood and equipment in place.
Cool video that office chair you pointed out at the beginning must have for a tall miner 🤣🤣 thanks for sharing
I'm assuming that was to bring the hoist operator up to the level of the controls, but who knows?
nice to see a site pretty much intact in full and being held as it was rather then a rebuilt or just decaying into nothing or trashed
Really, this is how most abandoned mines would look if people weren't stripping them for souvenirs for their garages or front yards. The reason this mine hasn't been looted is because the owners live on the site. It's a rare treat to see a mine that hasn't been trashed!
Very good explore! Jeff got down the shaft but didn't film the drifts much; thanks for doing this! Lots of rotten rock down there, must have made setting off charges exciting!
Oh...a bunch of the "miner's graffiti" down there had to have been done by later explorers like yourself, if the hoist was shut down in 1929! Unless miners went down to personalize their work areas or something.
I was very glad to see this, thanks again!
Yes, Jeff visited the day after we did. He went more into the history and the geology, while we went deeper than he did. So, I figured our videos would complement each other. And, yes, the miner's graffiti could certainly be from surveyors, geologists or early mine explorers.
TVR Exploring 👍❤️👍
Excellent video, as always...!
Thank you.
Really cool mine, sucked that it only went to level 5, ah well enjoyed this one! Thanks TVR !
Yes, as I mentioned in the description, I'm sure there is some amazing stuff underwater.
Hi Justin, that was one sketchy mine, what on earth were the miners thinking by even trying to start a mine with such unstable ground ?, I guess greed won over safety. Thanks for sharing, it was awesome to see those old mine carts though, take care. xx💖🤘
Definitely some rough ground in this one, but the amount of gold they brought out was very impressive... So, that trumps safety.
@@TVRExploring I don't think any amount of gold would make me want to mine there eeek.
@@SueGirling68 No amount of gold?
@@TVRExploring Nope lol, I choose life 😉😜 x
We're Glad that you were able to document this one before it becomes Lost to eternity. 👍
P.s. No Echo to be heard throughout that mine.
No echo at all! That tells you a lot...
Would have been interesting to see that place operating. Very cool artifacts within that ground with the consistency of lumpy oatmeal.
Outstanding this is much better than that Steven Seagal movie that I wasted 10 minutes of my life on.
Thanks.
I stoped watching movies in the early 90s,, i go do awesome outdoor activities instead, motorsports of all kinds, snowboarding, mountain biking, hiking, baseball, weightlifting, etc,,,i have too many hobbies to waiste any of my life watching fiction,,as a mechanic I'm always full of projects,,
1. Thanks for the tour. It was awesome.
2. You are all nuts!
Pretty cool video with great text . Was looking at Goldfields History . Did you know Virgil and Wyatt Earp came there in 04 . Virgil was hired as Deputy Sheriff in 05 and died there 9 mos later of pneumonia ? After his death Wyatt left Goldfield . WOW !! .. gubs
Yes, Goldfield has quite a history!
Nice job my friend.
Thank you.
That whole place is one big sneeze away from complete collapse. I'm really surprised you went into some of those areas. I mean, timbers splintering on all three sides... dammit, Justin. Be careful! 🥴
Aside from my rant... it was really cool that the owner arranged for your tour. James did a good job showing you around. 👍
And wow... worth a billion dollars today? That mine was NOT playing around!
Yes, no echo in that mine. The ground there is pretty bad... With the amount of gold coming out though, the miners, understandably, thought it was worth it!
holy crap!! all that busted timbering and rockfall is insane!! the pressures from the earth is nuts.
Squeezing it from all sides!
Thanks for the excellent video sir!
Great video just watched Jeff Williams and outdoor adventure TV in the same mine before yours popped up 😂😂 bit of deja vu
Yes, I thought this video would complement their videos.
@@TVRExploring I think all three videos complemented each other nicely! We all found different things to film. Everyone gets to see something different.
Fantastic video! Wow.
Great video for sure. I am a bit curious about one thing though. The date on the newspaper is quite a bit earlier than some of the miners graffiti you showed us. It doesn't seem likely that they removed ore without using the hoist?
Glad everyone made it back out with no problem. Too sketchy for this old guy!
Wow" sketchy just watching..lol Kool ✌
Awesome video as always!
Thank you.
Wow! So much graffiti and amazing artifacts still down there. What is James's plans for the mine? In that wetter section on the fifth level it looks like there is alot of rich ore still down that drift. Pretty cool he invites guests!
Nice to see an intact hoist house. Too bad nature is reclaiming that mine.
Most of the glass is intact, too.
I'll watch this later but real cool Jon let you guys in!
Yes, fortunately, he's pretty receptive to visitors...
That newspaper is impressive if origional to that location as that doesn't look like it's been abandoned since then, it looks cared for? 8 minute mark, I couldn't believe he was going to attempt to go down that ladder after how rickety it looked and how loose it was, glad it moved or it could have collapsed. whilst he was on it. Wow, colourful towards teh back. At least the dryness helps keep the wood looking like it was put there yesterday.
Yes, there were definitely some sporty sections of this mine. You can see why the old timers timbered it so well!
@@TVRExploring Yes, my favourite type of mine, no endless walking, more challenging. In one similar again this weekend.
Sure enjoyed the video. Would have been super fun if all of us could have met up there at the same time. Be safe! Keep exploring!
Thank you. Yes, I'm sorry we weren't there a day later or you there a day earlier!
Good to see a mine allmost in pristine shape that News Paper is full of history of witch is being destroyed by thugs now have no idea how much longer this mine will last with those breaking timbers. Thanks to the owners for showing this to us
Favorite quote "something is running off this way, lets go see what that is"
Very interesting! If it was such a rich mine in its day, is there any potential for small scale mining today?
It would need a LOT of rehab work. However, if the price of gold gets high enough, I'm sure there would be interest again.
Maybe you can do a video on the terms and purposes of the mine? Ore chutes , backfill and how they worked a mine in the 19th and early 20th centuries?
Pretty neat. A shame y'all couldn't go lower. Was there a system of pumps to keep that mine dry at one point?
I don't know for sure, but there must have been.
I've to get down and see John and chat with him. I love the mine and the history, actually kinda drawn to the goldfield history. I wish he would start some reclamation on parts of it. I hate seeing the mines getting closed up by blm or just not operational.
Man, that is a sketchy looking mine!! Great video as always!!
Haha, yes, it is... And thank you!
Great video. Seems like the winze/raise traveling parallel to the shaft has collapsed. Seeing those crushed posts in the shaft stations is crazy. Also, is there concrete around every level station?
No, there is no concrete on any of the stations that we passed through. And, yes, it was pretty wild to thread ourselves through all of those snapped timbers.
Fantastic of them saving a complete gold mine. Can they get the hoist running and bring up the skip car to part of the shaft is solid run it up down to show how it was done.
No, the shaft is in pretty rough shape. It needs a lot of rehab work before that would be possible.
What are the colored plastic ribbons for?
Always amazes me how much wood is used in the mines, this shaft is no exception, just mind blowing all that heavy timber then shuttering, but seeing how bad the ground is lower down, it's quite understandable why they needed to do it. Interesting explore down there, quite a few trial levels they backfilled. Would they have pumped the water out of the lower levels or has that taken years to fill up since the mine closed?
There is an unbelievable amount of wood underground at this mine... Yes, I believe pumping was required for the lower levels of the mine. That's somewhat odd to think of given that that is in the middle of the desert, but we've encountered water in some unexpected places before.
Are the mine car rails very bendable ? They seemed to be the way some were twisted.
No, they're not. A lot of force is applied to bend them into the desired shape... The twisted rails reflect the raw power of collapses or blast damage.
this place was like a museum
Really, that aspect of this mine is how all abandoned mines should look if people didn't take so much stuff away to put in their garage or front yard...
Very interesting
Wow, so much crumbly rock... Yikes! And the big timbers splitting under the pressure... And at 24:12... very curious ?formation?
Yes, definitely not the best ground down there...
Awesome!
i hope this place is off limits to nearly everyone or has good security. that place is beautiful.
The owners live on the site. So, that keeps the looters away.
Do the owners of the mine have any plans on restating mining?
I don't believe they have the budget for it.
Thanks :)
With Gold at 3k an ounce, I wonder if they might reopen this mine, if nothing else to go through tailings left behind. I'd love to see that happen!
I think a lot of "abandoned" mines will see renewed interest if gold gets to $3k an ounce.
A interesting explore in a bit of a crumbling mine,very interesting things too see, in the text below the video you say you were not carrying ropes so what happens when that guy would have stepped fully on that very bad looking ladder? getting him out with a rope hours later wil hurt more than when his adrenaline is still running high, if reached in a fast way that is.(stepping on that ladder was a bad move anyway )
Well, that was the owner's son and he can do whatever he wants in his mine... If it were me, I'd rather have the ropes though!
Holy cats man I have never seen so many splintered supports. That mine isn't going to be around for much longer.
No, I'm afraid not...
Were the miners real good about claiming all the gold, or is there some that they missed?
I've noticed that the old timers tended to skim the cream off of the top and left a lot of gold behind that would be economical to produce today were it not for all of the rules and regulations in place.
That mine is a mess. Foolish to go down it. I assume you had good battery backup. What a nightmarish situation to be down there and run out of light !
Incredible incredible incredible explore!!! Interesting that the mine itself appears to be colapsing rom the outside to the shaft..I seriously doubt this mine in this state could be restored to functioning.....most likely if ever it would require open pit mining.....
Yes, it is getting squeezed from all sides. And, no, I don't think there is any way at all that it will open again to underground mining unless a completely new shaft is run... And, even then, open pitting it would seem far more likely.
Was that one or two boxes of dynamite on the first level? I guess that would be why you didn't go any further on that drift.
I didn't go farther because it was caved. Dynamite that old is inert.
If they stopped using the hoist in 1929 how did they get ore out afterwards? Miners grafitti seemed to go up to at least 1939.
Surveyors, geologists, early mine explorers... The graffiti was not necessarily from miners actively working the mine. Or they were hauling ore out of the shaft of one of the mines that the Florence ties in to.
What air meter would you recommend that's reasonably priced? Also what tips would you give to someone new to exploring mines. I don't know of any in my area but when I got money to travel I'd like to safely smoke a joint deep under ground. "Safely" being the key word, I would be smart and careful about it.
I use a BW Clip single-gas oxygen meter. It's around $100 and is a disposable meter that's good for two years without calibration or new batteries. Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) meters are also available and I own one; I encourage you to buy both if you're exploring mines with sulfide minerals and especially wet mines with sulfides.
Was that a communications antenna on top the head frame? Or a flag pole? Absolutely amazing winch station that hasn't been gutted by tweakers. There's more miner graffiti in this mine than I can remember seeing in any other mine. The whole place looks like it will only take one or two earthquakes to collapse the whole thing.
I missed whatever was on top of the headframe and so I did not ask about it. The owners live on the site, so that has, fortunately, protected it from methheads ransacking the place. Yes, the graffiti in there was pretty phenomenal, for sure. And, yes, the Florence is definitely closer to the end of its life than the beginning!
Looking again at the video the thing on top the headframe looks like a Shakespear (brand) fiberglass VHF (possibly business band or radio telephone) or CB radio antenna.
I wanna put a UV on them super colorful sections.
Not sure I believe the owners story about the newspaper dated 1929. The graffiti in the mine is newer so that hoist had to have been in operation after 1929. I don’t doubt that he found that newspaper somewhere on site, but it’s not been on the arm of that chair since 1929.
At 14 mins your breathing was getting labored. I was concerned that oxygen levels were very low. Do you cary any instrument to measure oxygen levels?
My breathing was labored because it was extremely difficult getting down to the lower levels. I couldn't show it in the video because I didn't even have the space to wear a GoPro camera. Very tight squeezes and climbing over stuff...
Oxygen meters are standard equipment for us.
There’s a Westinghouse plant right here in Georgetown Texas
I've lost track of how many times Westinghouse has changed owners now.
Just think of the work to haul all the timber down into these mines to shore up the tunnels.
Pretty incredible, huh?
Wow! All that timber construction makes me ask, How long did it take them to build this?
If I had a Metal Detector, I'd volunteer to go along.
27:43 The calculations are the earliest version of TurboTax! =P
Metal Detector aren't as great is one would think at a mine site. So much debris you would get false positives a lot.
Gotta get my ass over there !
It's an interesting visit...
How do u know the way out I was in those and was lost
left or right hand rule... make nothing but left or right hand turns and you’ll eventually come back to the start
Yes, that is correct about the left/right rule... That was a chaotic, confusing layout for a mine though.
TVR Exploring I saw the light that’s all i know i chimneyed up and saw the light
That is the most complete mine I have ever seen it looks like they literally just took off from work and never went back
Many abandoned mines would look like that if people didn't strip them out for souvenirs for their garage or front yard... The reason this mine looks so complete is because the owners live on the site and have prevented that from happening.
Miners grafiti at 10:30. Aili Koski, Orvokki Koski and Lauri Gustafson is all Finnish names. Would be interesting for their relatives to see this. I bet they were working immigrants from Finland.
Good catch. I'd love to know the stories behind so much of the graffiti...
Just watching this and came to see if it mentioned in the comments. Aili and Orvokki are women's names. Were there many women miners?
4:25 I'm surprised you didn't say anything about the piles of dynamite next to the box of dynamite
Lost your contact on Instagram. If you’re still interested in visiting Taylorsville this year let me know. My weekends are free
wow thanks for the explore lots of graffiti I was really impressed with the tally marks and the ore carts this mine looked really sketchy
The graffiti and tally marks were amazing in there... It seemed like every surface was covered with them.
They must take the time to keep the place up nice to see that most of these would be looted of anything of value.
Well, they live on the site of the mine and so that keeps looters away. Otherwise, yes, this site would have been completely stripped and someone would have set fire to the headframe and buildings by now.
The newspaper just a month and a half from the crash of '29....
The interesting thing about that was that the gold price actually increased during the depression by almost 15 dollars, and couple that with more available labor, and it resulted in a boom for many gold mines.
23:09 ouch...... that looked somewhat painful.
Happened to all of us at least once... My arm is still healing from when I fell.
WHERE IS BABY????
WHAT IS BABY????
Yeah, what the hell was "BABY"? That was an original sign...
The Baby Florence, an old lease.
did i see a box of dynamite on the floor at 4 min 27 seconds
I maintain that any mine can be rehabilitated and reopened given adequate reserves, high enough prices, a pile of cash, and the right crew of maniacs! Sadly, this one looks in sufficiently bad shape that those conditions are unlikely.
Yes, this one is definitely in need of a lot of TLC! Gold has been on a good run though...
@@TVRExploring That's no kidding! I started looking at the mine I'm supporting now back when gold was $1300/oz., only three years ago. Needless to say, we're all pretty pleased with how things are going. We've made enough running fire assays that I expect to buy a 5-ton Young buggy by the end of the summer.
If I wanted to mess with this one, I'd buy a bunch of slushers, a JCI 50M (miniature LHD), and all the shotcrete, mesh, and rock bolts in southern Nevada!
The altered garbage country rock in the Florence reminds me of the stuff on the north side of the Banks. I recently hand-mined some samples in that one and the results were promising. Pyrrhotite is a decent indicator for gold and silver grades in this district.
@@Porty1119 Very glad to hear things are hopping for you now... There is a big difference in economics with $1300 versus $2000.
Did you guys see where Martin passed away?
I don't know. I don't know where that happened and I don't know if the owners do either... We may have passed the spot.
@@TVRExploring look up Martin duffy he fell i think 70 foot to his death. Martin duffy was also the governor of Nevada.
@@greglysne3260 Yes, I know who he was, I'm just saying that I don't know where it happened in the mine and I don't know if anyone else does either.
Didn't all the cracked timbers freak you out?
It was a bit sporty in there, for sure...
Amazing they built these mines so well. Someone needs to build a house underground in a mine. A real man cave! Ha
Well, there lives depended on them not failing. So, they were pretty motivated to build the mines well.
I've seen underground housing in some larger mines...
9:30 looks like a dudes foot hanging from above the timber, spooky!
You can tell graffiti is old. No f bombs good people
Yes, you're right.