Down A Strange, Twisting Mine Shaft
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- Опубліковано 4 жов 2024
- That curved mine shaft that we descended in this video is indeed quite rare. I can only think of two or three other abandoned mines where I have seen that and I have been in hundreds of abandoned mines now… The typical mine shaft drops straight down rather than twisting as this one did.
As I mentioned in the video, we searched outside for where whatever is at the bottom of that winze connects to the outside world and could locate nothing. Obviously, with the air flow like that, there is a connection to the outside world somewhere. However, it is apparently a small connection to the outside world that is hidden quite well. This was in the open desert in Nevada and so it isn’t as if there was some adit concealed by the thick vegetation that we often encounter in our Sierra Nevadas. It was frustrating to be that close to where those workings continued, but this mine shaft was an unexpected find and so we didn’t have the ropes or other equipment with us on this occasion. All too often in life, we’re in the wrong place at the wrong time and with the wrong gear, no?
An adit we located at this mine led straight into the top of a large stope that likely once contained a false floor, but that was entirely eaten away and now is just an adit that leads one to an underground pit. Not much for us to do with that one, but, no, there was not a connection to the mine shaft we descended in this video… As I said, that one remains a mystery.
This mine is located in a gold mining region of Nevada, but I do not know the history of this specific mine. Viewers sometimes request that I provide more information on abandoned mines that I share on this channel. However, Nevada and California each have tens of thousands of abandoned mines and, particularly with the older mines, there was not a lot of urgency felt to keep detailed records - or even any records at all sometimes.
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All of these videos are uploaded in HD, so adjust those settings to ramp up the quality! It really makes a difference.
You can see the gear that I use for mine exploring here: bit.ly/2wqcBDD
And a small gear update here: bit.ly/2p6Jip6
You can see the full TVR Exploring playlist of abandoned mines here: goo.gl/TEKq9L
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. But, you know what? We enjoy doing it! This is exploring history firsthand - bushwhacking down steep canyons and over rough mountains, figuring out the techniques the miners used and the equipment they worked with, seeing the innovations they came up with, discovering lost mines that no one has been in for a century, wandering through ghost towns where the only sound is the wind... These journeys allow a feeling of connection to a time when the world was a very different place. And I’d love to think that in some small way we are paying tribute to those hardy miners that worked these mines before we were even born.
So, yes, in short, we are adit addicts… I hope you’ll join us on these adventures!
#ExploringAbandonedMines
#MineExploring
#AbandonedMines
#UndergroundMineExploring
Your steady camera work & look backs 'came from here' are very much appreciated! Thanks!
I believe he uses a steady cam.
I almost forgot about this one! That final drop down with the air blowing sure is tempting. I think it definitely leads to the workings down the hill that we couldn’t get into. Nice job!
The cold air woul be going down it and not blowing up it if it connected to something below it, correct?
Thank you... I had completely forgotten about it until I was looking through the video backlog! This one is pretty close to a route that you and I seem to travel frequently. So, it is not out of the question for us to hit this one with the ropes when we are in that area next. I want to see what is down there!
@@TVRExploring Me too, Batman!
TVR Exploring I’m down!
@@MinesoftheWest When? Your people NEED to know
I smell a decline ! Skip car is beat too sgit . Love all the uploads keep em coming brother. Great for PTSD takes the mind to other places, I also watch climbing videos to forget.
I've spent a lot of the past decade in war zones and I work as a volunteer firefighter when I'm in the U.S.... There's a lot I would love to unsee too, brother. I understand completely...
@@TVRExploring how two birds fly the same way. I did two
and now I'm a training paramedic in the UK. Just gotta keep busy and keep going ,when your down GET UP. Thanks for taking the time to reply. I once had a vet say to me " we no longer have rifles in our hands ,just brothers in our arms" take care till the next adventure brother.
chris dee i too have ptsd it’s the worst. Wish I could unsee and unexperience some things great videos to watch before bed love it
Also as well as the rollers on the curved section they widened the gauge of the track slightly and put in a check rail to help the wagon get around the bend without it derailing. Cool stuff.
You have good eyes! Yes, they did... I would be curious to know if they already knew what they were doing or if those modifications were made after bad experiences.
@@TVRExploring well it is sharply deviating from the disconnected original decline. There is some evidence that switch used to exist. Depending on the switch turnouts type number per AAR/FRA and MSHA regs switches can also require check rails. The old decline also has a check rail to keep the car going straight.
"connection to the outside world" is something you never want to hear. That leads to some monster chases eventually if movies are any indicator. Good video as always.
Nice colors, very interesting cut and fill.
Nicely done, I like how try to explain as you go. I can’t believe no water has ever been in the mine,I has to rain every once in a while.
Thank you. It does indeed rain every once in a while, but not enough to percolate down into the underground workings of the mine... This one is out in the desert.
Awesome,back underground now I can start watching again.
Another first class video! I wish I had what it took to get into the areas you go to see. Thanks!
I hope you keep all these on DVD or something. What a treasure of the history of man
Unfortunately, I didn't save the videos from the first few years (they're just on UA-cam), but I have all of the videos from the past 2-3 years backed up on a hard drive.
What a really great mine ..much more random than some of the other ones with drifts going all over the place ..it always amazes me how the miners were able to just follow a vein wherever it went then abruptly end ..thanks for the insights .keep them coming .
Holy stopage, Batman! Very proficient miners, filling old stopes instead of hauling out. Nice.
Had my back fused recently and another surgery to fix a defective screw.
Pretty much a big fan of all you guys do.
Learned how to put you on the big screen and even better.
You guys are fearless and though other mine sites come up I always go back to TVR exploring
Thank you very much... I hope your surgeries are done now!
Return trip is warranted. Don't forget the ropes and make sure they are long enough to go back through the drift to a secure anchor. Another great video.
Great work Justin, hope to see down the bottom when you get the chance. Thanks for showing us.👍😁
Always love your mine videos. Thank you
Nice colors in this mine. Really cool to see that curved decline, very unusual and seems like it would be quite a pain in the ass to work. Thanks for the explore!
Yes, it's hard to imagine it not being a pain in the ass with the curved decline... I picture so much stuff getting hung up on that.
just love history and stuff like this. thank you a ton.
i was gonna go up to see my 83 y/o great grandmother for thanksgiving but health issues prevented that this year. she has tons of old artifacts going back to around WWII time period. old jeeps, old barns, huge chunks of copper. what mass city was known for back in the rush.
Thank you for watching... Your great grandmother's place sounds like a museum!
Is that Mass City MI near Ontanogan?
Rick Karl yes it is!
TVR Exploring it sure is. and the you get the story behind it when you sit down with her.
So who the heck downvoted this video and why?! Awesome video as always Justin.
Incredible, must be a mistake.
I've talked to some of the people that work for UA-cam before and they described individuals that will spend hours every day downvoting as many videos as they can. Can you imagine being that much of a loser? Imagine having so little going on in your life that you spend your time like that... No wonder they're bitter, frustrated people! Anyway, everyone's videos will get a handful of downvotes from toxic, negative people like that.
@@TVRExploring that is the saddest thing I've heard. Those people need a life.
BLM officials perhaps :( lol
gary cooper 😂
Stands next to the dead fall and explains how dangerous it is...
Balls man, that takes balls.
Reminds me of an old gold mine I entered in Morocco in 95. The entranceway only went in about 20-30 feet (with sticks of dynamite still left in the walls) and after that the entire thing continued only as a sloping gap in the rock going down with no real floor. I wanted to explore more but had no ropes with me. But the style of the mine was all over the place.
That sounds really interesting. I'd love to have seen that...
Well done. Minors sure are a persistent, hard working bunch. Entertainment and education all at once. Win-win. 5 *****
Win-wins are a good day in my book...
A very nice explore again thnx, they certainly looked and digged every were in that mine wow a lot of debry and fallen stones, and still a little secret left............................
We hope to come back for that secret! And, yes, they seem to have hit this one quite precisely in running the shaft down because the ore they collected was all around that shaft.
Cool about the rollers in the curving decline. some of the colors in the rock are gorgeous. Red, orange, salmon, lavender, pink, blue...
I was impressed by that as well.
Thanks for sharing and take care. 👍
Thank you.
How people create and work in such mines? These angles and spaces seem so bizarre, hard to walk around
Nice colors. The red and yellows were pretty. Thanks again for the great explore. Your Alaska mine artifacts were cool too. Couldn't live there, too cold.
It would be tough living out in Nome!
I so wish you would start these videos with some mine production history identifying what minerals were taken in what quantities and when. That would be really informative to us rockhounds. I applaud your courage and tenacity in exploring as you do.
I don't do that for two reasons. The first reason is that we rarely know the history. There are tens of thousands of abandoned mines in Nevada alone and the older mines in particular hardly ever have records still in existence unless they were very large operations. Secondly, if I give away too much of the history and details, it will make it easy for the various government agencies destroying these historic sites in the name of "public safety" to track them down and to obliterate them.
TVR Exploring gotcha, thanx.
I know I'm new to your channel but please tell me that you let people know where you're going and that you always take a buddy with you I'm really happy to see that you do have someone with you please be safe I absolutely love these videos I too am now wanting to go and check these things out
When possible, yes. However, it isn't always possible to find people willing or able to go out with me. And, sometimes, I encounter a mine that wasn't expected. So, it isn't possible to tell anyone...
I love your videos. When I watch you explore these places I can't help dreaming about the history to these places and the workers. How long did they work that mine? How many men? What happened to them all? Why did they stop? Is there anything left? How did they find these places in the first place? So much history and much of it will remain lost. Absolutely amazing. Wish I could help you somehow??
This was cool, thank you.
The lower section that you couldn't access looks the way forward , air flowing is a good sign that there is something open on the surface to let the air in. A return trip one day?
I've been informed that it ties into a larger mine in the area that is inaccessible via its entrance. In other words, this is the only way in. So, yes, a return trip is definitely in order.
Please return seek out other large mine
I like these videos, I have never seen any mines where live.
Good vid keep em coming 👍
the host rock the are cutting through is Quartzite and the gangue material is quartz and calcite. Only Gold coming out of it and there is a lot of placer Gold in the area.....in fact Nevada's Largest Gold Nugget came from that area.......That mine connects to the larger mine South of this one....the second mine is a Monster ......
We wondered if this connected to that other mine... Thank you for the confirmation and for describing the geology. The gold history in this area is quite interesting to me.
Are you going to get ropes and go back and explore the unexplored passage? Hope you do and you make a video of it!
Great work my brother!
Nice one man! A curve in a decline!? Cool! That shovel looks lile it was bent that way to use it as a rock rake of nature, cool find! At the end of that last drift tunnel it looks like they were huntin for the vein, like it pinched out. Another great video man. Yall be safe out there. If ya get out to South Dakota let me know, we'll meet ya in the black hills for some explorin.
I think you're right about that shovel. I'd love to meet up sometime in the Black Hills... Hopefully, I can get out there soon. It's been on the list for a while!
Now that was a very different mine
True! You never know what you're getting into when first dropping in...
That is a really cool mine really different from the ones in the past ore body running all over the place.
Yes, this one was really concentrated in that zone running down the shaft.
Wow that sure was an interesting mine with drifts and stopes going off in all directions, awesome. You guys should save up and get a telescopic ladder, it would fit tied onto the back of your backpack. Thanks for sharing. x
Thanks, Sue. We're actually beefing up our ropes and climbing equipment this winter. So, hopefully, incidents like this will be much more rare in the future.
@@TVRExploring As long as you guys are safe it's all good because your lives are far more important than making a video for us lot to watch, as much as I like them. xx
@@SueGirling68 Thank you, Sue.
@@TVRExploring You're welcome. x
I know you don’t reveal the exact location of the mines you explore. But for posterity I hope you maintain the “secret record” of the locations!
That's a good question. Yes, I do keep a secret record of locations. My policy is that as long as a mine remains open or accessible (to my knowledge), I will keep the location discreet in order to protect it from vandals and the various government agencies that destroy these historic sites in the name of "public safety." However, once I have confirmed that an abandoned mine has either been destroyed by the BLM, Forest Service, etc. or eroded shut naturally, I go back and will change the title of the video to the actual name of the mine. I will also update the description below the video to include all of the information I left out (historical and otherwise) in order to avoid giving away the location. My thinking is that this will provide a way for those interested in a particular site in the future to see what was there. That is one reason I try to be very thorough in the mines rather than just doing videos of the highlights, which would probably attract more viewers.
Those colors!! Mother Nature is an amazing artist. 😊
Were those scour marks at 18:04?? Or just mineral strata?
She does a good job... I believe those were mineral strata.
@@TVRExploring Thanks for taking the time to answer me. I'm sure you get very bogged down with comments. But that's because this is a great channel!!
It is difficult to keep up with the comments and sometimes it is impossible when I am overseas... However, I do try hard, particularly with viewers such as yourself that I recognize and have been along for a long time.
Although not properly equipped you did find it...more than most of us can say.
True. Thank you for the perspective...
Where the decline curves is where the new decline connected to the old filled in decline. Normally they would use a switch if both were in operation. There is evidence that this was the case due to the length of the ties and spikes in the ties with no track. The rails of the old original decline are visible.
Nice stopey adit
That'a a good way of putting it... I like "stopey" as an adjective.
If I was there, the bat at 1:45 would have scared me right out of that tunnel.
Just saying, if you are going up a decline doesn't that make it an incline?
Lol nice
Incline if going above entrance level, deeeeeecline below :)
@@cleanerben9636 Is an incline declined if it's below entrance level?
@@MrKittykat111 if it is below the entrance level, it's a deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeecline.
@@cleanerben9636 OK. If it's above entrance level and the incline becomes a decline, would there be any inclination that the decline should have some inclination about its inclination to up or down. Maybe it depends whether you're coming or going? I find one is white and the other is yellow.
What a cool mine. I wish i was there with you with my ropes and rigging! I have this question; how did so many miners end up doing things so similarly? i mean they didnt have UA-cam, lol. It seems like the stuff is all done so much the same Did they have manuals? Were there like contract mine construction engineers that would travel around and help to train carpenters, miners and operators how to do this stuff? Or is just common sense? Im putting it out there, dumb question or not..lol
Pretty much all of the above in response to your question... A lot of experienced miners from Cornwall, for example, came to the U.S. in the 1800s and spread their knowledge around.
@@TVRExploring thank you sir for replying.
"You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike"?
Sounds like the start of an episode of The Twilight Zone xD
It's from an old text adventure computer game, but Rod wouldn't have been out of place within it.
Zork :)
The rock in that mine was very interesting. Colorful and stratified. Were they mining gold, or something else?
I could not locate records on this particular mine, but this is a gold district and so, I believe, that gold is a pretty good bet for this one...
Thank you, nice job! Do you ever give GPS locations to the mines, also be nice if you needed help and had cell service.
In order to protect these historic sites from the government agencies that enthusiastically destroy them, I do not publicly share GPS coordinates or other location details. I'd love to, but I have seen what happens when locations are shared, I'm afraid. I'd actually very much appreciate having a satellite phone, but they are pricey.
I love these videos and I really love exploring. Where do you find all these mines?
There is not a short answer to that question and so I actually did a video answering that question properly. Type in "How To Find Abandoned Mines" into UA-cam's search bar and it should come up...
Do you have any knowledge of past production or timeframe? Very interesting. Thank You.
Not on this one, I'm afraid. This district was a gold area, but this mine lacks any records we could locate...
Seemed there were very few blast drill holes, especially in the lower levels. And no dynamite boxes. Is it possible the majority of this mine was hand dug with pick and shovel?
Yes, this is in a very old district and so that is entirely possible.
yeah shame about not having ropes justin, it must have been a pretty rich mine by looks of all the stopes and weird that the drifts were so short, I guess that means the shaft was in a perfect spot hey?
Yes, if it were just the short drifts, I'd say it was exploratory or that they screwed up, but the extensive stoping suggests that they nailed the location perfectly.
I know this is old, but I was just revisiting this video... (am I the only one who does that?)... but I saw something I missed the first time around. At 14:20 a black line on the floor comes into view. It looks to be burned? Almost like a burnt fuse leading to a small pile of timbers. What exactly is that?
That's a rusted piece of rail. The fragments along the side that look like ashes are rusted pieces that flaked off or broke off.
@@TVRExploring Oh, OK. Thanks, Justin. I know your lovely lady is Italian, and I know Italy has been hit hard recently, so I do hope she's not affected by this horrible virus. 💜 to you both!
Thank you very much. So far, no one in her family has gotten sick. They're laying low and hoping this will all blow over soon... My wife and I are in the U.S. now, but I'm not sure if that is better or worse given the trends here! LOL. I think we may simply be a couple of weeks behind Italy, but hopefully not.
@@TVRExploring We are definitely a couple of weeks behind Italy... unfortunately. Anyway, this is not the place for a thread like this. I'm glad you and yours are healthy right now. Please do what you can to stay that way! We are just hunkered down here, rewatching lots of fun mine exploration videos. LOL 😉
15:10. That looks like a muffler off a truck to me
What were they mining ?
This is in a gold area.
Great work my friend! I watch closely for your notifications. Do not want to miss a thing. I try to remember the thumbs up thing but not always. Does that help you out enough that I should really remember? Oh and you responding back the audience makes this entertainment gold. Dude what can I say I love your show. I can safely say I have seen all your UA-cam content. Probably twice, and recommend you to everyone I know. I also would like to make a request, if you can I would love to see some closer up shots of the different layers of strata (layers of rock and ground) especially where you consider it odd or different? Maybe even the host strata too? I think it would help to put some more context in the video for me and the rest of your viewers. I am not saying that you need a microscope but some up close and personal shots with a balanced light source would be awesome. That stuff would incurre production costs and I don't have any means to help out. So just a idea and wish I was a patron. One more question do any of those giant stalls wiggle? Are they all tight? Does seeing crushed or bowed out stalls give you an uneasy feeling like it does me?
Yes, the thumbs up helps, but no pressure... I'm happy just to have people such as yourself interested in the material and enjoying the presentation of it. I appreciate your support and you recommending the videos to others! Responding to all of the comments is difficult (and not always possible when I am overseas), but I do try to respond to sincere questions and comments (and especially with viewers that have been along for a while and that I recognize like you)... I have been attempting to show more of the geology and will continue to put more effort into that. I am very careful to not touch the stulls or other timber supports except in special circumstances and so I cannot say for sure, but I have not seen any that looked loose. However, yes, absolutely, I do NOT like to see the crushed or bowing timbers. That definitely makes me uneasy.
Come to Natick, Massachusetts
For the new Boden Lane Bridge? The museums and the Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary are nice, but is there something else there I should have checked out?
@@TVRExploring yes!! There's so much more
Such as?
Do you have or have considered a Patreon account? Your adventures are certainly worth more than my cable bill!
Yes, I do have a Patreon account. I really should do more to promote it because the mine exploring is terribly costly, but I feel bad about asking viewers for money... It is simply under "TVR Exploring" on Patreon.
be good to run a metal detector in this mine
So no more Italian Alaskan Vacation videos??
Not from the Nome area... I still have a couple of places from 2018 sitting in the video backlog though.
I think the reason I like mining videos may stem from watching Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom as a kid.
It may have subconsciously impacted all of us!
Just letting you know that the Huge channel Facts Verse made up a huge story by taking info they got from your episode when u went into the Horton Mine, only they claim the story came from a guy who found a mine In His backyard and when he went in he got scared from chain swinging, the sound you heard when u were in there, and even the yellow ventilation soft tubing along with other stuff that happen to you. Maybe you gave them permission, but there channel should change its name with its 8 mill subs to fiction verse...if they gonna just search tube to ideas to make up b.s. stories.
Thank you for letting me know. They are a notorious "clickbait" channel that are infamous for ripping off people's material... Some people will do anything for a little bit of money.
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Nobody: ligit no one:
The wood gelping hold up the celling: i strong >:) NOOBS NORMAL ASS WOOD BREAKING LOOK AT ME I LOOK LIKE A 19000 peice of wood and you 2019 BOards breaking after a two weeks