Exploring an Abandoned Mining Camp: The Florence Mines. Goldfield, Nevada
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- Опубліковано 15 жов 2024
- Exploring an Abandoned Mining Camp: The Florence Mines. Goldfield, Nevada
In a place made famous by actual fields of gold-rich ore, Goldfield was once the largest city in Nevada, and one of the most famous places in the American West. The promise of luxury lifestyles beyond your wildest dreams knew no bounds in Goldfield, where refined first-class businessmen shared the same sidewalks as rowdy miners and lawless bandits looking to grab onto their own piece of the American Dream. Gold mines here were so famous stories of their grandeur made their way through the West, with major claims like the Combination, Jumbo, Red Top, January, MoHawk and of course Florence Mine on everyone’s mind
Florence Mine Tour
Florence Mine #1 Ramsey Road, Goldfield, NV (702) 622-1344 Hours & Admission
In a place made famous by actual fields of gold-rich ore, Goldfield was once the largest city in Nevada, and one of the most famous places in the American West. The promise of luxury lifestyles beyond your wildest dreams knew no bounds in Goldfield, where refined first-class businessmen shared the same sidewalks as rowdy miners and lawless bandits looking to grab onto their own piece of the American Dream. Gold mines here were so famous stories of their grandeur made their way through the West, with major claims like the Combination, Jumbo, Red Top, January, MoHawk and of course Florence Mine on everyone’s mind.
The Florence Mine claim was one of Goldfield’s most famous gold mines, pulling in $650,000 in gold profit-an amount that would be more than $44 million today. Best yet, the Florence Mine has the only remaining hoist house in the entire Goldfield Mining District, which just so happens to be one of the best preserved in Nevada.
The gold mines in Goldfield ran in full swing 24 hours a day, 7 days a week turning eager prospectors into millionaires almost overnight. Most of the major mining claims in Goldfield were discovered between 1902 and 1904, and by 1906 George Wingfield-a famous Nevada businessman and man behind the legendary Goldfield Hotel-organized the Goldfield Consolidated Mines, which included Goldfield’s most lucrative mining operations with the exception of the Florence Mine. The owners of the Florence knew exactly what they had, which just so happened to be incredibly rich ore that would produce more than $650,000 worth of gold in only a couple of months-a sum that would be worth close to $45 million dollars today.
While the major profits were already had and Goldfield glory days were mostly in the rearview by the early 1920s, the Florence Mine changed hands several times throughout the decades with each owner more determined than the last. A man named Martin Duffy purchased the Florence Mine and, impressively enough, continued mining it until 1971. The current owner of the Florence Mine, Jon Aurich, purchased the mine after experiencing the type of allure only Goldfield can deliver-anyone touring the Florence Mine today will, too.
Hours:
Florence Mine Tours are available by appointment only, so be sure to call before you plan to visit at (702) 622-1344.
Admission:
Personal Florence Mine Tours are offered for $20 per person. Walk-ins are not accommodated, so be sure to call ahead to arrange your tour.
The Florence Mine King of the Hill - By Stewart Luce
Charlie Taylor reached Goldfield, Nevada in the summer of 1902. He located the Florence Mine as well as several lesser claims. Goldfield became a mining district on October 20, 1903. Taylor had several claims and tried to sell to no avail so he became a lessor.
In June 1904 the Florence had been leased by a man named Sweeney and he began to ship ore within months. More than 5,000 claims had been located in Goldfield by 1905. Ownership was continually changing. People all wanted to buy shares in the most valuable mines. The Combination, Florence, Jumbo, Red Top, January and Mohawk were names on everyone's lips.
Tom Lockhart appeared in Goldfield around 1903. He was older and kind of awkward, but he had cash. He was grub staked by Colorado railroad man A. D. Parker. Lockhart had first shown up in Tonopah where he found a claim and day by day worked it himself. He climbed up and down his mine shaft without help, filled a bucket at the bottom of the shaft with ore and pulled it to the top. Lockhart sold this claim for $28,000 and moved south to Goldfield.
At Goldfield Lockhart came into contact w/ Charlie Taylor. Lockhart along with his partner A. D. Parker bought a half interest in the Florence for $3,500 from Taylor. Lockhart got other stock holders to sell him additional interest in the Florence. Eventually Lockhart and Parker gained control of the Florence. They held it with a tight grip. Parker as a new millionaire rose to president of the Colorado and Southern Railroad. Parker was the moneyman and watched every dime, nickel and penny the mine produced or spent
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Have you been to Goldfield? Comment below if we should do another video down underground, inside the mines.
There's a place in the USA where a coal fire still burns underground. I remember reading about it a long time ago. I wonder if it's still alive today.
@@TheWanderingGoenkar Do you mean Centralia, Pennsylvania? I learned about this place because of the Silent Hill connection. Or is there another like it?
@@KarleyCottrell Centralia, Pennsylvania, Yes that's the one ! Yes, there is a silent hill connection to it but I think I read about it first on a Nat Geo magazine. How far is it from you though?
@@TheWanderingGoenkar across the entire country.
I was there in February to meet Jon. We talked in the house for about an hour. He is an amazing guy, and that is an amazing place. The history that lured Jon to Goldfield is unmatched 👍
I would love to see more of this place. Who else wants an underground mine tour?!
Fabulous, thank you.
Thank YOU for watching.
Great location, great host. Thank you.
Thank you so much for taking the time to comment!
@@KarleyCottrell You have been going to some really cool places. Trying to get my old pickup back in shape to start exploring Oregon and other states.
@@excaliburoverland that’s so cool! Hope you get your truck going.
This video is great !! It represents a fabulous glimpse into the famous Florence and Rustler #2 Mines. Thanks for posting this !!!
Thank you so much for checking it out!
I have only been subscribed to you for a few months now but I really enjoy how you put together the content of your travels. You pick good locations and do very well in how you take us there in your videos.
The hardest thing is capturing the attention of the viewers and that's not a problem in most of your videos. Great job Karley!
Thank you so very much! That really means a lot to me.
Cool :) I bet it has to have some kind of paranormal stuff going on. Do they have any underground tunnels you can see?
There are mine tunnels that you can still visit. If we get enough interest we'll post a video of a mine tunnel exploration.
@@KarleyCottrell That would be great :)
Great place and story... Nice vid Karley
Thank you very much!
Very cool! Excellent video! Makes me miss being out there! I love Goldfield and Tonopah. Great info.
Thank you so much. A ton to see out here.
Wow he’s been giving tours since he was 9 years old that's cool! A lot of historical facts in this mine! I like that they rebuilt it or did repairs so others can tour it
I agree. They did a great job with the restoration.
I really appreciate how you go into detail on your videos, also I’m really enjoying your content, thank you for sharing this beautiful Gold mine location.
Hey thank you so very much! I appreciate that.
Ahh, I really enjoyed this tour! 🥳 It's lovely to learn about the history and see it still very much in it's raw state 😊 I did wonder if there was any paranormal activity and then you said there had been reports... so makes it even more intriguing to me 😁 Thank you for sharing! 🙏🏽💎💖 Xx
Thank you so much for checking out the video!
Yes to an underground tour! The place already looks so massive from above and it's intriguing how it looks like below. Love the drone shots, btw!
Thank you so much! It looks like we'll be scheduling the underground tour for Sept. Super excited.
Great exploration video, benefited me a lot.👍
Awesome! I’m really glad.
Really like taking step back in time. The restoration is amazing.
It is really awesome there for sure.
Awesome video, Karley! It was nice to see you on the show, yesterday 👍
Thank you so much! It was a really fun time.
Another great video!!! Thank you for sharing, Karley!!
Thank you so much for the continued support!
Nice
Thank you so much!
Ur most welcome
What an interesting tour! I've actually never done a mining tour before but the way you edited this video made it quite fascinating with its history and maybe even a paranormal event! Lol! It's amazing how they restored it on their own and maintained it as it is.
Thank you very much! I really appreciate the comment.
Wow this is really cool! I love how you tied in the history of it. My family is super into history so stuff like this always interests us! Going under ground would be awesome!
I did get permission to schedule the underground tour. It will probably be next month.
I love your channel, you take us to the most amazing places! Ahh thats so cool he's been doing the tours since he was 9, he must be a real expert now!
The house is amazing!
He's very well versed in the history, for sure. It's amazing to hear how much history the family has preserved.
It's incredible inside. They gave me a tour of that as well, but it has their personal collectables inside so I did not film there.
Oh I would love to schedule a tour! The mines are definitely haunted. Reminds me of visiting the gold mines near Sacramento. You seriously visit some of the coolest places. Love your drone shots, as always.
Thank you so much! I hope you get to see it sometime.
I have never been there before. That’s cool they have a guide for an abandoned town. And yes you should do an underground tour.
Looks like the underground mine stuff will be in Sept. Super excited for that.
G’day Karley. New to your channel mate. Big shoutout from Australia by the way. Great vid too. Love these exploration posts. Time capsules. Yes I’ve been to a few old gold mine towns and sites back here in OZ. I’ve been lucky to have visited the awesome state of Nevada a few times so far. Weather is rather toasty I hear in your part of the world? Well, stay safe. See ya.👍🇦🇺🌹😁☮️🤩
Hi! Thank you so much for supporting the channel! Yes it's super hot here. It's generally between 100-110F this time of year. Australia is on my travel list at some point for sure.
Thanks for putting in the sweat equity and footwork to produce this video.
Thank YOU so much for saying that.
I love locations like this,really cool video again 👍🏻😎
Thank you so much!
The Steel balls are used to grind the rocks, you seem to indicate those are the actual “ore”. They are just steel balls, the ore/rocks contain the gold. The “bubbler” as you call it is a flotation cell. It does make bubbles using petroleum based products to collect the targeted mineral. The flotation cells have nothing to do with cyanide nor Mercury as you indicate.
Ah great info! Yes Ii can see how people may assume the balls are the ore themselves, which was not the intent. Thank you for the clarification! It was referred to as a bubble specifically in the tour. Again these details are directly from the tour itself. But this is great for people if they are confused.
@@KarleyCottrell you might want to check out the Hardluck Castle and Mine, very interesting place. Also on mining Goldpoint NV is very cool 😎. Both are in Esmeralda county, thanks for coming to Goldfield 🤠.
Video looks great 👍
Thanks dude! Much appreciated.
drone shots in the beginning are amazing!! heard you were getting your drone license, keep on killing it🚀🚀
YES! The video will be released soon on the whole process.
Miss Karley this is gonna blow your mind…. My cousin actually took me to Indian Head Calvary today which is an abandoned coal mine where a few miners were killed and never were recovered. The energy is in the air again! Great vid as always! Love and Peace. 💙☮️⛏
Wow that’s incredible! Maybe I’ll do some research on that and check it out. Thank you!
That’s pretty awesome. Can’t believe I missed that mine when I was I Goldfield
You should totally go if you make another Goldfield trip. The family is super nice and there is a a ton of history.
Can’t wait to see more here. When do we get to go into the mines?
Incredible drone shots Karley!!!!!!😁
It’s Karley. But thank you!
@@KarleyCottrell lol autocorrect at its best!!!
@@jmontoya1677 hahahah thanks!
Great video. I really like your calico town one.
Oh thank you so much! I'm glad you're checking out more videos on the channel. Very much appreciated.
At first I thought you snuck into a mine. Renee and her Sister went into a cave on a hike. Crazy 🤪
That’s the plan for another video!
Wonderful
Thanks for checking it out.
Great video Karley we were gonna be there last night. Tonight we are going to the Goldfield High school and staying at The Clown Motel.
Maybe we will see you around. We are investigating tonight in Goldfield.
Thank you! I actually filmed this last monday. I went home same day.
So wait…this place is closed down right? I’m surprised to see the elements of the mine still around. Who lives in that house?
Yep! It's closed down, but there is a family that cares for the mine. That's who lives in the house. So the camp and the mines are abandoned, but the property has people to watch and protect it.
Great video Karely 👍😉
Thank you thank you! Glad you liked it.
There still go there specimens just got to look 👀 around that the old gold miners left out!! It’s probably the dad making the native gold rings right there I have them in my UA-cam
You never know what's left out there in that land for sure!
Great video.
Thanks man! Appreciate the support, as always.
Keep safe always 🇵🇭🇵🇭🇵🇭
Will do! Thank you.
Mercury and cyanide!? That sounds SUPER healthy!
Totally healthy. 😂😂😂