Exploring Nine Underground Levels in the Abandoned Black Mine
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- Опубліковано 15 жов 2024
- On a recent, moonless night we found ourselves in a dark, remote, windswept canyon in the Arizona desert where we stumbled across the seldom-visited and hard-to-find Black Mine. This mine is massive, and the entire claim is dotted with vertical shafts that pierce different areas and levels of the extensive underground workings. Only one shaft, though, connects all nine levels of the Black Mine, and we found it. It is an inclined shaft that descends around 800 feet into the ground as it passes through all nine levels of the mine. Many of the drift levels off of this shaft were quite extensive with multiple branching tunnels which were strewn with various mining artifacts from a bygone era. We were very impressed.
In this video, you will see footage where I was almost the victim of a rock slide/collapse in the first drift level of the mine. Rest assured -- I survived with no injuries. You will also see some of the many artifacts we found including old gallon-sized glass bottles, chains, bell signal signs, mining equipment, books from the 1950s, catalogs from the 1960s, an oil canister from the 1920s, and so much more. Based on the number of artifacts we found in the mine, it was quite evident that not many people visit the Black Mine. This is one of my longer videos because of the large amount of fantastic footage from all nine levels of the Black Mine, so enjoy the underground tour.
#ExploringAbandonedMines
#AbandonedMines
#MineExploring
#UndergroundExploration
That ninth level is where the Morloks are. Good thing there was a collapse trapping them down there. ;-)
Karl Heeren LOL I know!
I absolutely love this channel! I'm completely addicted to it now!!
Awesome! Always stoked to hear from enthusiastic viewers like yourself! I've enjoyed reading some of your other comments. Thanks for taking the time to comment. ALways glad to hear from fellow "family" members, too, if you know what I mean (nudge, nudge, wink, wink). LOL
Next time you see white plastic pipe in a mine could you take a look for a date code? almost all of that pipe had a date code printed on the side of it. Would help give an idea when the mine was last used :)
Never have I been more entertained to see abandoned areas
Frank, that "hoisting basket" @ 3:20 is actually a Slusher Bucket used for dragging broken rock & dirt down a passageway to an Ore Pass or Grizzley. -
That was one of the fastest 15 minute videos Ive ever seen. Great video. it literally felt like it only lasted 5 minutes. lol. You guys are animals man. Love the videos.
Thanks for that comment! I normally don't post videos that are longer than ten minutes, so this was definitely a first for me by having a video clock in at 15 minutes. Glad to hear that it only seemed like five minutes instead of fifteen. Thank you for watching and for your interest in my videos.
nice video, when that rubble started rolling down my heart missed a few beats :S
By the looks of all the equipment down there the Black mine must have a long history. The PVC piping (air supply for drills, equipment etc) would indicate to me that it hasn't been that long since it was last worked. I don't know how long PVC has been used in piping but I would suspect not more than 4 decades or so. Some of the stuff looks more recent than that.
As always a great job and glad you made safe and sound. And the answer is no, it wasn't too long a video. I loved every minute of it! Stay safe. :)
PVC became main-stream in the early 80's. The pipes are joined(melted) together with solvent and there were several "purple droplet splashes" on the piping, indicating primer, required by building inspectors, which was put into national plumbing code in the mid 80's.
Thank you for such interesting video footages of the old mines, I have enjoyed your videos so far, the artifacts left behind by the miners are great history and show the extreme hardships endured by those men. You Blokes have guts to crawl through the cave ins and past sagging rock loaded timbers, no way I would do that! Stay safe and please bring back some more fascinating video footage of those mines. Fantastic!!!
***** Thanks, man! Are you from Australia by any chance? I ask that because you referred to us as "blokes." If you are from there, one of your fellow Aussies named Dave came up here in October 2013 to explore a bunch of abandoned mines with me, and he's coming back later this summer for a second trip. He often uses that term "bloke." Thank you for watching the video and commenting. I'm glad that you are enjoying them and are appreciating the history of these places. Thanks!
Exploring Abandoned Mines in CA, NV, and AZ Certainly am! Central Australia to be exact. That sure sounds like a great trip to tag along with you mob exploring old mines and looking at the history, I bet you have some great places to explore. If you have a look at my channel I have a couple of vids of some of my trips in central Aus looking for old machinery and checking out some abandoned stations (ranches). By the way, what were they mining at the Black mine? There was a lot of mining activity in central Aus, Copper and Gold mostly, this year I hope to look for some of those mines and hopefully can put together some vids. Thanks again for your reply and also for your excellent videos! Cheers, Ian
+rustymotor
Ian, there's a lot of old mines in Western Australia - (Google Earth is your ticket to adventure). The town of Gwalia is a historic mining town & the Sons of Gwalia Mine is right in the town. If you like seeing old equipment
there is a complete, Intact 5-Stamp Battery in Golden Valley, Bullfinch District, WA 6484 , OZ - 30° 53' 28.67'' S 119° 1' 5.61'' E .
I'd love to spend a couple years exploring your country, but unfortunately it'll never happen in this lifetime, maybe next time around. LOL
Doc - Nevada, USA
Thank you for the info, I can imagine that there are many old mines in W.A. lots of Gold was found there. I will hopefully make a trip over there someday.
It would be good if you could visit this country, there sure is lots to see and great open spaces to explore. Luckily we still have the freedom to travel around without too many restrictions. Thanks again Doc and I wish you a great day!
I'm not exactly sure how I found this channel but I'm glad I did. I think humanity should be building underground alot more. It would open up more land on the surface and could protect us in catastrophic circumstances if we do it right.
Once again another great vid! I'm still geek-n-out about the bag of ammonia nitrate! That stuff makes a big boom!
Lots of cool history in that mine, that was an extensive mine, very neat and very cool, thanks for the great vid! Glad you were ok on the rock slide. You guys must have been underground for hours
ScubaOz Thanks! We were in there for about five hours.
Nice work Frank and Jeremy... I loved the extended tour and all the finds... As always excellent work for the people of today and the future...
Curiosity Thanks! We had to do some legwork to find and get to this mine -- but it was worth it. Thanks for watching and commenting. I appreciate your interest and support.
Incredible mine and artifact video Frank! Glad to see your fine from your "close call"! Keeps you on your toes! Looks like someone installed PVC piping here and there...mine maybe reworked in the 1980's? I wish I could find something like that mine around here!
Rob Farrow Thanks, Rob! Like you mentioned, it was apparent that the mine had been worked in recent decades off and on. Not sure when the most recent work was done in there, though. The mine was a great find and made for an incredible night of exploration and documentation. Thanks for chiming in with your comments, Rob!
Rob Farrow ATV
Hey it could be worse.... You could live here in Delaware, where the only way a mine would ever be opened, is if low grade, rock-strewn clay ever becomes valuable! We have plenty of that..... Our lawns and gardens suffer in it every season.
One of your best videos yet Frank!. Really enjoyed it. Personally, I would like to see some background history on the mine you are exploring. A lot of artifacts down there which made it fascinating. Glad you were not injured. Would have deprived us of future videos LOL.
It looks so interesting to go into an abandoned mine in real life. It might be stupid and extremely dangerous, but I really wanna go in one someday. Looks much more fun than exploring an abandoned mineshaft in a video game.
We had a lot of fun in this one! At the very bottom of the inclined shaft, the tunnel there was supposed to connect to another nearby mine that was even more extensive, but the passageway, as Jeremy found out, had been backfilled or was collapsed. Thank you for taking the time to watch and comment!
1918, the year of the Spanish flu pandemic... It's like a treasure hunt down there, so many great finds....someone actually took all that paperwork down there deliberately, how strange. Awesome explore... Thanks, Frank.
Yes, it was strange finding all of those books and things like that down on that one level. Thanks for dropping by and checking out the video!
Thank you for making these videos. My great grandfather was a coal miner in Nanty Glo PA in the early 1900's, so footage of the inside of mines is incredibly interesting to me, even though I know these west-coast mines probably aren't quite like the ones in PA.
+radioactivegamer I know exactly where Nanty Glo is! I have a couple friends back in that area. I grew up in the Johnstown area myself. Lots of coal mines back there, but those are super dangerous due to "bad air" prevalence.
Cool mine! Glad you were okay after that ore chute collapse ordeal! That trapdoor was very cool as well.
You would've loved this one, Graham! Nighttime explorations put a whole new spin on the adventure.
Exploring Abandoned Mines in CA, NV, and AZ I totally would have! This one had just about everything to offer! I'll try my best to get down there this summer again.
Nice mine and artifacts, Frank.
Thanks, Tom and Julie! Did you see where I almost got killed in this mine?
@@AbandonedMines11 I saw that chute let loose on you. That got your attention I bet.
Mine Exploration and Hiking with Tom and Julie It sure did! After the rocks stopped coming out of the chute, I could hear other rocks shifting and moving further up in the stope that was behind that chute. I remember it sounded like they were very far away. I’m just lucky that more rocks did not come crashing down into the chute and possibly busting through and totally burying me. I was laying on my stomach right there at the mouth of the chute. I carefully backed out very slowly and gingerly. Jeremy came through second and basically just ran and dove through the small opening. This mine was VERY extensive and I can’t recall how many hours we were down inside of it. I want to say three hours if not more. The ninth level does connect up to other nearby mines that are as equally massive or greater but that access point was collapsed. I’ll have to tell you the whole story about this mine in person next time I see you.
@@AbandonedMines11 Sounds interesting.
Thank you Frank and holy shit that was a damn close one. Keeps us in check of what can happen so damn quick. Glad it wasnt your time Frank. Your good friend The Nebraskan Assassin
There is another video from another mine explorer here on UA-cam where he is standing inside a stope at the top of a clogged ore chute. Suddenly, the rocks give way, and he barely escapes falling down into the chute with the rocks that let go under his feet. Clogged ore chutes are not to be taken for granted, that’s for sure! Thanks for your comment, Nebraskan Assassin!
Your wlc Frank its me Jordan Kroft i just updated my profile i was ah little behind on times lol
Definitely one of your most interesting underground adventures. Not sure I'd have the guts to go down one of these mines especially if it involves squeezing through tight spaces - but thankfully you and your compatriots do it for us :) Greetings from NZ and keep up the excellent work.
Great video. I really enjoyed this. And what a place to visit. Many thanks for showing it.
+siebel204 Certainly glad to hear you enjoyed the exploration! Thanks!
Holy Cow! That's more artifact in ONE mine than I saw in 30 years. Great video, and glad you weren't injured.
Sig229DAK Thanks for watching. Yes, we were stunned by the sheer number of artifacts left in the Black Mine. Literally stunned.
Thank you Frank and Jeremy I am stuck in a bed and because of you a get to go places noonehas been in possibly a hundred years a step back in Time if you will....great job looking forward to more videos...I'll pray for you and Jeremy
+Dirk Diggler No problem! Glad to see that you are enjoying these crazy videos of mine and vicariously experiencing our explorations. This particular mine was pretty extensive. I think we spent four hours or so in this one. Thanks again for your interest and support and kind words.
Another fantastic video. I am really enjoying this channel. Keep up the great work.
Thanks for your comments! Glad to hear you are enjoying the explorations. A new one comes out this Wednesday the 20th at midnight (Pacific Time). Lots of flooding and bats in this next one!
Thanks for sharing another amazing video, that mine was huge. I'm you were ok after the rock fall. Can't wait for the next video, always get excited when I get a notice that you posted a new video.
***** No problem. You're a loyal fan and viewer, and I appreciate that very much. A new video will be coming out at the end of this week.
Really good exploring, and without water in the mine! Many things to look at, great video, thanks for that :)
Outstanding work! Thanks Frank and Jeremy!
Great Adventure! That looks like alot to explore. Its a time capsule down there.That rockslide freaked me out!
It's nice to see another video on here again.
Julie.S Thanks, Julie! More coming very soon!
After seeing how it takes such a small elbow disturbance to start your head rocks sliding down the ore chute, I was wondering how often such a thing happens. It seems obvious there was a pause after it happened. Are you accustomed such things and continue soon afterwards? Thanks for another great video.
thank you for sharing Frank!
Hahaha. ANFO.
That's a blasting agent
that stick of dynamite and that bag of fertiliser and fuel oil mix.............big big bang...
+Gavin Windsor I agree!
Gavin Windsor the fertiliser would have to have Ammonain nitrate in it tho right ?
that's right, if you mix ammo nitrate and diesel and let it turn pink and your ready to go.
I am also going to assume that the dynamite would be the blasting cap
check out the big brain on ashton............there you go.
Thanks for sharing your adventures. Great documentary.
Cool stuff. Well done. I liked how you checked some of the artifacts for dates. There was a receipt on the table under the dynamite box. It would have been interesting to see a date on that. But I probably would have left that table alone with the dynamite there.
Thanks for your comment! I did not notice the receipt when I was there at the time. That happens a lot - I'll be watching my video footage after the trip is over, and I will spot things that I did not notice when I was there in person. I always find myself saying, "Boy, I wish I would've seen that or grabbed that!" We were moving at a relatively fast pace considering we had nine levels to explore. We were down there a total of five hours altogether.
Great video thank you
He has gotten a lot braver since I started watching his videos.
Those old shovels are awesome! Would be pretty easy to fix one of them up and have an awesome working shovel with a lot of history. Could also make a great wall-hanger with a story!
So that's the face reveal! I can finally put a face to the voice. I love this videos. It's gonna be sad day when all of the mines have been explored.
I thought that trapped door used as a bridge was pretty intriguing and damn! That must have been a pretty frightening situation when the rocks began falling! The angle you had with the wooden platform holding all the weight of those rocks is probably a good example of what is above you half of the time in your other videos. And man! That tunnel just kept going on! I wonder what use to be in those two old jugs.Great video!
Another great video Frank, thanks!
Wow best video so far!! stay safe!!
Thank you, Dave!
There was that one other way to get down to the 9th level with the rope ladder. I wonder what's down there.
WhiffleX I wondered that, too. I bet that ladder connected up with the ninth level. We didn't want to trust an old rope ladder like that, though.
Great video. Frank. A very complex and extensive mine working! I suppose you take precautions against becoming lost in large mining systems where there can be many tunnels and junctions? Another thing I notice in your explorations, Frank is how well preserved the timbering is in a lot of the mine workings there. This'll be on account of how dry most of them are. The timbers in a lot of the disused mines in the UK decay quite fast because of how wet they are.
99% of all the abandoned mines I have been in would be very difficult to get lost in. There have only been one or two that I had to really keep track of the turns I was taking. In this mine, the Black Mine, the drift levels weren't all that extensive. And even if they were, they always lead back to the main inclined shaft.
This was really cool and fun. I wish you moved your camera around to get a panoramic shot more often though. Give us a sense of the space.
I'm new to your channel so I don't know, but do you tell the internet where you're going before you go there?
Thank s Frank another great video, extremely interesting artifacts especially the bell press on the sixth level. It would be more appropriate on your front door than down a mine, obviously it is a dry mine, such a bell press would ring most of the time in the type of mine I been in due to the constant water flowing down shafts, and over timbers etc. Keep up the good work really enjoy your videos.
Garry
I'm glad you guy's are ok. Love your videos stay safe.
Thanks for the comment, Joseph! The little ore chute incident in this mine was the closest I've come to getting seriously hurt or killed. The eerie thing was that after the rocks stopped coming out and I was laying there being very still, I could still hear other rocks shifting and moving from far away up inside that chute.
Exploring Abandoned Mines did you crap yourself?? like wow i would be sayin my last words just in case
Frank, that Ore Chute incident is why you need to carry one of those G.I. style TRI-FOLD Shovels. -
Great video, Frank, thanks so much!
This is the first video of yours that I've watched, and this was awesome! I can only imagine how many artifacts were left behind. Do you guys leave everything you see or do you take some stuff?
Do you use any special equipment? What you do in case something collapse and you cannot make your way to the top? Just wondering. It seems very dangerous though.
Holly it must of been terrifying when those rocks came down. Also keep up the great work!
This comment is hilarious. "Those old mines sure are dangerous. Keep up the exploring of old mines!"
another great video. this one goes into my top favs of Yours. sure was great to see so many artifacts and remnants still in there. Do You ever collect any memorabilia from the mines?Those canisters are cool. Sure glad You didn't get hurt squeezing past that ore chute.
Thanks, Brian! Yes, those metal canisters were pretty nifty. If I took one home with me, I would be very happy with it. If I did not take one home with me, I would be full of regret. I'm glad that you really enjoyed the video and took the time to comment. I appreciate your support and interest!
Awesome exploration. Reminds me of the top entrance to the big horn mine!
Avi Wangler Ah, the Big Horn Mine! That's a great abandoned mine to poke around in. A bit more damp than this mine was, though. Thanks for taking the time to watch and comment here. I appreciate it!
It is wet for sure what I meant are that some of the other entrances have a similar portal on the top of the mine.
That was a very close cave in it was way to close for comfort glad you didn't get hurt. That mine had a lot of really good artifacts! Was thinking I had saw all of your old explors guess I didn't Be safe 😕 Ronnie
The near-accident here was just a reminder never to take these abandoned mines for granted - especially clogged ore chutes! Thanks for checking out one of my older videos, Ronnie!
@@AbandonedMines11 i was thinking i had saw it before. Think when I get some time I will look back at more of your old ones 😏
Supercool. LOVE this channel....
Thanks, Brian, for being a fan!
Brian Liddicoat Yeah bro! :D
Hey did you guys ever keep the silver canisters? Did you ever find out the brand and what those were used for? Curious as those are pretty cool finds. Im a pickier and explorer so seeing stuff that nice so far down in the mines is cool. Great video. Hope you guys had a nice ride back home too. The California roads are beautiful to drive.
+Michael David Cilantro Those silver canisters look like they would have been canisters to hold ore samples in. They had no markings on them whatsoever.
Super cool. Love your guys' vids. Be safe.
Sammy Seventy 3 Thanks, Sammy! I appreciate your interest and support. More coming soon! Still trying to edit together footage from Arizona that was taken a couple weeks ago.
Great Channel!
How do you know if there is enough air down in the mines.
Please do a video on this and stay safe
Cars show Island This mine was very well-ventilated due to other shafts penetrating the workings in different areas. There was strong airflow throughout most of the mine which nearly eliminates any chance of encountering "bad air." I will tell you that the air near the bottom-most level (the ninth level) was kind of heavy and stale, but we were only down there briefly due to the ninth level being collapsed. Thank you for your suggestion about a video discussing air quality in mines. Will keep that in mind.
My friends and I conduct paranormal investigations of haunted areas and local legends in our home state, but we're nothing compared to the stuff you guys are doing. I'd be freaking out by the fourth level in that mine.
We've heard and seen some strange things while down in these old mines. You would love it if paranormal investigations are your gig!
11:56 Looks to be a lot of dots from that 8th level. So, each one represents a cart-full of ore, I think. No wonder it was so extensive. Cool explore.
It was a shame that the lowest (ninth) level was blocked off. We had heard this mine connected to another nearby mine that is much more extensive. That ninth level was probably the connecting point at some time in the past. Glad you enjoyed the video, man! Thanks for checking it out and commenting!
Wow ..............Great video Keep up the great work and be safe !
What kind of mine was this? Your breathing sounded labored when you got deep down. Have you thought of getting a mine breather thing just in case? I live in Ouray county, Colorado. There are hundreds of old mines. People recently reopened the Virgina-Revenue mine and 2 people( mine foreman & employee) died from bad air. Wow did Msha come down hard on them, but now they are back open! I love your videos as I'm a Az native. Have crawled all over hills & mountains, exploring just like you! Thanks for taking me on this mine tour exploration.
Joluvslilhorses This was a gold mine. The air on the lowest level (ninth level) was kind of stale and muggy. I commented while we were down there that I had a slight headache which, as you probably know, is a sign that the air might not be the best quality. The air was also dusty. Those factors combined with the fact that I was just getting over a major cold AND was getting tired by the time we reached the ninth level probably contributed to my breathing sounding labored. The mine overall, though, was well-ventilated due to several other inclined shafts piercing the workings we were in at various points. There was almost always noticeable and continual air flow. Thanks for providing that information on the Virginia-Revenue Mine. Will have to look that up to find the news story. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Please tell me you took some of those books and catalogs, also I thought I saw an old flashlight among those catalogs. And those shovels you should take those because old American made shovels are better than new ones
This has got to be the best mine you've visited yet. I find it extremely odd that they would just dump office records and stuff in a drift level like that. Also I have a question:
if the incident with the rocks had happened to you while exploring solo. do you think you could have gotten back out safely without a buddy there with you?
I most likely would not have bothered going past that ore chute in the first place if I was by myself. The amount of debris that had piled up on the tunnel floor right below the mouth of the chute suggests that rocks have been tumbling out of there off and on for quite some time over the years and that more rocks were probably still piled up inside the chute just waiting to come down. I wouldn't have bothered taking the chance if I had been solo. If you watch enough of my videos where I'm solo, I usually don't go up or down ladders or cross over rickety bridges inside mines and stuff like that. Of course that means I miss out on a large part of the mine, but it's just not worth the risk.
Do you ever use O2 monitors or "Gas Monitors?" Obviously you do have fresh air at the beginning, but as you start to get deeper in the drifts and adits, your air can become stagnant and poisonous (as you know). Maybe you do use them and they're just always silent. just curious. Thank you, and great videos!!
love the history... great show keep it up
Is there a reason you dropped those chains? Was it just so that there would be less stress on the timber?
JKTCGMV13 Something like that. Those were some heavy chains!
I had a blast exploring that mine it was a good time
I like how you can find 25 pounds of explosives chilling out and not worry about it one bit
the 'face' is what you drill on when you have removed the muck from the last blast, have performed ground control - ie rockbolts, screen etc, and have prepped the face by painting blast hole remnants (aka bootleg), and have put sticks in the lifters - the holes that make the floor.
Great video,enjoyed it...I was born November 67 so that newspaper will be the same age as me,49
Those artifacts read like something out of a Sherlock Holmes story. The front wheel of a car, a hoarder's paradise of old magazines, tax case reference history, multiple tax forms.....
I love your videos and what you do documenting these mines is awesome. But in a mine of this size how many men would have been needed daily in a mine like this?
+Ben Stockford It depends. I would guess at this site probably no more than eight or 10 men worked here. Every mine is different. A lot of old mining records have been lost, so we will never know for sure exactly how many men worked at a mine at a given time. Thanks for taking the time to watch, comment, and ask a question. I appreciate your support!
I believe the "chemicals" at 5:00 in are cans of PVC glue. Potentially the glue itself (big can) and primer (little one) or they could both be the glue. I worked a bit on sprinklers when I was younger. (Mostly the modern pvc based systems)
Edit, the metal canisters at 7:37 could be core sample tubes? I'm not sure on that one.
Thanks for all of this information in your comment! I appreciate it. Yes, the silver canisters could’ve been for ore samples. Lots of unusual things down in this mine, that’s for sure!
I'm having an anxiety attack just looking at this video. claustrophobia
Five hours is a hell of a long time to explore that thing. Sounds exhausting!
Thanks for watching and commenting, Fred! Yes, we spent a lot of time down there due to their being nine extensive drift levels off of the inclined shaft. It was quite the place to explore!
Amazing video! Where in Arizona is this mine? Is it near some of the larger mining towns like Bisbee?
Amazing exploration. Unfortunate that you did not reach 9th level.
I added the playlist to my favoites :D I can never get bored of this :3
So this might be my inexperience with such activities, but how do you keep track of the current oxygen level present? I imagine that ventilation systems would be broken/partially collapsed.
While encountering a low oxygen area in and abandoned mine is always a concern, the probability of that happening is pretty low in these hard rock mines from what I have researched. At any rate, I just purchased an oxygen meter to take with me. I will be showing it in a future video within the next couple of weeks.
Frank that is a slusher scraper bucket you stumbled across on the second level. It was pulled back n forth across the stope buy a double drum air or electric slusher and scraped the blasted ore/ muck across the stope into the ore shoots to be loaded into waiting ore cars below .
bigwallrog I did not know that! Thanks for your comment. Someone else left a similar comment a few days before yours. You would think that I would know more about mining equipment than what I actually do, but I don't. I think that is the first time I've seen one of those in an abandoned mine.
waw that was a massive mine,and it seems that it's not been visited that many times!why was Jeremy removing the chains?and why are the tin cans were the books are not rusted after 40 years in a mine?is it because of the material(aluminium) of the can? thx again for showing us great footage of abandoned mines!!
I'm not sure why Jeremy remove those chains. While filming, I walked up on him while he was doing that. I believe the books and cans were not rusted or otherwise damaged because the mine is very dry down inside. Don't forget that it's located out in the Arizona desert, so there just isn't a lot of moisture around.
Everything is so well preserved, and intact, guess the access down that slope put people off going to the deeper levels and tunnels.
Must be one of your deepest video,s.
You might be correct about that. Inclined shafts to an inexperienced explorer would probably seem pretty daunting. As long as the angle is around 45° to 50° or so, they usually can be descended safely without the use of ropes and harnesses. Anything that is more vertical than that would require repelling for obvious reasons. Hey, thanks for watching and commenting. Glad you are enjoying the videos!
This was really creepy, be careful and keep up!
I am wondering if you are able in USA to access these properties? Is it legal? What happened if you are caught or so?
Here in Europe they are simply putting there big metal doors and you are not able to access any of these abandoned mines.
May seen like a silly question but as you descended to the 7th and 8th levels was there less oxygen?
Didn't seem to be any noticeable change in the air quality on the lower levels. I mentioned in another comment on here that I did get a slight headache while on the eighth level. Sometimes something like that can be a sign of "bad air." I'm not sure if the headache was from that or was because I was just getting over a cold and was pretty tired by the time we reached the eighth level. Jeremy reported no problems, so my headache was probably due from exhaustion and stuff like that. Towards the bottom, the air was a little more stagnant and not as fresh, but that is to be expected. There was good airflow in most of the mine due to other shafts coming down in various areas which provided cross ventilation.
that "hoisting bucket" you called it is actually a slusher bucket for jack leg stopes. cable connects to the front and back of the bucket. using a slusher to run it. with one cable from the back of the bucket going through a slusher block at the face to pull/ drag the bucket back to the face and the other cable pulls it to slusher using the weight of the bucket to dig down and pull the muck from the face
+Chad Ward Thanks, Chad, for the information!
not trying to critique you or anything, love your channel and figured you might like the info about. I work in a conventional mine as a hard rock miner
+Chad Ward That's even better! There have been a lot of miners and former miners who leave comments on here which either correct or amplify the information I show in the videos. Believe it or not, I am still learning all of this mining terminology and techniques as I go along. I still don't have everything down solid, so I appreciate when you miners chime in with your thoughts and information.
well you seem to doing pretty good with it from what I've seen. have you ever came up to northern idaho? we're riddled with old abandoned mines around here.
+Chad Ward I've heard that about northern Idaho! No, I haven't been there yet. At least I don't think I have! LOL These mines all start to look alike after a while....
Imagine if you heard the bell go off?! Creepy!
It almost makes you think that someone goes down there with some new supplies every once and while and messes around because some of that stuff looks like brand new
Lost records hey!!! Before the digital age lol. In this mine did the men walk down into the mine or were they taken down via a vehicle lowered by hoist? I was watching a good doco on the helmac company and they were sending 20 men down via car. That was a copper mine that was a big producer so I guess depending on the mine and been budgets these things would have differed. I love your videos as I come from a long line of coal miners on my father's side dating back 6 generations. And I hope I got the helmac name right. Keep up the immense documenting of these underground time capsules and stay safe
how did you get in and get out?? looks cool and creepy at same time
This was a 45° inclined shaft, so getting in and out really wasn’t a problem. Anything steeper than 45°, though, gets a little more dangerous and sometimes requires the use of a rope.
@@AbandonedMines11 oh ok
Did miners ever come across natural caves while mining? Was the Admiral Aaron Ward mine the deepest mine you have been in? Great video!
+carrick biggs Some mines in northern Nevada are known to intersect with limestone caves. Also, check out my Silver Reef Mine video (I posted two of them last year). That mine intersected with a huge natural cave system. We explored a little bit of it. There were some crazy, swinging chain ladders going upward over deep chasms in that mine. And, no, we didn't climb those chain ladders to the upper areas -- too dangerous! Cool mine, though. There were some crystals in the cave part, too.
+Exploring Abandoned Mines sounds super cool ill check it out.
Frank please be careful! We dont want anything bad happening to you!!
At 05:17 - from my repeated viewing of Mythbusters I'm fairly certain that Ammoniumnitrate Fuel Oil (ANFO) is explosives. I guess you'd expect to find that in a mine, hopefully not dangerous without a detonator (hopefully!).
Great video as always! Did you keep any artifacts from this mine?
caramelfleece After the mine almost took my life when those rocks fell on me, I didn't want to take any artifacts out of the mine. Seemed like a good trade.... :-)
Ha! That definitely sounds like a good trade to me.
Are you guys willing to share locations, contacts, or any info to a fellow mine explorer? I'm kind of jonesing for some new sites since my old go to spot has become untouchable as of late, in fact I believe you guys have done a video of this mountain, Soledad or silver queen as it's commonly referred to. Would love to touch base with you guys, but understand if you would rather not.