High in Nevada's Mountains, We Found a Gold Mine Nobody Expected

Good morning mine exploring fans. >> Good morning. >> Tom and Julie here. We're all ready to go. Got the Jeep backed up to a sticker bush so nobody can break into my tailgate. So today we're going hiking. Way up in the mountains out away. Couple of high up mines. We're up on one side of that ridge the other day and today we're going to go on the opposite side to the right as we're looking at it. So let's go hiking and we will let you know what we find. Well, we can never get too many views of the old Panamint mountains. Beautiful. Look at all the snow up in there still. >> It's the last snow. >> Yeah, it is the last snow. Well, did you catch your breath? >> Yeah. I walked up and I caught my breath. >> We just made it up our first big hill. Now we're going up this way. How are you at? This is the drainage that we're going up. It's pretty rugged. And then the hills above us are very rugged. There's a massive timbering down there that's collapsed from somewhere. And then there are some workings up above which is what we're going for. What have you We'll have to go poke around down there. There might be some good junk. Might be some good grade A American junk down there. There's a hawk. Looks like a big red tail. That's three birds we've seen two owls and a hawk. We're going a little further this way and there should be a mine right over this next little hill. There's one of those old English pipe tobacco, those curved cans. That one doesn't have any writing on it, but for some reason they had those curved tins of pipe tobacco. Well, here's our portal. Doesn't look good. We have more options though. Let's look around. Well, there's a little teeny hole beyond all these boulders that have come down into this little cut. Because it is a pretty good waste pile out here. A lot of it has eroded. But at one time it was a big waste pile. And there's that little teeny hole down there. Let's look around some more. We'll come back to this if we have to. This is looking up ahead of us. There's still another cable up there. And there's cans and pipes, sheet metal, and other debris all the way down this canyon. That's what we've come up. Doing a nice Canadian thistle. What are they doing way up there? >> I don't know. They look healthy though, don't >> Yeah, they do. >> I came the hard way. >> Yeah, you did. Looks like some kind of a classifier here unless it's a miner's bed. That's not generally the stuff they use for the miner's beds though. It's a little heavier. So, we have an open portal looks like. Okay, we're in the mine. Let's go see what's going on. There's some animal crap right there right at the entrance. Old though, gray. Look at the wood dolls. Oh. Oh, those are uh look at That's a um old style marker that they would put in the holes. There's another one. >> Oh. >> You know, they would use for like their They'd usually put a tag on that See, this one's got the um >> It's got a little >> Pick it up once I can see it. See, they've got that little eyelet on there? >> Yeah. >> Where they would put their tag like their location tag. Like the modern guys use ribbons and all that and paint. These guys used old dolls and they would put them in the uh drill holes. >> That's cool. >> Yeah. Well, I hate to say it, but it looks a little pluggy up here. Uh I hope it's not the case. Those dolls are really cool. I like those things. A lot of groundfall here. Looks like it's thinning out there. >> Yeah. You might be able to get through on the right there. >> Look at the groundfall here. Wow. Yeah, it does go through and there's a shoot. I see a shoot through there. There's a big stope up here. I can see a bunch of stopes. >> Okay, Tom's going to try to make his way across this uh collapsed area. >> Well, that's sharp there. It goes a little ways. Couple of shoots in here and some rail, it looks like. >> Okay. >> Here's what we're looking at in here. Looks somewhat interesting. I'm not sure how big it's going to be, but interesting. Now, without getting that rock on your foot, can you dig that shovel out of there? Yeah. All right, Julie's got the shovel. Wow, that's a wide blade in it. >> Yeah. >> It's got the triangle flange in the back. >> Yeah. >> Man, those are wide. It's got no scoop to it though, does it? It's like flat almost. >> Mhm. >> Okay, well, here's a big chute. Lot of rocks up above it. Goes up into a large stope. Steep stope, too. Okay, that's looking back at that chute we just passed. There's some heavy duty timbers here that hold back the stope. Here's a ladder. And looks like a bridge in front of us. Let's look up the ladder real quick. I'm not going to climb way up there, but I'm just going to look at the top of this. All right, this thing's just sitting here. Okay, this goes up into a pretty large stope, actually. There's another big piece of ladder here. Another piece of ladder there. Several stalls. This is looking all right, though. The timbering. Kind of neat. Looks like there's going to be a couple more shoots here, or at least one more over there. All right, let's go back down and we'll see what we can find on here. Okay, now be careful. There's a bridge there, it looks like. Is it deep below you? >> Very. >> Is it really? >> Oh my god. >> Well, it probably goes down to that mine that's that was had the covered up entrance. >> It's very deep. >> Oh yeah, that goes down a ways. Better part of a hundred feet. I wonder if that's the end over there. >> Looks like it, doesn't it? >> I don't know. Hard to say. There's a weather two hundred three hundred pound boulder sitting there. There's still track there. >> Look where I'm almost down. I'm not sure if that's a level down there or if it's just all slopes. I'm not crazy about this. There's about a 200-300 lb boulder sitting there. I don't imagine it looked as scary as it felt. >> It looked pretty scary, especially if they knew what's down below you. >> [laughter] >> It's real hot up here. >> Okay. >> You want to stay over there for now. Let me go this way a little bit. There's a piece of rail sticking out there. Looks like a dynamite box. All right, so there's a cool dynamite box here. It's a DuPont. You can see the full label there. Got the full bottom, which is nice. A lot of times you don't have the bottom on them. On them. Uh what does that say? High explosives. It's not all there, but a lot of it is. And then this side says high explosives, dangerous. So, the gift didn't go real far. It ends right here. There's a surveyor's tag up here. Oh, look at this. Remember the uh Remember those dowels we found on the way in? Look at this. See that? This is a fairly old one, too. But, look at this one. Oh my god, it's got a letter on it. Number 108. Is that cool? Look at that. Wow. Pretty awesome. Okay, I'm backing out of here. A last little look at the vein here. And some older markings. Those are hand-painted rather than spray-painted, it looks like. They must have carried a little can of paint with them. Look at here's another I didn't even see these. Here's another wood one. No tag on it, though. Finding that one with the tag on it is almost unheard of. Here's another one I didn't even notice it here. Yeah, right there. >> Okay, Tom's going to make his way back. >> There's a lot of air coming up from the stove. You don't want to slip, do you? >> No. >> I've never done that before. >> [laughter] >> I don't know. Good job. >> We're getting out of here before we get caved in on. Good job. >> All of these look like they're ready to go. >> Okay, we're leaving the mine. That was cool. All the flowers are just coming out up here. This one looks to be a red one. And there's this little purple. And there's a different purple right there. And look at all the little yellow ones coming out. Lots of flowers. So, we come up a little higher from those lines that were just in. There's a cable looped around that rock. It's spliced together here. There's an old um hook. I don't know what I I call those like a snatch hook where you can loop it back onto itself. And they're curved like that. Uh it says 1/2 on it, so I suppose that's the size of the cable. It's girth hitched to another cable. Which um the other one has a cable clamp on it. It goes up over the top of the mountain. I don't know where it goes. Should I go find out? It really stayed down below. There's a pretty good waste pile though. I don't know what It sure didn't come from that area. Unless this was kind of an open cut here. I don't see anything higher up. The top of that cable should be over here somewhere. Well, there is the end of the cable looped around that outcropping. Well, this is the upper portion of the stope that we ran down below where we found the dynamite box and this is where it daylight's. I have some stulls that are holding up some very loose material. Little old bridge here, but it's not over a lot, so I'm not worried. No snakes in the grass. That looks a little sketchy though, doesn't it? It's the stulls are holding that up. So, there's a A of air blowing out of here. This is where we were earlier. Way down in those stopes. You see way down there? A lot of air blowing up out of there. In fact, it looks like I can see the tracks down there. It continues this way a little ways anyway. I've got more. Apparently, this is the vein over here. But they didn't take anyway. It goes that way a little ways. Kind of interesting to see the old assessments and surveys here hand painted with a brush. Interesting looking minerals once again. So, here's an old marking. Number 125. Foot wall, maybe 4 and 1/2. And this is the face. Pretty I wonder what this is. Sharp. That's it for this one. Let's head back up. We have one more spot we can check, that first hole we came to. It's got some huge boulders that are plugging up the entrance, but there was a little hole there. It might be enough to get through. Here's this crazy hole I'm looking at. I think this is the bottom of these stopes. And all these big rocks have fallen down and jammed this up. Maurice is coming up to inspect. Hi. >> Hi. >> Look at you behind you. Sweet view, huh? >> Yeah. Beautiful. >> All right, let's uh Let's see. I'm going to need a rope to get back out of here though. I've got a length of rope. Well, you I got a rope hanging on to in case I come into one of those slopes. I don't want to go sliding right down. >> No. >> Well, it may well might >> Me, too. You don't let go of the rope. >> A lot of air moving here. No, it's a level. >> Oh, cool. >> Something. >> Okay. >> Here comes Julie, the dedicated mine explorer. Okay, we're in. Goes this way a ways as far as I can see. We'll let Julie get her pack on and we'll take off. Okay, let's go explore this old mine. Here's another uh Back here. Here's another um US Blasting Company. Acquired. >> Oh. >> At least that's what it looks like. Is it? >> Yep. >> Yep, same thing. >> It's a little different though. This has the X's in the bottom and the cross. >> say California? So, that says California Cap Company and on the bottom San Francisco. It's kind of hard to see, but that's what it says. So, that's cool. Okay, moving on. Looks like it could be hanging on our right here. Really interesting mineral vein. About a foot and a half wide. Got a old style mask. They must have put something inside of that. Here's a uh a stall here and a lot of ground fall. Looks a little dangerous. >> Yeah, look at there's nothing behind that. >> I see that. Well, let's not bump it. Yeah, that looks like a heel, [snorts] doesn't it? >> Yeah, it does, doesn't it? >> I wonder if that's a um like a cleat. So, your heels don't wear out. Or your Or your pad of your foot, maybe. Is that dynamite box? >> No, don't look like it. >> Okay. Look above. >> [laughter] >> They got that big rock braced up there. Fuel can. With the spout type. I like those. Those spouts are dual purpose, I believe. At least some of them were. They are um vent and they pour spout. Double duty. Another peg. Looks like the main shoot is off that way. It's part of it anyway. A little bit of a blockage here for some reason. That's back to the red material. A big bug there. Look at the big bugs. There's gold in those bugs. Ouch. Oh, it's log syrup. >> Yes, the syrup. >> Log cabin. A log cabin syrup can. They repurposed it for something because you don't need to open them that way. Does it say syrup? >> Yeah, syrup company something syrup company. >> Oh, that's cool. >> Something like that. >> Cool find in the mine and log cabin maple syrup can. And it even says right here maple syrup company. Looks like something that ends with an F, but I'm I'm almost certain these are a cabin because it's the shape of the log cabin. Okay, let's keep moving into the mine. There's a little mini spike. >> Looks like it might go in the left a little bit. >> Does it? A little ways. Not too far. Here are some muck sheets, looks like. Yeah, you don't want to fall in there. So, I'm being careful. And, of course, another bridge coming up. So, that obviously goes a ways. And it goes up a ways, too, a long ways. I'm in a precarious spot here, so I got to get out of here. I don't want to take the fast way down. Look at how high that goes. Oh, there's a platform up there. Wow, that goes a long ways up there. I see light up there. We must have been That must have been the next level that we were on. So, this bridge is not over anything too crazy from below us. So, not too scary. Not like [snorts] the last one. Tell me about a 15-ft, not even that, 12-ft drop down there. Okay, crossing the bridge. There looks like there's a ladder over here. There's a little kipper snack can or something like that. Hey, a nice piece of hemp rope and official track starts up right underneath your foot. It would have been fun to see the uh ore cars rolling across this bridge here, wouldn't it? Imagine that. That would have been fun. Okay, let's follow the tracks. This is directly overhead. Looks like another muck sheet. The track ends. That's pretty good size mine, isn't it? >> Yeah. >> Look at this, this is weird. Look at that. >> I know. Isn't that weird? >> See how that mud crust has formed this layer? Wow, that's kind of neat, isn't it? You don't see that look very often, do you? Ooh. Interesting. Just a short crosscut this way. A big hole in the wall. It's kind of weird, isn't it? Yeah, something's going on here. Oh, boy. Looks like just an old shaft. They've taken the ladders out. There's one piece at the bottom. On the road again, down the drift. These are interesting mines up on this hill. A ground pole there. A stall came down, looks like. That looks like another log cabin box. Yeah, they took the roof off that one. Yeah, that looks to be the same thing, doesn't it? Although >> It's a little different, isn't it? >> Yeah, it's a little different. >> I can't read it. >> Kind of gold colored, isn't it? >> Yeah. >> That's back of the mine. Let's keep going. We're following this vein, whatever it is. This is a lot bigger than I thought it was going to be. All that inside that little hole. There is box parts on the ground. Okay, that's going to be the face of this drift. I had to peek under the timber to get it. Okay, we're turning around going back out. That was interesting. These mines are from the early 1900s. There's another one of those breakthrough spots. There is an old shirt. That's pretty crusty. This is a blasting cap tin. We've even seen the tops to them. But, that's about the size they come in. It does say something on the bottom, but I've been looking at it for 2 minutes and I can't read it. This says always fasten caps here. Back to this thing. Okay, we're back to the bridge area. There's a hemp rope. Looks like a tarp down there, doesn't it? >> Yeah. >> A canvas tarp? >> Uh-huh. >> Okay, let's cross the bridge. Creek. This spot you don't want to fall in. It's one of those that slip slippery going down that way. And this goes I don't even want to think about where that goes cuz I got to cross this. Thanks. There's a hammer handle. >> [clears throat] >> I wonder whose hands have held that. Probably more than one person. When I feel air, we must be getting back towards the portal. Yep, there it is. Now we get to crawl out of this beast. >> Yeah, we just left. >> There might be something down below, too. That stope that we just passed goes down somewhere. We didn't see anything down below this, but we'll go look. Got to hike down that way, anyway. We got to go down in the um wash. Look like there's a bunch of stuff down in there. There might be some cool stuff. We'll We'll wait and see. There's a little rope that we can get out of here with. >> Here he comes, crawling through the hole. It's very steep. >> Help. >> [laughter] >> There's no help anywhere around for miles. >> The old guy's stuck. Am I gaining? >> Um yeah. >> Getting no footing. That's a tight fitting. >> Yeah. Here you go. >> Almost. >> Just out of here. >> [laughter] >> Good job. >> Yes, I actually made it all the way out. >> Good job. >> So, this is one thing that we always carry in our pack, or I always have it in my pack. Is that about 20 or 25-ft piece of rated rope. This is light duty, but this is not like paracord that This is This is probably like uh I'm not sure. It's probably like 5 kilonewtons or And it's good to have an emergency. If you were to fall down something or slide down something you needed to get up 10 or 15 or 20 ft, you'd have a piece of rope that you could work with. Not to be confused with climbing rope. Which we do carry, too, but not today. Sometimes we carry up to about 500 ft of rope. >> Piece of cake. Good job. >> Here's another one of these cables. I'm not sure what they're doing with these. It just spans this little valley that we're coming down. Here comes Julie down the steep pile and it's loose. And I've already slipped and fallen a couple times. She goes slower than me. She's smart. I try to go fast and I get hurt. Okay, we're going down this way. There's a bunch of lumber right over the edge of that last ridge. You can't see it, but I'm wondering if there's not a lower attic somewhere here because that last one we were in uh the slope went down quite a ways. That's the way to boots you down there. Nothing to it. See, this is what I was getting at. Something was going on down here. I don't know if they had a little set up or what this is. I'm not quite understanding what this structure was. There's some heavy timbering. Unless it's Unless there was a portal down here that went back in this way. It almost kind of looks like that, doesn't it? But it's completely rocked in now, if it ever was there. There's some, uh, several lengths of riveted pipe. Like 6-in vent pipe. Look at all the rivets. So, I don't know what this was. It's tipped over now. It was very heavy-duty at one time. And, action. >> Well, that's all for today. We hope you enjoyed it. Thank you so much for watching, and we'll see you on our next adventure. >> What of you?