Exploring Abandoned Mines in California's Piute Mountain Range
Exploring Abandoned Mines in California's Piute Mountain Range
The Piute Mountains are part of the Sequoia National Forest in Kern County, Ca. They lie between the Kern River to the west and the Mojave Desert to the east. Large scale gold mining in the Piutes began in the late 1860’s and early 1870’s but faded out around the turn of the century. The great depression brought on another flury of activity and many old mines were reopened as low buget operations.
In this video, I show you four old gold mines and one dolomite mine that I found during a camping trip last July. At the mine sites I found two adits, a miner’s cabin, and a stone arrastra. Although these mines are pretty small, they were still very enjoyable to explore. I hope you guys find them as interesting as I did.
Another awesome video. What are your resources that you use to find your locations?
just yesterday, I was watching Andy Griffith and it was the one where he and Helen Crump get stuck in a old mine when it collapsed and Barney organized a crew to dig them out.
I heard they was gating only a few mines deemed unsafe how is that ruining the area?
I use to live in Kernville, we have friends that have been living in the valley since the late 60’s. They have property in the Piutes, we camp every Labor day weekend, it’s beautiful up there. Thanks for taking us along.
Id be on the watch for mountain lions!
Cool bananas!
Nice cabin 👌
Holy shit mine #3 had a ton of skeeters!
Too bad the forest service cares more about closing mine shafts than they do about maintaining the roads that allow access to public lands.
Cool! Iv’e never heard of that arrasta?? El Paso’s too Piutes! Thanks.for theses vids…
Been hunting piute mtn for years never seen those mines.
Please keep an eye out for any freshly dug areas. There is two missing toddlers from California City. I believe they are buried in an abandoned mining area or in the desert near California City or Bakersfield.
I will never understand the mine of a vandal or thief. What a wonderful asset { NOT }, to the community they are.. At least the place, has not been shot to shit..
That is pretty amazing, 90% of the people would have walked over the Arrastra and either not even seen it or for sure wouldn’t have known what it was, great find and great observation.
Hi, that cabin was a cool find, I wonder how old it was ??. those mines although small were still interesting. Thank you for sharing, much love. xx💖
Looks like that place gets a lot of traffic.
I’m so jealous! My age and health prevent me from exploring. Thanks for sharing!
Nice finds. Thanks for taking us along.