Exploring Active Mines: Alleghany's Sixteen to One Mine
Exploring Active Mines: Alleghany's Sixteen to One Mine
Located in the California mountain town of Alleghany, the Sixteen to One Mine is now the oldest gold mining corporation in the United States and with more than 26 miles of underground workings, it is a seriously impressive operation! This remarkably rich lode gold mine was located in 1896 by a man named Thomas Bradbury in his backyard (we should all be so lucky). More than a million ounces of gold have been extracted from the Sixteen to One Mine over the course of its existence (an amount worth well over a billion US dollars at current gold prices) and there is still much more gold inside of the mine waiting to be found… The gold inside of the Sixteen to One Mine does not follow a set pattern and is instead found in rich pockets randomly scattered across the quartz vein that the mine follows. Some of the pockets of gold are as small as an ounce or two and others contain tens of thousands of ounces of gold. The very existence of the Sixteen to One Mine revolves around locating these pockets of gold. The lower levels of the mine are presently flooded, but they are being dewatered at this time as the Sixteen to One Mine has two new gold detectors with proven successes in identifying gold in quartz previously undetected with older models. The potential of this new technology has inspired the company to pay the price of dewatering and rehabilitating the lower levels of the mine in order to pursue the gold they know is down there. No one has walked inside of the 3000 level since 1939 and so one can only imagine what might be found down there now. At present rates of pumping, the water in the lower levels of the mine is dropping at the rate of about 100 feet per month and access to the 3000 level may be restored by as soon as June of 2018.
On this visit, we entered through the 800 Crosscut and first proceeded to the 49 Winze. Following this, we then headed deeper inside of the mine before dropping down through multiple levels to an incredible cavern that the miners carved out inside of the Sixteen to One Mine – the company calls this “The Ballroom” for its immense size and acoustics…
For more information on the Sixteen to One Mine or even to buy physical gold or stock shares from the company, one can visit their website at: http://www.origsix.com/
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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 niche of our history is gone forever. But, guess what? We have fun 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 hundred years, 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
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Titan ger 500 or 1000 device might be useful ? Arkansas diamond field ?
all of that had to be an awesome adventure! my compliments sir
You lucky guy having to listen to a group of babbling people
When I owned a commercial photolab in Grass Valley the owners brought in some film to be developed of a strike they had just made, sometime in the early 90s. I won’t give out the details, but those images were flown out to an investors meeting immediately after development and printing. The mine has had a long history.
Why do they cover things?
….Once again, speeding up the video so we can’t see all the partying that goes on with your excursions…..
🙂
Thank you for your knowledge if you didnt know all this stuff I would not know because I’m learning from you..
Thank you TVR…. I learned alot and enjoyed the tour and info.
I know you were tempted to go into the "unexamined areas".
Money
At 15:40 that seemed like a sketchy spot kinda scary lol your definitely very brave to go in them places. Stay safe and Godbless!!
Wow what a cool mine. Your headlamp seams brighter than most, who makes it?
I am shocked to see your bring a number of greenhorns into a active underground mine without the proper safety equipment ( steel toe boots, self rescues,check into board tags). MSHA needs to issue a stop working order ASAP
Interesting & informative – thx for routing us here via recent vid, I hadn’t yet viewed this one. I 1st moved out West in 1984, & am still learning new things about CA’s rich history.
Where is the water that is being pumped from the lower levels going to end up at?
Theorizing that magnetic iron would slow gold flow? So shouldn’t the iron streaks along quartz be followed?
At 6’5", going into a mine is not really a wise option for me, but, as a lifelong rock hound, this video is pure porno for me. Thank you. Now, I think I’ll go smoke a cigarette and have a sandwich.
I noticed the guide sort of clammed up after everyone kept talking over her commentary. Bummer for us.
Neat!
Naica quartz mine a favorite , seemingly the quartz could be made into expensive quartz coffins (like fantasy Cinderella coffin ? )or quartz tumbstones ,lots of quartz in Naica quartz mine,seemingly there should be a market for all that quartz ?
Couldn’t diving equipment be used to explore underwater sections ? Small battery powered air pumps are available , probably need dive suit if It’s that cold ?
I knew an old character by the name of Earl Felch who claimed to be a mine electrician there and also dove with scuba gear to recover a pump in the flooded part of the mine. He was there in the 60’s or 70’s. He also blew himself up transporting blasting caps in the cab of his truck. He had scars all up and down his right side to prove it! Not a good idea keeping your electric caps on the front seat of your truck!
The compressed timers are sketchy!! I wouldn’t want to hang out in that room for very long!
she looks like a good fucker
Heaven is paved with pure gold!! It is so pure it looks like glass, I want to be true to my Savior so I can go there.
My apologies here,
When say 800 is that length of feet into mine from opening……can u post a link that explains significance of what these numbers mean. Thanks for great Videos …….
Thank you! An outstanding video. Good job, I envy you!
Chute
If i was mining back then i’d eat the gold as I mined it, then collected it later in the day after a big meal. Hehe
20:53 Nothing like exploring a mine in your wet new balance tennis shoes.
Oregon House represents!👊🏽
I grew up about 50 miles north of there in Plumas County where there’s dozens abandoned mines, as a teenager once I went in one with some friends (I wasn’t thrilled about it) a week later there was a cave-in in it, since then I have refused to tempt fate.
Being in California do you ever think of earthquakes? I would, just a little…lol.
Chute. Lmao
Nice to see the map and hear the back-story. cool mine.
Absolutely incredible!!! Stunning how large this mine is!!
Chipmunks?
Very impressive Indeed!! Incredible to think about so much gold inside that granite!
Cool video! I wonder what the procedure was when an earthquake went off. I bet it depended on the Richter scale power of the quake.
If they don’t own the 26 mile radius above the mine legally today they wouldn’t be able or allowed to mine on the property underneath or around another person’s property
Your narration is just one of the things that make your videos better than the other mine explorers.
That guy with the white hat is an accident waiting to happen in a dark hole in the ground.
Ore Shoot is spelled correct, if what to say anything is or is not correct in the first place.
In mining and geology, an ore shoot is a long seam of mineral or metal bearing rock that can be profitable to extract. The term may have originated in the 17th and 18th centuries when various theories existed on the origins of ore deposits, including some that suggested they grew like trees
ok what kind of metal detectors is it they have that goes deep to find gold, I have quarts veins south of me 20 feet deep so could use one, I have mined so not stupid but still need help. thank you
They sound like underwear noms
In about 20 years the assay community will find that more than likely the 16-1 has more palladium than gold…. possibly platinum with the presence of chrome… For now the gold is a good find….
Interesting. Thank You for the trip
So since you cant process ore with cyanide anymore are they just interested in the lode ore?
WHERE WERE THEY WORKING IN THE MINE NEVER SAW THEM
hum I old hard of hearing sooooooooooo what was the story on the smell of gold, I live in a lot of old gold mining and big long white veins