Exploring the Remains of a Historic Gold Mine in the Los Padres National Forest
Exploring the Remains of a Historic Gold Mine in the Los Padres National Forest
The historic Contact mine is located deep within the Los Padres National Forest. The mine was first discovered in 1897 and was worked intermittently until the 1930’s by the Harris brothers. It was probably worked on the small scale in more recent years.
Not much remains of the mine at all. The two-stamp mill, located far below the mine, has been removed, and the three cabins have been destroyed. The three adits of the mine are currently caved, which is unfortunate, as the lowest adit was open three years ago. It apparently went in about 1000 ft., though, I was never able to explore it that far as there was a major collapse about 150 ft. inside. The collapse looked like it could be bypassed, but this would be treacherous as the mine is very unstable.
Outside the lowest adit is a large Sturtevant Multivane blower. This would blast fresh air into the mine to clear away dust and to provide ventilation. The fan is probably fairly old, but it appears to have been retrofitted with a newer electrical motor. I also found a broken ore cart wheel in the canyon below the mine. It’s always nice to find historical pieces of mining equipment.
2 deer, O S M R
We expect Nature to slowly reclaim evidence of our passing but it’s infuriating when the Forest Service or BLM makes the arbitrary decision to deny us the ability to see what was a major contributor to this countries wealth and westward expansion. Glad you could document what you could. I notice you seem to come across mines that have seen little to no visitation by souvenir thieves. Good for you but I hope no one else follows. Thanks for sharing.
Great video as always
Good stuff bro thanks for sharing!
Check out my IG @LosPadresLostBoy I’m super into local history too
Just sub’d
Cool blower! That was a rattler in the rocks right? Not sure if it was rattling or the sound came from the camera zoom
Me and my mining exploration buddy we dig out the collapses so that way we don’t need to turn around haha 😂 if your not gonna risk your self like a old miner then don’t be a mine explorer if you don’t wanna go any where with a slight collapse in it
Thank you for documenting this would be forgotten piece of history for us.👏
U must be near the old smelters too
Is this on Frazier?
Did you access this from the bottom or the top of the mtn?
Great stuff. There’s another Contact Mine in Joshua Tree (unrelated). Love that rattler.
Thanks. Great Content.
Nice find!