Lost Gold Mines Of The Sierras
Lost Gold Mines Of The Sierras
The brief explanation in the introduction didn’t really do the process of our discovery of this lost gold mine justice… So, for those with longer attention spans that take the time to read the description, here is some more detail for you: This started out as what I would best describe as a “speculative” mine exploring day. We had no specific destination in mind, but wanted to revisit a very old mining district in California that has been kind to us in the past. We weren’t in a rush and were simply venturing down ravines and across old mine workings that we had not explored before. One can actually see a number of interesting things when looking around these historic mining districts – we saw old bottles, bits and pieces of antique mining equipment, the remains of old miner’s cabins…
We stopped for lunch beneath the shade of a thick overhang of trees and brush and, while we were eating, we noticed the remains of a rock wall covered by the brush. Well, naturally, this piqued our curiosity and so when we finished eating, we pushed through the thick brush and discovered that the “rock wall” was actually the support for a trail cut into the side of a cliff rising above us. The interesting thing about this trail is that one literally had to be on it before being able to properly see it and to follow it.
Well, naturally, we started following the trail, which twisted higher and higher up the steep cliffs. We could see that animals had been using the trail, but there was no sign of any recent human activity at all – no modern trash, no branches cut back, no signs of old campfires… Nothing. After a long, sweaty, strenuous climb up, the trail abruptly ended at a landing created out of carefully stacked boulders and leveled out with fine dirt. This landing is completely invisible from the valley below and, in hindsight, is likely the terminus for the tram system employed by the miners. At the time, however, we did not know this.
So, we continued in the general direction that the trail had been trending. After literally crawling through the thick brush, dodging a rattlesnake and struggling to maintain our balance on the steep cliffs for about fifteen minutes, we were about to call it when we happened to spot some quartz through the thick brush. We made our way over to this quartz and discovered that it was fractured and had tumbled down from above. Well, in our experience, fractured rock is often waste rock from a mine. This was enough to send us charging straight up the steep hillside that the quartz had tumbled down and, sure enough, before long, we were slipping and sliding on the loose rock of a massive waste rock pile.
It was an old waste rock pile and so it had trees and brush growing all over it, but it was undoubtedly a waste rock pile. We soon began to additional encouragement from the waste rock pile in the form of old riveted ventilation pipes, pieces of a stamp mill, pieces of rail and countless other bits of unidentifiable metal that had been tossed down it. Scrambling up a rock pile covered in loose leaves and pine needles that is on a step slope is very much a case of 2 steps forward and 1.99 back!
What can I tell you about this mine other than what you saw in this video? Absolutely nothing… It is a phantom that doesn’t exist according to every database and map resource I have examined (and I have been doing this for a while, so I am pretty good at digging things like this up). I went even deeper by asking very knowledgeable local historians and miners that I trust and they all indicated that no mines are in the area where this mine is located. The lost gold mine remains a mystery.
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You can see the gear that I use for mine exploring here: https://bit.ly/2wqcBDD
As well as a small gear update here: https://bit.ly/2p6Jip6
You can see the full TVR Exploring playlist of abandoned mines here: https://goo.gl/TEKq9L
Thanks for watching!
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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 colorful niche of our history is gone forever.
So, yes, in short, we are adit addicts… I hope you’ll join us on these adventures!
#ExploringAbandonedMines
#MineExploring
#AbandonedMines
#UndergroundMineExploring
Absolutely insane find! 👍👍👍
Lots of minerals showing – find out who owns the claim – try to work out a deal and then start a new gold mining company – you can raise money on the Over the Counter Board – Pink Sheets = then you have to start Diamond Drilling to map what is hidden . Trust the Plan – I worked underground drilling/blasting from 1968- 2010 . This old mine has great potential = GOOD LUCK
Ever. Use. A. Gold. Detector
Amazing find!!! Thanks for leaving everything as is. Thanks for sharing!!
Awesome
If this mine is as old as you think it is…and as old as it looks from the flow stone over that drawing…the early crew may have been Welsh miners.
@36:10 is a pretty classic tommyknocker drawing.
Please explain what a whinz is? Im no miner, but I love this stuff.
Yes it did assa out good I have a piece of Quarts with a half inch thick piece of gold all the way through it
That was a huge bolt…. the question is …what kind of force bent it….?
ok the water is still down there watering the roots the bibles says that the water came from the ground .and it never rained before that
Hundreds of men who are long dead and forgotten worked in this mountain. And for what?
Jesus Christ is Lord
What A Awesome Find
The word is "scat"…….lol
Great video and its awesome you take the time to show us the rock composition and what the miners were looking for. Very informative and entertaining. You def got my sub after I watched this one!
No signs of wood, just rock and steel. Maybe a fire went through that area?
Go on….GET IN THERE!!!
its just alll quarts through here yeah yeah the s where the gold is was
Would u please find a gold nugget?? I love watching your adventures, but damn!!
thats not fault on the right its still the same color as the tree was you are in
so do they have maps of these tunnels and do thy look like a tree ? some of them ?
I just rewatched this video. It’s just amazing the interior size of the mine, plus all the pottery shards, and even melted glass (love anything glass). An especially good video! The amount of machinery parts, too. You can tell that no one knows it exists!
The mine looks as if it could be thousands of years old, with dry stone walls and roads everywhere something ancient is going on here when you look past the stuff the last miners left behind.
So apparently the bear does … 🙂
I don’t understand why you guys don’t do some sampling: you’ve got the water all you would need to do is pack in a pan and pan it out
I don’t know jack about mining, but you sure the hell have me interested & i don’t know any of your terminology that you are using, but you make it easy to understand you & what you are saying, i just subscribed to your channel & I’m a forever subscriber, i think that what you are doing is amazing & awesome & i will watch as many of your posts as i can & lean about what you’re doing, thanks for sharing
27:18 Those are most likely roasted acorns that the miners foraged off the land.
Great video. I appreciate the time you take exploring the mine and your narrative along the way. Keep exploring!!
No wonder there were fires all over out there li$tento the crunch in those leaves …do not strike. Not even 1 match .
i just wonder what the tons of gold would have been that came out of some of these . cha chiiiiiiing $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Thank you for answering the age ol question of "does a bear shit in the woods?" Lol
gold is what $1.775,6 ounce
At 30:20 I heard intense sniffing behind you and I thought it was your friend and then I saw the dog after that 😂🤣
I bet there is still a lot of gold left in there
These old mines all the hard work has been done, gold is in these old mines .
giant tree structure i can tell by just the colors alone at the very entrance
note that very big bolt is bent!
Clutch plate
What an incredible find. Unbelievable it wasn’t mapped. Fantastic.
GREAT GREAT VIDEO
31:25 Frank Ray Trunnels died January 11,1984. He was 78 years old. Born April 15, 1905. Buried in St.Angels Camp, CA. at Altaville Protestant cemetery.
Hey Guy Could u of found Lost Dutchman ?
It was hidden in the Sierra no one couldn’t find it had massive veins of Quartz Stone just curious would be cool if it was??
This seems like a very substantial mine to be completely undocumented. Great find!
incredible, beautiful mine just forgotten like that, congrats on finding it!
"Worked from 1890 until 1933, who knows in 500 years that old gold mine just might be 10X larger." A very nice fined indeed.
Should have brought your black light can’t you see the gold
awesome! thanks!
someone got hungry but left the acorns behind. most things in the tool crevisis are placed there. not sure why you think this couldnt be a low key mining operation in 1930, esp if your stealing from someone else property. 36:00 mickey mouse?
wow when yall keep looking up into the stopes and i keep seeing these rounded pillars . did you ever look at fire wood where a limb comes out from tree that’s what those are pine trees especially
probably a fairly large level below, but now flooded .
Have you ever tried to find information on the various mines you have found? When I lived in Colorado I found a little book store where I purchased many a book on hard rock mining. Your explorations bring it to life. I thank you.