Mines Like This Aren't Supposed To Be In California
Mines Like This Aren't Supposed To Be In California
The title of this video is a nod to those that say that all of the abandoned mines in Southern California have been sealed up by the government or plundered by “collectors” to the point that they are just featureless holes in the ground… They have not. And the impressive mine in this video is proof of that, despite abandoned mines like this not supposedly not existing in Southern California anymore. These abandoned mines are not unicorns. They are still out there. Yes, one must work much harder to find them now in such places, but they are still out there. We can only marvel at the golden age of mine exploring in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s when such abandoned mines were everywhere…
For a mine of this size, there is surprisingly little information available on it. Part of this is due to the fact that, unlike states such as Nevada or Arizona that have digitized their archives and made them available to the public, California has done nothing with their historical archives other than make them extremely difficult to access. Many of them are in Sacramento, but others are scattered across the state and one must be credentialed to simply review them in many instances. Naturally, even if any of them have been digitized, none of these have been made widely accessible to the public. It’s California. What can I say?
However, even with the obstacles presented by the Golden State taken into account, there is still surprisingly little information available on this mine. Once you’ve seen how large and impressive this mine is, I think you’ll agree that that is somewhat odd.
What I have uncovered seems to indicate that this was primarily a lead and silver mine, with copper, gold and zinc also being present in small, but rich quantities. Works appears to have started in the early 1900s and continued into the 1950s.
Credit for the discovery of this site goes to Mine Explorers (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxhNU-gNyPq2lXA7JhLB90Q)
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All of these videos are uploaded in HD, so I’d encourage you to adjust your settings to the highest quality if it is not done automatically.
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. But, you know what? We enjoy 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 century, 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
#MineExploring
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Did it drop to the waterline down there?
Can we get a city? I ride dirt bikes in the deserts of SoCal. Constantly looking for some
I wish to do this. I thought rock climbing was cool. This is way cooler.
I explored many similar mines when I lived in the southern part of the mother load. It was amazing how well preserved most of them were. I learned that many of the smaller operations were simply shut down because of WW2. Nice video. Thx.
lets get a few things straight giant petrified trees cover the earth to many facts now to dispute . fact erbody they all still want gold and its higher than ever ever
You obviously haven’t been in a lot of california mines, not to disrespect but i could show you at least 8 mines right around where i live that are just as extensive as that
You and ghost town living so need to link up
Love all of your videos. How is the mine coming along. Thank you
Vericose veins, just what I always wanted
If u still check your comments plz drop the location of the mine so that we can experience the same as u did
everything unnatural died in the great flood and turned to stone if you would have told me that 5 years ago i would have thought you were crazy but the evidence way outweighs all the lies
EX coal miner here. I didn’t hear you mention this, but I wanted to share my perspective on the timbers built like a cage in the beginning. I would typically see those placed at natural fault lines. When you pass threw a fault line( litteraly huge cracks in the rocks) , it would typically be one of the more dangerous areas in the mine. Sometimes there is enough space to make the fault cave like after the roof falls. The cage was typically built for some support and light protection.
I hope you have a portable atmosphere detector for dead air and explosive gas, any enclosed space can be deadly
Y’all ever find nuggets of gold or anything? As a fledgling knife maker i’d love to walk off with a pick to make a knife from. :" be safe.
Looked like a lot of gold bearing ore in there
Hey what’s the green looking rock/minerals on the walls? Looks turquoise.
they figured out the earth was really covered with giant petrified trees like myself recently so they mined the shit out of them . turn to stone
Please excuse my ignorance, recently new viewer, but do you know why they quit working these mines that you explore? If it’s because the mine is no longer producing and no longer profitable, then why don’t they at least take out their equipment? Seems to me it would be several thousand in scrap value alone.
I’m a Southern Californian! I’d love to know the coordinates of this one! Exploration and preservation are key for mines like this! My wife and I love exploring Johnson valley to death Vally and california city! We live in Ventura.
Dude, those pants could have been a vintage pair of Levi’s worth a lot of money. I was watching a different YouTube channel of mine explorer’s that came across several pair of vintage Levi’s from late 1800’s that where a shit ton of money!! 100s of thousands.
I’ve been looking for some cool abandoned mines to explore. Are there any by LA county? Wheres this one at?
notices the white on the walls thats what they follow
Clickbait. Not a single unicorn in the video.
Amazing. Hauled that tank in the mine
anyone knows where this is ive only been to big horn mine
Did this in the u p mi. In the 70 s it was cool.
For this being in So Cali going through a multitude of earthquakes; How in the hell did this stay intact as well??? Very amazing!!!!!
Plz and thank you
You gotta get yourself a modern iPhone and do some lidar scans of these mines!
what were they mining for in this cave?
I have stumbled on a few were I live in Coleville CA. most have been collapsed (probably on purpose) but I have found a few that are vertical shafts that go into blackness.
Curious how you avoid/watch out for gasses while exploring mines? Do you have tricks or things to look for?
A bud light at 2:22😂
where is the mine located
and notice the end when you look down in the pit all that is wood structure petrified wood alot of it retains the brown wood color
this cave you can see some one went back in and chipped the walls looking for something? gold modern two by fours
Every abandoned mines are very dangerous to all of us.
very unique mine right there, but that’s the amazing thing about exploring old mines, each ones different
I’m a land surveyor by trade, I love seeing the survey markings you walk by in the mines.
Great find! Return trip!
what do u supposed the riveted tank was used for, air storage from a compressor outside?
all the different colors you see in the caves is from leaching minerals of giant petrified trees minerals make clear, white stone of many colors and coal and gold the gold is always near the clear and white
Wonder how many were killed in that mine ???
watch my uuuuuuuuuu video play list and telll me giant trees dont exist
stop the video at 30.05 where he says a stope here and shows the little cut out hole see that brown tree structure looks just like wood dont it
Dude the gimble is really paying off. Its so nice to see everything so smoothly and without excess shake/noise. Thanks for the great video!
You sound a lot like Christine Slater Lol…. Nice video. Good descriptions and educated information. Thanks!
Mines like that re all over California
14:22 "not sure what that is", its a door to another dimension. come in. relax. sit.
Is that gold shimmering in the walls?