Took a 1/2 day drive into the desert.

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Spent a couple hrs looking at old mines and just cruising around looking at stuff. I stole some of the pics from my wife's Facebook.

The mine was last worked in 1920

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They ought to plug that mine shaft up. I've seen kids get stuck in those, fire department had to be called to get them out.
 
Originally Posted by oil_film_movies
They ought to plug that mine shaft up. I've seen kids get stuck in those, fire department had to be called to get them out.

This one goes in straight. The pic with the ladder Is a stope that goes straight up. Not down.
 
Originally Posted by Chris142
Originally Posted by oil_film_movies
They ought to plug that mine shaft up. I've seen kids get stuck in those, fire department had to be called to get them out.

This one goes in straight. The pic with the ladder Is a stope that goes straight up. Not down.
I obviously don't know up from down. The word "stope" I had to look up too. Not doing too well today.
 
There are unsafe mines in the area. Usually ready to cave in. This one is blasted through solid Rock and is not going anywhere. It's been through many large earthquakes in the area and still solid. The problems are dummies that go into a mine with no light and fall down a hole,others go upnor down levels and get lost or hurt.

I really enjoy going into them. I'm fascinated by them. I want to know how and who was there 100+ years ago and knew what to look for. Decided to blast a tunnel right here. The area is still way out in the boonies. Quite a long trip from any neaby town when on a horse or walking a donkey.

In order to find these places someone had to walk every inch of every hill and canyon!
 
I used to live in the Mojave. Palmdale. I'm trying to remember what they could have been looking for there. Any ideas what the mining ore was?
 
Originally Posted by oil_film_movies
I used to live in the Mojave. Palmdale. I'm trying to remember what they could have been looking for there. Any ideas what the mining ore was?

This was a Gold mine. Most in this area were Gold. One a few hills over was a Copper mine. Silver was farther north in Calico. This area was called "The dry lakes mining District" at one time.

I posted a link in an earlier post. Here is the mine we are standing in front of. https://westernmininghistory.com/mine_detail/10035680/
 
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Wonder if they ever found any gold there? Or enough to make it worthwhile. Interesting.

Well, I used to live closer to Willow Springs International Raceway in the Mojave, too far from your trip, sadly, or else you could have set a new track record in an FJ Cruiser there that day.....

I was reading about a Gold Mine (really cave) discovered a long time ago, 1541, and then re-discovered around ~1920, in Colorado called La Caverna del Oro - The Cave of Gold, Colorado.
https://www.legendsofamerica.com/caveofgold/

Then there was this one in Texas, from an account in a 1907 newspaper:
https://www.coloradohistoricnewspap...mp;e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN--------0-
 
Originally Posted by oil_film_movies
They ought to plug that mine shaft up. I've seen kids get stuck in those, fire department had to be called to get them out.


They say in Arizona there are 10,000 abandoned mine shafts all over the state. A short while ago a guy was going down one to do some prospecting and his rope broke. He spent a couple of days in it before he was rescued.
 
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