JeepAndrew’s Abandoned Mines Thread

We sometimes use laser range finders to measure distances down shafts and what not. We usually have maps of the mine we're in that will show depth most of the time. Sometimes there's even depth numbers spray painted or written in carbide soot (from older carbide lamps) in some places.

 

Keep it coming. Awesome thread!

 

I'm still gathering up all the photos I have and will be posting more soon. I also have a week-long exploring trip to Utah and Colorado planned for mid-June. I'll be dumping lots of photos onto this thread after that!

 

Another great Central Nevada location! This one had been collapsed for quite some time, until a mining LLC out of Utah acquired it and excavated the entrance. Inside the mine, more than a mile from the surface, was an equipment and artifact bonanza!!

This site had an internal shaft (called a "winze") that began on the 400ft level drift. This winze had it's own underground head frame and hoist room. This mine was operated off and on over the course of 75 years and used steam in the early years. Later, the mine was wired for electric power. As a result, two different hoists stood side by side in the hoist room. A turn-of-the-century steam hoist, left in place due to size and expense to dismantle and haul out. And an electric hoist, installed in the 1930s.

After a 6500ft walk from the surface, we found the main power switch for the mine.


And here's where that power would go to, three large transformers that reduce 2,400 volts to 480 volts to run the newer 50 horsepower electric hoist motor.


Incredible, the mother of all mine exploring discoveries.. 16 large ore cars parked in a side drift.. This one drift had more ore cars than I had ever seen in one place!!

A massive double drum steam hoist for a nearby 500ft deep shaft. Another absolutely incredible find!!


This thing was huge. All the controls, valves, cylinders, pipes etc still in place, as if it was shut down yesterday.


A shot of the steam hoist from the back, showing the twin depth gauges (standing upright with clearly visible arrow pointers), control handles, steam cylinders, and throttle wheels that look repurposed from an old ship!


We named this car "lucky 13". still sitting on a track siding at a junction, along with a mine phone hanging from the pipes above.


The headframe for the 500ft winze. You can see the elevator cage still hanging in the right-hand compartment.

 

Well I’m currently in Utah, 30 miles outside of Milford. Been busy trudging around underground! Been getting tons of pics but cell reception has been iffy. Stay tuned!

 

Awesome thread and great pics! Stay safe out there.

 

Okay, finally have good cell reception.

Way out in the middle of nowhere in southern Utah, we found this great location. Huge 60ft tall headframe over a 900ft shaft! Of course we went down, but only to 300 feet, as that’s all we had for rope.

The entire site, headframe, equipment house and ore loading area off to the right.

This is one of the coolest headframes I’ve ever seen, and one of the largest!

Ore loading area (ore bin/tipple and loading chutes).

150 feet down the shaft, a stope filled with squareset timbering and timber lagging!

Not too far down from that, a drift level with some extensive stoping and neat underground tipple.

More huge stopes!

Massive place, this stope was large enough to fit a single story house in

Three transformers have sat disused for over 60 years.

A hoist room that serviced an interior shaft that went down almost 600 feet but was unfortunately flooded up to 250 feet below the hoist room.

 

Will that stay on the radar to return to with more rope? Or did you get to everything that appeared to be accessible?

 

Amazing all this is still out there. What were they mining st this location?

 

It depends. A 900 foot climb is a long long way to climb on rope. On top of that the longest ropes we carry are 300 footers so you would need three of those, plus possibly a fourth 100 footer to get to the bottom

 

This property was lead and silver.

 

Well I’m back from my Utah/Nevada shenanigans, tonight I’ll upload a ton more photos!

 

Very cool

 

Eureka, Utah. Our first explore in the area, a 5000ft adit that connected to two different Mine complexes. We talked to the owner and got access to normally locked-up sites that he owned!

Entering at the surface


A thousand feet in at this point


Me inspecting the paper map we had of he complex while standing over a early 1900s compressed air hoist


Another shot of the hoist. It was very wet in this complex so everything was very rusted


An ore bucket! (Also called a Cornish Kibble)


This was a small cave the miners punched into at the 4300 foot mark while driving the main adit. It was lined on all sides with calcite crystals, like a giant geode!


Some carbide miner’s graffiti in the lower part of the cave


More graffiti






Me collecting calcite specimens


Lots more graffiti



A newspaper remnant dated April 15th 1915

 

In the same property as the last one, a 450ft adit extends into the mountain to an underground hoist and headframe over a 2,500ft deep shaft, one of the deepest in the area. Our goal was to use every foot of rope we had to drop to the 800ft level of the shaft, uncharted territory as no-one had been below the 500ft level since the mine closed!

Meeting at the surface with the company geologist to unlock the adit gate


At the gate, looking into 450 feet of semi-darkness (this mine had somewhat functional lighting)


The gate and surface from 75 feet in


A small battery-powered electric locomotive, called a “trammer”


If the batteries were charged I could’ve taken it for a spin!


The headframe, Jeremiah has his back to a hole almost 1/2 mile deep!



50 horsepower electric hoist still in place! Along with mostly untouched electrical infrastructure

Rotary control switch for the hoist


These two transformers reduce the 3 phase 2,400 volts from the surface to 480v for the hoist motor


Suitcase-sized 75 amp fuse boxes for the incoming 2,400v


2,400v circuit breakers


This third smaller transformer provided 120/240v for lighting.


The hoist with a failsafe counterweighted brake system


Looking up the headframe


Panorama of the hoist room!


Looking back towards the surface


Photos from our drop down the shaft soon to come!

 

Amazing!

 

This is such a fun thread to watch, thanks for posting this stuff!

I’m curious, I assume everyone carries CO monitors (as opposed to canaries anymore) but do you ever have to take any other precautions for breathing down with you? Not just chemical vapors but stuff like mold or fungus or even just generally fine particles?

 

A very good question!

Myself, as well as the guys in the group all have air monitors, and at least two of us has one on at all times underground, 100% of the time. This is very important, as bad air is the #2 killer in abandoned mines (#1 is falling rocks).

And yes, dust masks are an absolute necessity in 70-80% of the mines we explore, especially extremely dry mines. Rat droppings and bat guano are very common, and can carry viruses and fungus spores that can become airborne when disturbed. There’s actually a type of fungal pneumonia that can be caught from inhaling bat guano dust, that is fatal in 50-70% of cases.

Breathing in rock dust (particularly silicate dust) is a major hazard as well. Google “silicosis”.

 

Yeah I already knew about silicosis, it's some scary stuff!

I'd reckon you'd be likely to find asbestos down there too.

 

I have seen it before, in the form of Crysotile, but that’s fairly rare and property specific.