JeepAndrew’s Abandoned Mines Thread

T-minus 3 days before we plunge into the dark again...

 

@JeepAndrew

Thanks for the thread. Really cool to read. I grew up and currently live in an area that has a plethora of old mine shafts. Did some exploration as a kid. Now I’m older, and that’s a bunch of nope for me.
Anyways, it’s interesting to see the pics you posted. If you want to know more about the mines where I am at, his me up via PM or email.

 

Cool man! Yeah I’d like to check that out.

 

Okay, it’s been a while. Time to fire this thread back up!

These pics are from my trip to Utah back in August (its been a while I know .)

Posing at the 300 level shaft station.


Jeremy at the 400 level!


Headed further down the ladders...


Electrical equipment on the 500 level for the dewatering pumps.


500 level, Travis poses next to a very old riveted iron air tank!


Working our way deeper into the 500 level. Compressed air and water pipes run overhead.


Some nasty wood shoring..


Much more to come!!

 

Be careful working those transmission towers!

 

Always careful!

 

Just read through the entire thread over the last couple of days, a fantastic read!

Thank you for taking the time to post all these reports up. Stay safe out there!

 

Incredible. Thank you for sharing. Stay safe my friend.

 

When you see this thread get bumped but realize its not @JeepAndrew

 

I’m still here! Sitting on a shitload of pics from some recent trips! Uploading soon!

 

Well, it’s been a long while since I’ve posted to here! A lot has happened in the meantime. New developments and trips into the dark, and there’s a lot of pics that need to be dumped onto this thread. Stay tuned...

 

Sneak peek:

 

Oh hell yeah!

 

This means I need to go acquire more AOL CD ROMs to get some more internet minutes!

 

This America Online 256k modem is killing me!

 

So, to recap this last 10 months or so.

I officially became a part time tour guide for Tombstone Silver Mine Tours, guiding the most daring explorers on the Girard Extreme Tours, through the massive Girard/Toughnut/Empire Mine complex.

The Girard Extreme Tours consists of two tour routes. The somewhat easier route is about 3 hours, 3/4 of a mile and takes you down to 200 feet. The second is 5-7 hours and goes down to 400 feet. Pretty hardcore spelunking with both routes, but the 5-7 hour tour is obviously far more difficult! I might be a little biased when I say that it’s worth every minute to take my tours!

Next up, when the Covid lockdowns hit in March, we closed all our mine tours in Tombstone. At the same time, overtime at work came to a grinding halt. This left plenty of time to continue the ongoing survey and mapping of the massive complex under Tombstone. So, weekend after weekend was spent underground, 7-12 hour days. We worked meticulously through the system towards the east, and so far have mapped around 15 miles of workings!

As I’m sure you all can imagine, we have tons of pics, and a lot of stories to tell. Untouched areas were everywhere. Lots of videos too! A pic dump is well overdue here, so starting tonight I’ll be posting some of the many pics and videos!

 

looking forward to your pics and videos!

 

X2

 

TOMBSTONE SURVEYS!

This place just keeps going and going! Every time we’re down there, we find more and more to explore. I have to say, having access to this amazing mine complex has been nothing short of an incredible experience!



A crosscut on the 500 level of the West Side Mine. Ran in the early 1950s, this passage is larger than most others in the older, upper parts of the mine. This system of crosscuts runs on for miles down here, connecting all the major mines.

See the line on the walls? That’s one of the high water marks from when this crosscut floods with ground water, which occurs often! Drought conditions here in recent years have dried out this part of the mine.


Our mapping expert, Tom, waits for his son to get off rope behind. It’s a 75ft rappel down a nasty ladder in an ore pass to reach this level!


Break time! And time to consult some older state surveyed maps.


Lots of instability down here, extreme caution is needed!


Water came in here from the nearby Toughnut Mine, which had a major fire in the 1940s. Soot and burned debris came in with the water, and this soot stained everything a dark gray/black color.


Rusted old ore bucket discarded in a drift.


After nearly 4 hours on the 500, we decided to head back up to older workings. During our survey, we found a much better access point into the Toughnut Mine above, and so we went back up that way. We will go back and de-rig the rope we used to get down there later

As we got back into the Toughnut, we stumbled across this. This is the very bottom of the Toughnut Shaft, 400 feet down, and now choked with rocks, debris, and burned timbers from the fire I mentioned. This metal device was the cage, or elevator car, that ran up and down the shaft. When the shaft burned, the cable snapped and it fell down here to its final resting place.


9 hours underground.. time to head back up! It’s a 2 mile hike to the surface from here. Lots of ladders between.