JeepAndrew’s Abandoned Mines Thread

First, a necessary disclaimer. I know, it’s a buzzkill, but a handful of close calls and near death experiences on my part compel me to state this:

Mine exploring is dangerous. Very dangerous. Yes, those PSAs about abandoned mine hazards and “stay out stay alive” aren’t just spewing nonsense. Engaging in this activity without proper knowledge, necessary gear, common sense, experience and careful attention WILL eventually lead to an accident, which will more than likely result in injury or death.

There are many hundreds of thousands of abandoned mines in the western United States, and while some mines may be safer than others, NO abandoned mine is “completely safe”. And just because one may be heavily visited by the public, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s safe to enter. Conditions underground can change in a matter of hours, sometimes even minutes. Ceilings that were stable yesterday can fail today. A hidden gas pocket could be kicked up and pushed into the area you are by a sudden drop in barometric pressure, or change in the wind outside.

Mines are very dynamic places that are constantly changing and aging, and those two fundamental characteristics (and the hidden hazards they create) are the #1 biggest danger to anyone entering, including the most experienced explorers. It's impossible to know, or predict, when those hidden hazards will rear their ugly heads.

Some of these hazards may include, but are not limited to:

-unstable and falling rock.
-poisonous atmosphere (bad gas).
-unstable or rotten timbers barely holding back many tons of rock.
-“false floors” wood-planks, often buried, over deep holes in passages.
-old explosives, like Det cord, dynamite, gelatin, ANFO or blasting caps.
-standing water, that could release dissolved poisonous gasses when disturbed.

Any one of these hazards , as well as some I haven’t listed here, could trap you, suffocate you, crush you, bury you alive to die of thirst or starvation, or send you on a long tumbling fall to your death, without any warning.

Let’s say something bad happens while you’re in a mine and you need professional rescue. Here are some things to expect-

1- If something bad happens, the only way to get you out may be to bring in a specialized cave/mine SAR technical rescue team (assuming you survive said stupid decision, If not then the operation will be a “recovery” and not a rescue) This team may have to come from hundreds of miles away, if not from another state. Assuming you survive to be rescued, you WILL be financially responsible for the entire rescue, which could stretch into the hundreds of thousands of dollars,

2- You WILL also be charged to the fullest extent of state (and/or Federal) law after an above mentioned SAR team technical mine rescue, also assuming you survive the event that lead to you needing rescue.

3- If the authorities and SAR team cannot rescue you due to extreme hazards, unstable workings or very severe injury on your part, you will more than likely be left to die underground and/or will be entombed where you are (this has happened before, as recently as 4 years ago in Nevada).

Another very crucial point to consider, mine exploring is almost always illegal. Many states have laws in place making this activity a misdemeanor at the least (and in some states, a felony). In Arizona, for instance, it’s considered felony criminal trespass. These laws have not come about without reason (you can thank the many idiots that have been injured or killed doing something that had no business doing for these laws).

I have had run-ins with law enforcement on several occasions, but luckily they’ve been lenient and I’ve never been cited or arrested. I consider that to be a combination of really good luck, the professionalism of myself and the groups I’ve been exploring with (if they catch you exploring in flip flops, shorts, no head protection and holding a Harbor-Freight flashlight, you’re probably fucked) and very personable responding officers. All these encounters have been on public land, and are EXCEPTIONS to the rule, and not the norm.

I do not encourage anyone to enter an abandoned mine for any reason. If you already do go into mines, thats your deal. Otherwise, let this thread and it’s pictures be your window into these places. Stay out stay alive is the best policy.

A little background on myself: I have 15 years experience doing this, beginning just after high school, when my uncle introduced me to the hobby. He had many years in the mining industry and held several mining claims near the town of Aravaca AZ. It started out helping him with work on his claims and digging out gold ore, and quickly evolved into a passion. I became interested in mining history, which only furthered my passion. Over the years I built up experience and a skill set, and began to get together with others that shared the interest. I've explored hundreds of mines here in Arizona, and have seen some incredible and amazing things during my explores, some of which I'll be sharing on this thread.

A few years ago, I made a friend that happened to be part of a large multi-state exploring group, and he invited me on an exploring trip through a large mine in southern NV. After a couple trips with the group, I gained their trust and began trading site and location names with them, and they gave me names and locations in other states, namely Nevada and Utah. It was suggested that I learn how to rappel, as many of the sites they visited were only accessible by rope gear. I made up a list of necessary equipment with the help of a group member, and started learning this new skill set. Not too long after, I made my first rappel into a vertical shaft.

Fast forward a few years. Aside from the usual weekend excursions, the group schedules big exploring trips. These trips usually span at least a week, and happen annually in June. Sometimes it’s a small group of us (2-4 members). Other times, it’s larger groups. A lot of the pics you’ll see here are from the larger annual trips.

List of gear used by myself and our other team members to explore mines:

-Caving/arborist helmet

-multiple bright light sources

-LOTS of batteries

-large backpack with water/food/first aid supplies

-4 gas detector (to monitor oxygen, carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulfide and flammable gasses)

-Vertical rappelling gear and ropes (if needed)

-hard toed shoes

-gloves

-knee pads (for crawling through piles of sharp rocks)

-jeans and long sleeves (sometimes coveralls)

There a several mine tours throughout the state of Arizona, and many other states, to see places like these in a safer and completely legal manner, namely The Copper Queen in Bisbee or Tombstone Silver Mine Tours in Tombstone..

**SITE AND LOCATION NAMES WILL NOT BE SHARED OR GIVEN TO ANYONE ON THIS THREAD** Sorry, but with the current rampant problems with theft and vandalism (and subsequent closure) at places like these (Martinez Mine is a prime example), all it takes is one person to share a mine name to the wrong people and then the site is trashed and destroyed. Besides, most of these places posted here are inaccessible without vertical gear and dangerous vertical shaft rappels.

I will also be linking over a Youtube channel by a fellow explorer that I've ran with on many occasions. His channel has dozens of videos of great mines.

Here's his channel:
https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCxhNU-gNyPq2lXA7JhLB90Q/videos

Alright, so before reading through this thread and viewing pictures, I figured posting a glossary or mining terms would be a good idea, and knowing the definitions to these terms will be helpful as you read through and view pictures.

Shaft- a vertical or inclined entry from the earth's surface into a mine (any level opening you can walk into a mine through is NOT A SHAFT).

Compartment- a section of a vertical or inclined shaft partitioned off for a particular purpose (ladders, pipes/utilities, skip-way, hoist cage etc).

Collar- where a shaft or incline penetrates the earth's surface.

Adit- a horizontal entry into a mine (incorrect terms often used are “tunnel” or “shaft”).

Portal- where an adit penetrates the earth's surface.

Ore- mineable rock that contains valuable metals or minerals.

Ore body- a buried mass of ore that contains the mineral or metals to be mined.

Crosscut- a passage within the mine that crosses (cuts-across) through worthless rock (like granite or limestone) to access an ore body.

Drift- a passage within the mine that follows a “vein” in search of ore.

Stope- the hollow cavity left behind underground after an ore body is mined out.

Winze- a vertical or inclined hole punched in the floor of a drift, crosscut or stope. These are often equipped with hoists and/or ladders. Often the top of a raise.

Raise- a vertical or inclined hole leading up from a drift, crosscut or stope. These are often equipped with ore chutes and/or ladders. Often the bottom of a winze.

Ore chute- a wooden sluice protruding into a drift or crosscut from a raise. Used to load ore and waste rock into ore cars for transport.

Ore car- a 4 wheeled “train car” that is used to transport rock through the mine.

Now that that’s out of the way,
let’s go!

 

From my most recent trip, Central Nevada. This state has never ceased to amaze me. With most of the state being very remote and desolate, there’s lots to see, if you know where to look

First one was from a 1900 foot deep shaft. After a very long and nasty rappel we found ourselves on the 500 level. It was immediately evident that nobody had been down there in a very long time. The whole place was like a time capsule, frozen in time on the day it was shut down in the mid 1950s. Equipment left in place everywhere. Even found boot prints and hand prints left by the miners in mud before the mine closed!

-EIMCO ROCKER SHOVEL- called a mucker, very rare find underground. Basically a compressed air powered front loader for loading rock into ore cars.


A back shot of the mucker. Notice the large boulder laying next to it, which probably came out of the ceiling at some point very unexpectedly and quickly. A great example of one of the many hazards in these places.


Lots and lots of long passages (actual term is “drift” or “crosscut” depending on actual purpose of the passage). Notice the track and pipes for water and compressed air still in place!? This was actually a crosscut, and over a 1/4 mile long from one end to the other. This level had a total of over 3 miles of drifts and crosscuts.

Another long drift, with a functioning track switch leading to another branching drift.

Ore cars! Turned out to be three 2 ton capacity (I think) side dumpers left at a four-way drift junction. Age was assumed to be mid 1900s. Notice the “500 30” painted on the wall near the air line. We were fairly certain these numbers were to identify sections of the mine.




An older side-dump ore car in a disused side drift, probably closer to early 1900s in age.


My friend Drake kneeling next to a small compressed air driven hoist, used to drag large buckets of rock up a steep section of the mine.


Another shot of the track switch. This place went on forever, exploring it all took almost 5 hours total.

 

Obligatory Taco camping pic The huge rock pile behind our camp is waste rock from our next mine.


Another nearby mine, this one was a 700ft walk from the surface to a gigantic ballroom stope (a stope is the cavity left behind after the valuable rock, ore, is removed). Stopes can be any shape or size, depends on the size and shape of the orebody the miners found while tunneling. This stope was 300x500x100ft, definitely large! Large stopes like this are referred to as "ballrooms".

Upon entry into the stope, we walked out onto this massive wooden loading platform. Solid and no movement, despite being built in the 1920s.


We climbed down onto the stope floor, and could really gain a sense of scale of the platform. The ceiling is 100 feet above me in this pic.

Another shot of the platform, along with the appropriately named "ladder of death" I'm sure you're wondering what the wooden A-frame on the platform is for. It's a hoisting tower (called a 'Head Frame") that supported the hoisting system for a 600ft deep shaft below the platform in the floor of the stope.


My brother-in-law lending some scale to this massive place. This pic doesn't even catch a third of this huge ballroom!

Looking up from under the platform to the head frame.


Looking down the 600ft shaft under the platform.

 

A very old, secret and seldomly visited mine here in Arizona. 350ft steeply sloped shaft that is mostly collapsed at the surface. The tunnel system at the bottom connects to another tunnel system of a nearby mine to the west. Access involves rapelling 100ft from the surface into a large hole next to the shaft, walking across the bottom of the hole to the shaft below the collapse, and re-rigging rope to drop the next 250ft.

One of the group members, Dan ready to drop into the 100ft hole.


Me dropping the first 50 feet after rigging to go down the shaft. 200ft to go!


Reached the 175 level (175ft below the surface) and ran across this cool fully timbered room with a late 1800s steam driven hoist. All those upright supports are raw pine that was harvested from a nearby mountain range back in the 1880s!


A flat car, used to haul tools and equipment through the mine.


After a long drop we reached the bottom at 350 feet. Here, shaft ends on a platform (you can see the two rails and ladder in the background) and the 350 level drift takes off behind me. Two ore cars, one disassembled and another intact, still sit on the platform. Based on historical research, my best guess is those cars haven't moved since 1907-08.


Another flat car on the 350 level. This one was probably used to move timber supports.


Another shot of the 350 level at the shaft

 

lol

 

Patience my friend, uploading pics now!

 

Patience is Virtue.................

 

Pics added to second post! Very time consuming...

 

Pretty sick

 

Damn that’s cool. Don’t have anything like that down here in Florida

 

In.

I love stuff like this. Thanks for posting!

 

Gotta go through this thread later..

 

Pics are Awesome man.... Actually being there has to be an exciting adventure. Never knowing what to expect and to see around the next bend or drift.... Glad to see these mines are still accessible for explorers like you.

 

Dude that's awesome! Subbd

 

Subadubalublub

 

subbed

 

So in! This is giving me my itch to go again dude. We will need to make something happen again soon

 

well worth the wait haha

pics are unreal dude. Count me in!