Exploring Another Abandoned Hippie Rock (Fluorite/Fluorspar) Mine Near Las Cruces, NM
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ส.ค. 2022
- In this exploration adventure, joined with @ZiaMountainAdventures, we head to an abandoned fluorite mining district just outside of Las Cruces, New Mexico. This mining district featured here was discovered in 1917, mined intermittently from 1918 until 1928, leaving several adits and cuts that exploited several veins of fluorspar interlaced with barite. Much of the minerals here were hand-sorted and attempted to be milled near the site of the mines, adjacent to the nearby railroad. Unfortunately the milling efforts proved unsuccessful, and it was abandoned; leaving several hundred tons of barite near the current railroad- evidence of its past existence.
The abandoned mine we explore underground highlights a 400 foot-long adit that follows along a fluorite vein that is now an open stope, at some points, 20 feet wide. There are many bats currently residing inside, and in some areas, the odor of guano is overwhelming. There are some very interesting pieces of geology on the surface and underground in this one! I hope you enjoy!
On a side note, getting to this abandoned mine and back isn't terribly difficult hiking (in ideal weather). Perhaps one with an extremely capable, highly modified off-road vehicle could drive up to the mine, as many have done so in the past. I had knowledge that the derelict mining roads leading to this district have been destroyed from erosion over the many decades of rain and being abandoned, and a 4-wheel drive vehicle simply wouldn't succeed. With that being said, I decided to take along my brother's ATV to substitute the hiking in the interest of time. Unfortunately, the ATV option did not work out due to severe rock slides in one section ascending out of a canyon, and we reverted back to hiking 2.5 miles up to the mine.
Point being, I was not prepared for the hike and suffered from severe dehydration and possibly on the verge of heat stroke! I had at most- 3 hours of sleep the night before, and didn't drink enough water that night. I always carry 3 liters of water when I know a hike is not very far. This time it wasn't enough. The high temperature around 3 pm (when we were returning) was at 95 degrees. Not too bad, right? The anomaly was that the humidity was above normal for the desert ( about 60%), the wind was calm, and there was absolutely no shade. All of those factors in combination led to severe cramping starting from my calves, to my thighs, all of the way up to my jaw. It felt like I was being zapped with a taser at times, a very unpleasant and scary experience. Kenny and Todd didn't experience such symptoms as I, but those weather conditions did not favor them as well. In the end, I did make it to a local store and drank plenty of electrolyte beverages to get me home.
WARNING: Abandoned Underground's videos are intended for entertainment purposes. No intention of training, education or desire to duplicate actions performed in these videos are suggested, implied, or inferred. Performing actions that expose one to risk without proper training, education, or experience are inherently dangerous and should not be done.
I learned a valuable lesson on this trip- don't get complacent because a plan worked before. Always prepare and carry more supplies than you need. It may be an inconvenience due to weight, but as the adage states- "It's better to have it and not need it, rather than to need it and not have it."
Don't do this kind of thing without the proper knowledge, equipment, or experience!
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#AbandonedMines
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Great opening footage showing the open stopes from high above with your drone. That rock you described as being shaped like an eye was awesome! Very colorful, very unusual! Great footage of the bats - especially when you slowed down the footage and added in “Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy.” Those bats in the slowed-down footage looked larger than normal for some reason. Loved it! The polkadot rocks were also interesting to see. Next time I’m near a fluorite mine, I’ll have to keep an eye out for those. That view at 12:00 was also very nice. Superb video - as always!
Hey, Frank! I thought the opening shots and closing shots came out really nice. That piece of fluorite is right where we left it! It was a really unique specimen. The geological events that happened here made for some unusual mineral deposits! The bats slowed down DOES make them appear larger! This mine was filled with bats! Thank you for the compliments, as always Frank!
@@ABANDONED_UNDERGROUND I forgot to mention that I’m also glad you made it back from that expedition alive and in one piece after what you went through with the dehydration issues.
I learned a valuable lesson on this one! Just got back from another trip today, and it went smoothly!
Awesome thank you for sharing this. I miss living in Las cruces and having an endless desert to explore.
Thank you for watching! There's so much to see out in this area!
It sure is great
I like New Mexico. One reason my dad was born and raised there. It's rugged country but so beautiful. I like hiking the Sandias Mts.👍
It really is a special place! Thanks for the comment!
My dad always said it's hot in the sun but cool in the shade 😎
I have to get back the one of these days.
The dry heat is something
Hi Justin, some fantastic drone footage, the area has so many superb colours I was pleasantly surprised.
I totally agree, you took the best course of action in the circumstances, no video is worth either hurting
yourselves or dying from dehydration. A very cool explore, thank you for sharing, much love. xx ❤
I appreciate you enjoying the drone footage! I have a lot of fun getting those shots. Fluorite is a colorful mineral! It comes in almost all colors of the spectrum, it's just brittle, that's provo why it's not used in jewelry. That circumstance with the dehydration was rather odd, as we have hiked to that mine in hotter temperatures. Humidity may have had a lot to do with it, as it was unusually high that day. Thanks for watching, Sue!
Albuquerque New Mexico is my hometown I enjoy your videos thank you
Thank you for the kind words, and thank you for watching!
Thanks for bringing our hillbilly butts with ya! That was an awesome mine! Great edit as always!! Slo mo bats were awesome!👍
Thank you guys for teaming up again! Maybe when it cools off a bit, we can knock out the lower ones one day. I really appreciate the complement from great video editors such as yourselves! The bat scene did come out great!
My mother and Aunty both know about all those mines. It's sad they both are gone. My aunt had cancer and my mom passed from covid a week after my brother did, and a year after my oldest brother. They know about all those places but I never had been there because I was not born yet so I have no clue where they are. They are all gone so I have been trying to locate the fluorite mines. I think they call them hippie mines because my mom was a straight up hippie and so where, all her friends. I can remember, my moms amazing stories. They used to camp at the rockhouse all the time. What an awesome stories. I miss them all so much.
I'm sorry about your losses. You can actually use Google Maps now, and it will tell you where abandoned mines are now! I bet it would be an experience for you to go to places your mom and aunt once visited. I use the term "hippie rock mine" because of all of the wild notions associated with fluorite, lol. No disrespect intended.
I've never seen quartz-fluorspar nodules like that before, those are awesome!
Looking forward to some collaboration next weekend - the elevation tends to moderate temperatures up there nicely.
I am looking forward to the upcoming collab as well! It will be a hell of an experience! I'm also looking forward to cooler temperatures too! Those nodules are something I've only seen at this place. I'd love to see some where the fluorspar is present! See you soon!
The brecciated quartz with fluorite forming inside is really cool. Never seen anything like that either.
I’ve been to some tailings piles and peeked inside a couple mines, but have always been alone - so didn’t venture inside.
Subbed! ⚒️
That mineral structure was really special! Fluorite out here in NM is pretty common, but those nodules were not. Some of the best specimens will be found underground. Exploring abandoned underground mines alone is never the best option. I appreciate the comment, and thank you for checking out my small channel!
I've been in this mine several times, most recently about 3 years ago and from your video I can see there have been collapses since. Was the winze just outside the first stope chamber still open? I've wanted to rappel down that to see if there are levels below but couldn't find a good rope anchor and there was a large beam across it making solo rappelling difficult. There are several other mines and prospects down the ranch road toward the south where there is still equipment laying around.
I initially went to this mine in 2019. From what I recall, not too much has changed. The winze is still there, but it most likely won't be worth it to rappel. Many fluorite mines were mined by a method called "shrink stoping." Essentially, what is left after the fluorite has been extracted is just a rubble-filled gash in the ground. Most equipment and infrastructure would have been removed, although in some cases, there may be some remnants of rail or timber work left behind. Silver-lead mines are far more interesting, in my opinion, as the workings tend to branch out into different directions in many of them rather than follow a single vein. Thanks for watching and commenting!
San Diego mtn.
Good eye!
cool video Justin
Thanks Adrian! I know this place is familiar to us. I have some videos of places I've been to since that are mind-blowing. One of them is the BIGGEST...MINE...YET! Working on getting them out soon!
@@ABANDONED_UNDERGROUND that's awesome! I'll have to find a new mine exploring buddy to watch my back from the mountain lions. I ran scross some tracks today exploring a local cave. Nothing really cool though. Be safe out there!
Anything out of the usual is cool! Did you get that Blazer? That should take you to some great places!
I've lived in the Las Cruces area all my life and I'd like to see the mines but I don't know if my 62 year old knees can handle it any more , besides Bats really give me the creeps. Some guy told me a teacher of his found a lot of Confederate paper money in a cave at the lava flows close by the stahmann farm pecan tree farm .
Interesting but as a kid I never found any caves there. You guys know of any in that area?
If you have access to an ATV, you could get up there that way. Otherwise, it does take some effort to get to those mines. There are A LOT of bats that roost in those mines. One of them has a guano pile that's over 3 feet high! The smell is rather intense.
The only cave that I'm aware of in that area around La Mesa is a fumerole on the southeast rim of Aden Crater. Guano miners in the early 20th century found a mummified giant ground sloth down there. The only way to access that one is to rappel 160 feet vertically.
There are the possibilities of small caves in the lava flow itself. There are what appear to be collapsed lava tubes throughout the Aden lava flow. I just haven't thoroughly explored that area as of yet.
Thanks for the comment, and thank you for watching!
When I grow up I want to be abandoned.
Infomercial voice: "Why wait? Act now, and you can be abandoned too! Just crawl into one of these places, stay there, and BOOM- ABANDONED!"
Really need to avoid bats in mines as they are just being hit with their own pandemic, White Nose Syndrome. Its finally reached New Mexico.