An Incredible Lead-Silver-Zinc Mine - The Deeper We Go, The Better It Gets
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 มี.ค. 2021
- The most enjoyable explorations I’ve done are of mines that keep getting better and better the farther you go into them. These are mines that just keep on giving and each level you explore is more exciting than the last. This is one of those mines. From the headframe, ore bin, and incredible dry-stacked walls outside, we had a feeling that this mine was going to be neat, and that assumption was absolutely correct. As we descended into the depths of this mine, not only did the artifacts get better, the geology did too! This mine contained some of the most visually stunning geology I have seen. We saw a whole lot of calcite, but it wasn’t like anything we’ve seen before. The individual crystal grains were huge and there were clusters of it large enough to cover the whole drift floor to back. Inside the calcite were pockets and veins of beautiful mineralization. I can’t imagine what the ore they removed looked like. This was a lead, silver, copper, and zinc mine that was worked primarily from the early 1870s to just after the turn of the century. It was then worked on and off into the 1950s.
One thing to note, I am not sure if the last level we were on was really the 640 level. It may have actually been the 400 level, as it didn’t feel like we climbed nearly 640 feet of ladders. If I was mistaken, then one of those two winzes we saw may actually go down 240 feet. We plan to return to this mine to drop those winzes and explore areas we were not able to access this time, so stay tuned for that.
Link to Xavier’s channel: / @ercole746
This is the first video I've posted that was filmed with my new camera! Let me know what you think of it. Personally I think it's a big improvement, especially in regards to stability.
I still have a few videos to post that were filmed with the older one.
Beautiful shots thank you for sharing
What camera did you go to?
Why does my post regarding Vincent Kelley keep disappearing? is it TH-cam or do you not want it posted?
Great clear camera work, bet it looks much better in person. Thanks!
Video looks great!
I say this in every mine video but the amount & extensive work that went into creating a mine is mind boggling....especially old mines where miners used candles or carbide lamps...just hard to imagine
My thought exactly
I worked at a lead, zinc and silver mine in Northern Idaho called the Star Mine up Burke Canyon. They finally closed it down in June, 1983. They were just developing level 8300. As in 8300 feet down. It was the deepest mine in the continental U.S.
I remember my dad talking about this mine...Not too far away was a silver mine where in the 70's where men were killed in an explosion...
That was the Sunshine mine fire in 1972. It was located near Kellogg, Idaho. No explosion. A fire started in one of the upper levels and went undetected until it was too late. Carbon dioxide is heavier than air and has no odor. It can kill with just one breath. Men started dropping like flies in the lower levels until they realized what was going on. Even though they had respirators on their belts, for just this occasion, they were not trained in their us. These respirators are just like your cat converters on your cars and trucks. They turn carbon dioxide into breathable carbon monoxide They get real hot when there is carbon dioxide in the air. The higher the concentration, the hotter they get. Men were taking them out of their mouths because of the heat and it was instant death. The fire was put out the same day and then came the rescue/recovery effort. Men were found in a dog house, dead (don't know what level) with food in their mouths. It kills that fast. 92 men lost their lives in that fire and they all died of carbon dioxide poisoning. By the way. A dog house is a cut-out in the main drift where supplies were stored. They had wood floors, which made a good place to eat.
I suppose the star mine is not explorable?
@@mirhasanoddname I'm not sure. We are going up to visit friends in the area Next spring. I will contact Hecla Mining Co, and try to get permission to walk in. I know that mine like the back of my hand. The only part of the mine to explore is the Day side of the mine or the hoist room and machine shop. The lower part of the mine is under water.
@@MollydogRadar Thank you for answering, I hope you get permission
My dad was hard rock shaft miner....The advice he gave me at 8 years old was if you get curious and want to explore an old mine shaft...Always let people know exactly where you are at ... And be a good friend with the undertaker....He never-never kidded about the last part...
Your dad was a wise and knowledgeable man.
And now you are seeing his world below the surface. How right he was.
VC Kelly (the name on the wall at 49:27) would be the geologist Vincent Cooper Kelly (1904-1988). He spent much of his career at University of New Mexico. He would have written that as a grad student when at Cal Tech. He published extensively and was a top notch geologist.
He certainly left his mark :)
I was pretty sure this was magdella New Mexico the lead zinc ore they were chasing was smithsonite reminds me of rush district in Arkansas went to the morning Star mine when I was young there where flow Stone in there as well found cool calicium carbonate formation on tin sheet as well cool vidieo
Here is a article on him www.geosociety.org/documents/gsa/memorials/v24/Kelley-VC.pdf
You don't mean Magdalena, NM, do you?? Both of my grandparents grew up there. The main mining operation I know of was the Kelly mine. I know smithsonite is a highly sought-after mineral in the area.
Love how you leave everything in place, Not scavengers. Impressed.
hi Yo like d name yeh no scavengers new fan ! bored wr ilive bored
Would love to see these guys start a museum though
My father was an explosives expert. He worked for Hercules Powder co for thirty years in the southwest. He would take me along when I was a kid. Most of his work was in open pit copper and iron ore mines. Eagle mountain iron mine was a major customer of his located near the Mexican border. Also open pit copper mines around southern Arizona. He always warned against entering an abandoned mine shaft. Some very small operators dug mine shafts straight back from the base of a hill called ' coyotes' those were the most dangerous. They had no wood supports. Arizona has thousands of these wild cat mines.
Oh yeah!
My thoughts are for the workers who mined those shafts with their hard labor. My gosh what a difficult dangerous job that would have been. Imagine being able to interview those men from back in those days.
That was by far my favorite, I'm a big rock hound, at 74yrs I can't go where you are, thanks much.
That Stope looked small until you focused on the ladder then it like...Wow! Yeah, you could tell they found that cave by accident. The opening next to the ore sled rail looked natural. Someone had to have gone down on ropes and discoved a vein of silver. The white rock you found up top gave it away there was ore to be had below. Imagine the guy that stumbled upon that and instantly saw dollar signs. Blasting and digging had to be hard knowing that hill side had natural caves in it to begin with. Back in the early 1900's late 1800's there was a huge demand for lead, silver and zinc. It's so cool looking at the artifacts.
At least one of those raises appears to be a giant lava tube, and the newsprint most likely was from the dynamite boxes. They used celluloid to pack the boxes along with sawdust. The old timer Miners didn't do much reading in mines not even on their break. Alot of them couldn't even read.
Thanks for this amazing document!
Stuck in a hospital recovering. This was a wonderful escape. Thank you.
@NitroLPR9 set to be released tomorrow ! 3 weeks of which I don't remember half. be healthy everyone.
@@chris_iapetus dont make it about you. :)
@@DarinCates lol. I was showing appreciation.
I know this comment is very late but I hope you're alright!
@@forgottenmininghistory Doing great thanks ! Your videos were an awesome way to alleviate the boredom.
Hat off to the people who built and worked in this mine and the Forgotten Mining History men. Respect such hard workers with courage, risky life, our ancestors came to build Northern America so we can have a great country called the United States of America today. Thank you for the excellent video, well done from Oregon, USA.
Yeah if you say so
Happy to document our mining heritage! Thanks for watching!
I bet a black light in that mine would really bring out the colors! Good job your videos are awesome!
Thanks for watching! I'll bring a small blacklight next time.
@@forgottenmininghistory Yup !! I have two types of U/V lights that I have used. One is a LED type of a mini-mag pen light, for short wave U/V. And the other is a 6" fluorescent tube type for longwave U/V. If I remember correctly, it uses 4 AA batteries ! Great Work !! BTW where is this mine located ??
I'd like you fellows to know I enjoyed every minute of the show, from an old guy thank you very much, I worried about your safety every step of the way, God bless. from Canada
Thanks for watching, Paul!
Also, the drifts and the stopes in the Star mine Ran level. All the drifts ran 200 feet off the vain. We ran cross cut drifts 50 feet past the vain, then mined up 20 feet to start the stope going in both directions. They found out years ago not to run drifts on the vain. The walls squeeze in from the tremendous pressures in a matter of months. The cross cuts were about 400 feet apart. The levels were 200 feet apart. The stopes were mined out till they met up with the stopes in the other cross cuts. It should be noted that all the stopes were timbered with 6 inches of lagging for the roof. Lagging is a rough cut board measuring 3 inches by 6-12 inch wide. Once we met up with the other miners in their stope, we went back to the start, mined up another 10 feet and started the mining process all over again. Only difference is the roof we made was now our floor. After mining up another 10 feet, we back filled the lower mined out section with sand, which was the waste rock pumped back in from the mill via rubber lined 4 inch pipe. Once we mined up to the level above us, called breaking sill, and the final back fill was complete, that level was shut down and we went deeper. One more thing; There were commercial grade air conditioners on all levels below 6700.The water temp coming out of the seams in the rock on 7500 was 112 degrees. Every level had electric trains and were pretty wide. Nothing like that mine you are showing here. Hope I didn't bore you.
Nothing boring here, when it is all good stuff for a newbie interested in the underground :)
i have a lot of questions about the star mine. i would love to pick your brain!
@@wlong1794 Sure
@@MollydogRadar thanks!
1. how many men were working per shift when you were there?
2. there seems to be a huge shaft in burke itself, was that in disuse by the time the shaft you drove train to was being used?
3.does that main haulage tunnel where the diesel locomotive ran end at the vertical shaft or does it continue on that level into mullan. i found a map connecting the old shaft to Mullan but was wondering if there was any old connections to the Friday mine in Mullan?
thanks for sharing you knowledge!
Great video and one of the best that I have watched from any one of the mine explorers for quite a while. Thanks for taking the time to show the geology, the formations and for the great videography. Much better than rushing through a mine and the viewer becoming totally disorientated and not seeing much of anything. Many thanks and keep up the great work, it is much appreciated by those of us who will never get to see these terrific old mines and locations.
I am a veteran of many mining videos and this is the best that I have yet seen.
Great to see guys that don't walk away with arms full of artefacts.
Well done you chaps. Excellent work.
Imagine a group of the original miners sitting around, drinking beers and watching this video. They would be laughing their asses off.
There's no doubt they would be laughing at us!
Would they be laughing at stupidity or?
Love the geology. Thanks for taking the time to record this.
Thanks for spending some time highlighting the geology.
I really enjoyed this, one of the better underground exploring movies. The mineralization is outta this world, glad you focused on it, and the history was amazing too..
Awesome video and interesting geology! One thing stood out: NEVER touch old dynamite, even breathe on it! It can sweat nitroglycerine crystals that are sensitive to light touch, making it extremely dangerous.
Those offset cubes of calcite are called rhombic crystals. Also, the tilted rock face with occasional timbers against it is called a hanging wall, where silver ore tends to concentrate. I explored some really old silver mines in the Calico area before they sealed them all. There was a deep level with tracks. The hanging wall had numerous 2' tree trunks supporting it as they excavated the ore. Over the decades, the weight had crushed some of these by several inches so there was a band of exploded wood fibers. At the top of the rickety ladders to the lowest level, there was a piece of wood from a fruit box dated 1948 or so, and that was late in the mine's life. Someone spraypainted an arrow and "To hell!"
I will let you guys explore the caves. I will stick to surface rockhounding and exploring. Enjoyed the footage.
Great Job Nick. This is your best video to date. The new camera is a big improvement. Consider slowing your pans sometimes to give the viewer's eyes a chance to catch up. Really enjoyed sharing the adventure. Greetings to Xavier. He's a trip. I appreciate your mutual enthusiasm. . .
I could do this until I remembered how far down and how close tight the confinement then all panic would be let loose. Hope no earthquakes.
I’ve read that caves are the safest places to be in earthquakes, because the energy waves travel until they reach the surface. I don’t know if that applies to mine tunnels.
@@mitchellbarnow1709 might shake some heavy lumps down as the vibrate by.
That was a COOL explore! Worth every minute. The geology, your camera did its best but I was still amazed. When you single out ore samples and place them on the ground for inspection was the way to go. Thank you, one of my favs for sure!
Xavier looked like a great help to you.....Excellent teamwork. I can only imagine the beauty of seeing it in person. Thank you!
I love going down into these old mines with you guys via video 🥰
@16:47 - that's a ''Bull Durham Smoking Tobacco'' pouch . Bull Durham was a world famous brand of Tobacco manufactured by W.T. Blackwell and Company in Durham , North Carolina that originated in the 1850's and remained in production until August 15 , 1988 . ( read the full story on Wikipedia ) . Bull Durham Tobacco in the pouch was the only ''Flaked'' Tobacco on the market , and therefore was the only Tobacco that would allow you to hand-roll a cigarette with just one hand . In fact one of their famous Television Commercials showed a Cowboy on horseback , reins in one hand and hand-rolling a cigarette with his other hand . --- I used to smoke Bull Durham , and with practice it was quite easy to hand-roll a cigarette with just one hand , and I did it quite often . --- < Doc , Miner for over 50 years > .
Never mess with old dynamite ! Nitro Glycerine crystalizes over time and becomes very unstable !
The merest thought of violence is signing your death warrant...
You guys have guts incredible.
I was terrified. Thanks!
This is my new favorite channel.
Love your guys vibe and solid info.
The Bonanza mine was incredible! Much respect to you two. Be safe out there!
Awesome mine, awesome tour, this site should be preserved and protected for early mining activities.
The geology was farking impressive. Awesome explore guys. Those calcite deposits were huge. Love to have one in my backyard. Beautiful mineralization and plenty of ore left behind. The copper veins were so pretty.
That was an increadable mine, looked like a lot of good ore left.
That was a "Bull Durham" smoking tobacco bag you guys found. It was a bull, not a cow on the tag. That's old school.
Yeah, 1960's or 1970's North Carolina anyway! These guys can't see the forest for the trees. Fanboyism at its repetitive best!
@@michaelsmith2412 It's early 1900's
Excellent recording of the geology. Great job!
Fantastic footage and the beauty of the geology really shows up on your new camera equipment! Thank you so much for sharing with us.
Youngstown, Ohio was a major steel center. In the late 80s only about 5 or 10% of the industry was left.
After antitrust legislation was enacted, Dupont was forced to divest some of its holdings. This resulted in the formation of Hercules. Later, Hercules attracted more investment and became a significant company.
Thanks for letting us come exploring with you.
Definitely enjoyed, well, everything...lol 👍🏻❤️😎
I think a couple of cold beverages were enjoyed after this exploration.
And your right, exploring that bottom level was definitely worth the revisit.
Enjoyed the geological information too.
Safe caving guys!
Love this virtual cave exploring especially during COVID !!!
Imagine digging this far and not hitting any diamonds, nwbs.
Awesome content!
I've swam with sharks, ran out of air at 120 ft. But this is nuts. No way in hell would I do this
Deep is deep! Cave diving is awesome and so is this! Ba ha ha!
@@joelnorton9742 you can't shoot big fish in caves. I don't see the point
If you were deeper you would have died from the bends
@@michaelrasmussen426 found about 2 breaths from my BC on the way up. Air expansion
Only been bent once! Just a shoulder. The deep doesn't scare me!
Simply stunning look back in history... Those men and times were not for the squeamish... Bravo and thanks for sharing... Fascinating and educational. I don’t understand all the nomenclature but will look it up! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Yes please, talk more about the geology of the formations we're looking at. It would be pretty cool to know how these minerals and things were formed!
Thanks for sharing..that was so cool..can't wait to see the next one..be safe guys
wonderful trip thru the mine. i really was impressed with the geology, so many colors. i can sum up that trip with one word....WOW!
It is still the best geology I've seen in a mine.
Great exploration and fun to watch. And I am glad to see you had a companion while underground, please take the time to 'Thank' Xavier on his observations and help. It would be nice when you turn around to do so slowly, its pretty easy for us old guys to get motion sickness. Stay safe and hope to see more!
i looked up the person in question, cal tech, v.c.kelley he did work for cal tech, dated 6/25/36/ born 04 died 88. i have a friend that remembers him at cal tech,. . and r bolm was his training in cal tech conducted by mr. kelley. . mr. kelley always said it was his favorite mine to explore. a lot of history.
Good God these videos of old mines keep me on the edge of my seat yelling at my cell phone. 😱😖
Thank you so much, I have never watched a video like yours before. it was amazing 👏
My great grandfather graduated from Cornwall school of mines and mined in Idaho Springs Colorado and just north of Mexico City. I’ve still got a few coins from the 1830’s. Your video very cool!
This is best video. I love that you got close up video of the minerals and crystals. So beautiful. Good job guys
17:52 Gutta Percha is a latex like tree sap still used for dental plugs. In this usage it was a coating that made the fuse water proof.
All the blue that you see in most of these Californian mines is Chrysocolla, a copper mineral. If you lick it, it will immediately absorb moisture, and your tongue will lightly stick to the surface.
@Nondescript Because it is how you determine what mineral it is, on site, without super heavy and expensive equipment.
Wow, that’s awesome 👏 👏👏👏👏👍👍😃 thank you for sharing!
Thanks for bringing us along gentlemen.
⛏😀👍
An amazing mine. You hit the jackpot on this one. Not boring at all and thanks for taking a close look at those intrusions. A+
Very interesting mine, thanks for exploring it.
I bet there was a old time telephone in that room with the batterys, And the wires went to the suface!
Yep, those batteries were Leclanché cells (eg forerunner of modern dry cells) so not rechargeable as was suggested.
Were probably used to power a telephone system,.
Wow this mine has the most unique geology I’ve ever seen. Very cool thanks for spending a little time showing us. A lot of guys just blow by and never let you get a good look. Really appreciate it. Great video
When I was in my late teens and early twenties I used to love going spelunking in caves, not mines. Really cool!
That’s an awesome mine. The calcite crystals were incredible. So many artifacts. Now I am going to have to dig out that tank in my mine to verify what it is.
This is certainly one of the better mines we've found. Lots of great mineral specimens. It would be neat if they are in fact the same tank. I've been bad at responding to comments lately but if I saw yours I would have answered sooner. As always, thank you for watching Lars!
Beautiful. Appreciate you sharing with us.
Thanks for sharing, keep up the geology / mineralogy lessons it helps me understand what I am looking at.
The tax stamp on the tobacco pouch appears to be a "John Quincy Adams" stamp used from 1940 - 1958.
Thanks for sharing this info!
Great video! The extensive details covered in this are fascinating. Looking forward to more videos.
Camera gave some really good pictures. That was a very pretty calcite mine. The tobacco pouch very cool
Excellent. Thank you for your work.
it just boggles my mind the extent of work that went into that place 1 digging the shaft 2 placing the rail ladder hoist system amazing the engineers of old
So interesting this is the first time I have ever watched something on historical mining really cool thanks for the history 👍👍
nice explore guys and nice camera plus lighting, some very interesting minerals and artifacts in the mine. pity you were rushed on the bottom level, looking forward to seeing the return footage keep it up guys
The different minerals are amazing. It's also amazing you guys are climbing down in there with all that rotted wood for ladders!
"I have the feeling we are going to see the bottom of this, if we keep climbing down these ladders" . . .
and I'm thinking "I hope you eventually get back to the top of this thing. . . those ladders don't look like I would trust my life to it.
A very nice mine! It looks like someone still digs down there, as some of the back fill looks fresh!
I would like to have dug up some of the crystals and galena, I am surprised they left so much galena, as there is silver and lead in that.
Very interesting guys.thank you for taking us on this adventure.
Great video, this is once of my hobbies also!! Love the artifacts and geology you found.
Thank you for a wonderful tour of that mine :-)
Beautiful minerals! Great filming! Gotta see whats at the bottom of that last whinze! Thanks for sharing!
You guys are nuts to go down there.
Damn, the two of you certainly do find some treasures don't you? I watched the whole thing through. That drill column you were commenting on was for a drifter - likely a Leyner-styled drill, jacklegs have a pneumatic leg and came in later. Figured you knew but simply said jackleg by mistake. That noted, those solid steels were a mystery. I imagine it's possible for them to have been leftovers from widowmaker times, but believe it or not, some guys were drilling dry until pretty recently, crazy bastards.
Thanks for all the great info! I do find it hard to believe that anyone would use widowmakers over the safer alternatives. Even I'm starting to worry about all the dust I've breathed in from just exploring these mines.
These guys are crazy brave
Nice job! You guys find some really neat ones!
Thanks for the comment! Lots of fascinating mines in this general area.
17:38 it is paper for wrapping fuses.....
White Countered Gutta-Percha Fuse is a safety fuse consisted of jute yarn spun around a core of black gunpowder and waterproofed by a coating of pitch and gutta-percha.
Pitch is a viscoelastic polymer which can be natural or manufactured, derived from petroleum, coal tar, or plants.
Gutta-percha is a tree of the genus Palaquium in the family Sapotaceae. The name also refers to the rigid, naturally biologically inert, resilient, electrically nonconductive, thermoplastic latex produced from the sap of the tree, particularly from Palaquium gutta; it is a polymer of isoprene which forms a rubber-like elastomer. The word gutta-percha comes from the plant's name in Malay: getah translates as 'latex'. Percha or perca is an older name for Sumatra.
I'd never go in without rope..!!!...Very cool mine!!!
Great video.
Great quality filming, really intressting geology, and certainly not boring geology shots!
Thanks for making and sharing
You guys doing good job keep up the good work I love your videos and I love the good minerals that you're showing
Awesome video man this one is on of your best by far keep it up. ⚒🧨⛏🇺🇸💎👍🍻
I would have trouble climbing out of that mine because I would be packing a lot of mineral samples. Just beautiful mineralization, thanks for showing us.
Greatly enjoyed your photography as well as your explanation on just about everything that you encountered. Explanation of the mineral content was really appreciated.. Nice to try to identify mineral deposits in their raw environment. Thank You,!
Im just coming across your channel..This was Really Awesome!..Thank You for going down there and getting that very clear, incredible video...So much history down there..The rock formations were impressive..I got educated about mining as well...I do hope you got to take some rocks and crystals home..I loved it!..Im subbed..
I work at the Hegeler Carus Mansion in La Salle, Illinois. The original owner, Edward Hegeler, made his fortune in zinc. The zinc was mined in Mineral Point, Wisconsin. It was really neat to see this video.
BIGGO OMG video. Finally a long video to really enjoy, without the friggin 2 hours adds interrupting every 5 mins. of it. I really appreciate that guys, and hope you find some more interesting things to show us, good luck and stay safe ☹️...👍
As a geology nerd and mineral prospector, the fast paced glossing over the mineral exposures in exchange for long minutes of looking at old newspaper was taxing hahahah... but I do appreciate the video of this mine and I'm glad you all were relatively safe and had a good time.
Can't please everybody with every video. We had a great time exploring this one. Thanks for watching!
@forgottenmininghistory I know it never possible to "please" everyone lol, you guys are great, I truly did enjoy the video and I happily subscribed.
You all went there for your reasons....not mine (haha,pun intended) and I'm glad I got to see this place before I decide to venture or not.
@@John-ir2zf Thanks! I appreciate that. I used to almost never mention the geology in the mines, but as I slowly learn more I've been incorporating it in my videos.
Never apologize for anything you find interesting. If people dont like it, they dont have to watch it. I personally love the geology shots.
This mine has got to be the most stunningly beautiful geology I've ever seen! You know you have to go back and go down the winzes just to see what it looks like. The deeper you went, the better it got! Great explore!
The rock at 28:50 is a lead/zinc matrix. The blue tint gives that away. Best cave/mine video I've seen on TH-cam. Thanks!
Nice mine and pretty obvious from the flow stone and probably the reason for the mineralization that over the millions of years in the past water flowed through there. Some of those formations looked more like what I saw in caves when I was young and did a lot of caving. Definitely not boring, just wish I had the balls and was young enough to go in and see stuff like that.