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So it is the time of year to head out to the mine. The weather is starting to cool off but hasn't gotten miserable cold either. The mine is at 6,000 feet so it can get cold when the sun goes behind the mountains.
It's a pretty long haul once we get off the pavement. You watch the track heading off almost to the horizon and you know it's going to be a while before making camp. We are about 1/2 way to the mine when this picture was taken.
(Photo courtesy of DawnPatrol)
As usual, we set up camp for our 10 day mining adventure. We have areas set up for panning, cooking, and eating. The little trailer has a queen size mattress so we are pretty comfortable.
We store the headframe down in the mine so our first task it to pull it out and get it set up. Lucky for me that Tony is strong. We've upgraded our winch from a pulley setup to an electric winch. It's built for construction so it's ideal for our use.
The shaft is exactly 100 feet from the collar to the track at the bottom level. In total there are three primary levels with a couple of intermediate working levels. Next to the haulage shaft is a manway with a ladder that goes all the way to the bottom.
We have classifying screens and gold pans to see if we find any gold. We have assays done that show gold, but finding free mill gold might be a bit more challenging.
Tony is heading up into a stope. Ladders are part of mining.
The stope has a lot of fractured rock so we spent a lot of time adding stulls to keep things from moving around. You can see the platform where we worked in the upper level.
Heading back down after a day of work in the upper stope.
We store quite a few supplies down in the mine. There is a short drift just off the ladder where we stage tools, wood, and other supplies. The closest town is 45 minutes away down a long dirt track and that town is pretty small and doesn't have much of a selection.
There are a few little friends that scamper around. We always have to watch our feet to make certain that we don't step on one. They are pretty quick little guys so I doubt that they would let themselves get stepped on. Doesn't keep me from worrying though. We put down some snacks for them and it was interesting to watch the interaction between them. There appears to be multiple families living in different parts of the drifts. Family members share the food but the two families will fight over it.
We eat pretty well while we are up there. Extended camping is a better experience when you get to eat good meals. Between the camp stove, Dutch ovens, and a charcoal grill, we eat well.
Before heading home we replace the cover over the collar. Before putting the cover back on we had folks dropping large rocks down the shaft. One of the rocks destroyed a ladder we had down there. It also deters people from climbing down the ladder into the mine. Trust me, climbing up a 100' ladder at 6,000' feet is a good workout.
On the way home we decided to stop and get a little bit of sun. 
Cheers!
Abby Normal
"Government is not a solution to our problem, government is the problem." Ronald Reagan |
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That looks fun.
I wuv kangaroo rats; funny, curious critters.
Just when I thought I was out... they pulled me back in.
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Love your work Ms. Normal... Your story line tying all the pictures together really brings it home. Thanks for another great underground share!
Give abandonment a reason for its sacrificial reclamation to nature. Love it. Remember it. Take a picture. Share it. Leave the decay to nature.
Lifetime member of The Anti-MyInstaTubeTweetFace consortium. |
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Great story and photos. Your food pics made me hungry!
@SparklePyre |
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I love the way you wrote that out as a story! (And the food definitely looks delicious)
How do the property rights work? Do you own that mine or does no one really care since its in the middle of nowhere? You've obviously put a lot of work into it.
A collection of my explores:
https://www.instagram.com/und3rlie/ |
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Posted by und3rlie
I love the way you wrote that out as a story! (And the food definitely looks delicious)
How do the property rights work? Do you own that mine or does no one really care since its in the middle of nowhere? You've obviously put a lot of work into it.
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We hold an actual hard rock mining claim on the site. It works out to be 20 acres that we have mineral rights to. It's BLM land so everyone has the right to access the land, but can't mine within our boundaries or bother our workings.
There are some annual requirements to hold a mining claim. They don't want people putting a mining claim on land in order to have a nice campsite. If we don't meet the annual work requirements or pay our fees, we lose the claim. We've done a good bit of work to make the mine a bit more safe. We have also had some assay work done to ensure that it isn't a "dry hole".
Abby Normal
"Government is not a solution to our problem, government is the problem." Ronald Reagan |
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blackhawk,
Yeah, they are a lot of fun. Come dusk they start scurrying around the camp looking for food that we've dropped.
Mr. Bitey,
I'm glad you like it. I enjoy story telling so it makes it easy to post up pictures and add a narrative about the adventure.
SparklePyre,
Thanks! I really do appreciate the kind words. Outdoor cooking is one of my passions so it's a joy to cook out there. Unfortunately I didn't get pictures of the pizza I made. It turned out pretty good so we ended up having 4 pizzas while we were up there. I also made peach cobbler that turned out really good. (They were shown at the end of the Jeff Williams video.)
Abby Normal
"Government is not a solution to our problem, government is the problem." Ronald Reagan |
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Love the last shot. Big open spaces like that always make for good photos
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Hey, this looks like a good time. I'd be scared to go into the Earth, though. I'm weary about getting tombed in. The food shot made me hungry! xP
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Did you just get the claim on existing workings on BLM land? I haven't seen anyone doing this in Utah - but I like the idea.
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Posted by Smurf
Did you just get the claim on existing workings on BLM land? I haven't seen anyone doing this in Utah - but I like the idea.
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I got it through a 3rd party that had the claim. It does appear to have been an abandoned claim on BLM land. I'm not certain, but I believe that you can file a claim on an abandoned mine site. They specifically don't want you to treat it as your local camping spot, but rather that it is a mine with recoverable minerals.
You can find a lot of information in the Gold Prospecting area of the www.treasurenet.com website.
Abby
"Government is not a solution to our problem, government is the problem." Ronald Reagan |
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