Lost and abandoned mines

[KFhunter]

I like to check out old mines.

[KFhunter]

Old cable system ran ore carts way way  down to the bottom, I remember when the towers were still standing, cables still in the air.

I know one guy who rode the ore cart down on a dare, said it nearly killed him they jerked the cable and got the cart to bouncing, but too much and he had to hold on for dear life, nearly killed him. He's long since gone but I remember his stories of working this mine.

[Rob]

I love old mines!

Caving is a fun side-hobby. 

I visited a slate mine in Wales last year.

[Rob]

Being this was slate, they were able to use the slate to construct entire housing complexes for the workers.  They also built stairs, buildings, roads, and shore up hillsides.

[KFhunter]

Wow!  Thanks for sharing!

[Rob]

Thanks and likewise.

That slate mine was massive.  we spent 8-10 hours in it and saw about 30-40% of it.

Love your photo of the rail line inside the cave.  The timber used to shore up the sides is cool.  looks like it was collapsed further in.

[Rob]

Stumbled across the Whitehorse mine up in your neck of the woods last month.  would love to explore that one!

[trophyhunt]

I love finding them, but scare the hell out of me when I go in a little ways, not a cool way to die!!  There is an old silver mine up by crystal mnt that I went into about 20 yards, I'm surprised they aren't sealed up?

[Rob]

Mines scare me more than natural caves as I think God is a better cave architect than humans...

I have done many caves - mostly in Puerto Rico.  I did a cave diving class in Mexico a (long) while back.  We went a good 1/2 mile into some amazing caves.   not my photos, but this is one of the caves I did and I did see these specific formations.

[KFhunter]

Stumbled across the Whitehorse mine up in your neck of the woods last month.  would love to explore that one!

There used to be a huge fir tree with a virgin mary shrine in it near there, carved right into the tree.

[Rob]

Stumbled across the Whitehorse mine up in your neck of the woods last month.  would love to explore that one!

There used to be a huge fir tree with a virgin mary shrine in it near there, carved right into the tree.

Wow, that would be cool to see.

We explored one down in NM when I was in school back in the early 90s.  had to belly crawl to get in, then drop down a manhole sized hole to the main mine. 

From there it was pretty open.  Old rail line, wooden bridges going over massive natural clefts in the rocks that dropped 100's of feet, boiler foundations, etc.  Really very cool.  Probably also really very stupid of us to have gone in!

[Rob]

We saw two openings to that Whitehorse mine.  one was a vertical pit near a log-cabin style foundation, and the other was a traditional "hole in the rock" horizontal entrance. The horizontal entrance was down the road a short distance.

[greenhead_killer]

pretty cool finds! you wont see me step foot in one though

[kellama2001]

Very cool mines! Thanks for sharing 

[Jingles]

Started to explore one on Blewett but got back couple hundred feet and air was bad. Would like  to ventilate for 48 hrs and try again

[Dan-o]

Great pics, you two!


Thanks for sharing.

[wadu1]

Cool photo's you guys. I know of one vertical shaft just south of Swan Lake (Ferry County). I would love to know the history on it. In the late 60's we would find Prince Albert tins nailed to the trees.

[vandeman17]

I love finding them, but scare the hell out of me when I go in a little ways, not a cool way to die!!  There is an old silver mine up by crystal mnt that I went into about 20 yards, I'm surprised they aren't sealed up?

Our property up on Blewett has old mine shafts in it from my great grandparents days of the gold rush. When I was little, we would explore in them not knowing the danger but the family decided to close them out to be safe. Still have some of the old equipment up there that is pretty cool

[bearpaw]

Been to that mine many times too KFH, there are tons of old mines all over the NE. When we could still hound hunt I can't remember how many mines bear, cougar, and bobcats ran into over the years, lots of them that do not have roads to them. One time a bear literally ran over the top of me in a cave, lol, that was a crazy time.

[highcountry_hunter]

That’s funny you say that bearpaw, just the other day I was thinking of a story I was told by a guy who ran a lion into an old mine at the bottom of dominion. He went in with his flashlight, saw eyes and touched off a round with his .40. He said his hearing took a few days to come back haha

[Rob]

That’s funny you say that bearpaw, just the other day I was thinking of a story I was told by a guy who ran a lion into an old mine at the bottom of dominion. He went in with his flashlight, saw eyes and touched off a round with his .40. He said his hearing took a few days to come back haha

And the bats did not fly straight for a month!

[whacker1]

i think finding the mines became a lot easier in the last several years when they are marked on onx maps.  clearly many still on private property/mining claims, but many are mining claims on public property and more likely abandonded.

fun stuff....great pics and stories.

[bearpaw]

That’s funny you say that bearpaw, just the other day I was thinking of a story I was told by a guy who ran a lion into an old mine at the bottom of dominion. He went in with his flashlight, saw eyes and touched off a round with his .40. He said his hearing took a few days to come back haha

I learned the hard way, you don't shoot in caves without hearing protection. What did you say? 

[Caseknife]

Just saw this, know its a bit old.   If any of you ever get to Salzburg, Austria, definitely take a tour of the salt mines.  Many different levels and have to keep the doors shut in certain areas to keep the wind speeds under control due to the natural airflow at different levels, that is how they kept the air fresh.  The tunnels went into Germany from Austria.  Real cool, well worn slide, kind of like a big wide bannister, got to put on a leather apron, kind of like a hay apron but on backwards to protect your butt as you slid down about 100 vertical feet.

The mines around here that are scary are the addits(vertical shafts) that are hidden in the brush on a hillside.

[hunter399]

Been to that mine many times too KFH, there are tons of old mines all over the NE. When we could still hound hunt I can't remember how many mines bear, cougar, and bobcats ran into over the years, lots of them that do not have roads to them. One time a bear literally ran over the top of me in a cave, lol, that was a crazy time.

That's very true.
There's lots of mines around.
I've heard a few story's about some of the mines around here.
Everything from lost treasure,too people go in and don't come out.
They are just old campfire story's,I think.

[Boss .300 winmag]

Just saw this, know its a bit old.   If any of you ever get to Salzburg, Austria, definitely take a tour of the salt mines.  Many different levels and have to keep the doors shut in certain areas to keep the wind speeds under control due to the natural airflow at different levels, that is how they kept the air fresh.  The tunnels went into Germany from Austria.  Real cool, well worn slide, kind of like a big wide bannister, got to put on a leather apron, kind of like a hay apron but on backwards to protect your butt as you slid down about 100 vertical feet.

The mines around here that are scary are the addits(vertical shafts) that are hidden in the brush on a hillside.

Wished I had known about those when I was there.👍

[HighlandLofts]

Nice reading here.
I'll have to check out Whitehorse mine.

[Ghost Hunter]

Checked out the Whitehorse Mine last fall.  How deep is it under all that water?  I've found several claim markers and test holes in the general area.  Careful walking around in the dark.  Still trying to figure out how to explore my 100'+hole.  Anybody got a big pump?

[pianoman9701]

Very cool, KF. I've never been in or seen a WA mine. The Johnson mine is fairly close to where I hunt. Is there anything to that one?

[Ridgeratt]

Some info on mining in washington.

https://www.mindat.org/search.php?lo=1&ty=1&search=washington

[Ghost Hunter]

Another one. 

https://file.dnr.wa.gov/publications/ger_iaml_reports.pdf

[timberghost72]

Tons of mining info here by state and county. Lists the mines, GPS, map locations and downloads, mining info and more.

https://westernmininghistory.com/

https://westernmininghistory.com/mine-state/washington/

Scroll down to find by county.

[MR5x5]

...did not scour the thread to see if it has already been stated, but, GAIA maps has a mine locations maps that includes type of ore etc.  Not sure if ONX does, but suspect they do too.  Provides for some interesting detours while crawling around the woods.

[Skyvalhunter]

remember some are privately owned, not that anyone pays attention to no trespassing these days

[hunter399]

remember some are privately owned, not that anyone pays attention to no trespassing these days

It's true ,some land I have permission to hunt has mines,and is privately owned.
So..........
He has signage ,but doesn't enforce it too much,unless I'm there hunting then it's enforced.