Uploaded September 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
I wasn’t sure if you guys would find the stulls formed from mature trees or the setting of the abandoned gold mine in the burned forest more interesting. So, I tried to include both features with the title and thumbnail. It can be tough to come up with titles and thumbnails that will interest you, will interest the YouTube algorithm and, at the same time, avoid sounding sensationalistic or repetitive. I certainly do not always succeed, but I do try.
I wish I could tell you something about this mine, but it isn’t even marked on the topographic map, much less given a name. I would estimate that it dates to the 1930s given the size and layout of the mine as well as the state of the timbers underground. It was certainly a large operation by the standards of the time and the area and so I am surprised that it isn’t even given the honor of being marked on the map. However, that would certainly not be the first time. Typically, however, that is much more likely to be the case with the mines dating back to the 1800s (very, very few of the mines from the famous California Gold Rush are marked on the topographic maps, for example).
There’s only a narrow window of time to explore the lower reaches of California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains after a forest fire has swept through. Historically, these areas burned regularly, which kept the brush in check. But after more than a century of aggressive fire suppression in the western U.S., much of the Sierras have become terribly overgrown and choked with dead trees. When the inevitable firestorm comes, it burns with such intensity that everything is killed. In the past, fires were typically lower in intensity: they cleared out brush and deadfall while sparing the mature trees.
Immediately after a modern fire, the landscape is left a stark moonscape. Features like waste rock piles and adits are suddenly visible, and getting around is surprisingly easy — almost like exploring in Nevada. But by the following season, the area often erupts with an impenetrable tangle of new growth, and everything disappears into a sea of brush.
It was only thanks to salvage logging and the lack of soil on the waste rock that we were able to find and reach this mine at all. Even then, we had almost given up — despite being tipped off by a friend of Mr. McBride’s, who had spotted the site when it was still less overgrown after the fire.
*****
You can view the full TVR Exploring playlist of abandoned mines here: goo.gl/TEKq9L
*****
Several kind viewers have asked about donating to help with the many costs of exploring these abandoned mines. Thanks to their generosity, I set up a Patreon account. If you’d like to contribute, you can find me under TVR Exploring on Patreon. Thanks for watching!
*****
Growing up in California’s Gold Rush Country made it easy to take all the history around us for granted. But abandoned mines face many threats—nature, vandals, scrappers, and government agencies. The prospectors and miners who once roamed these mountains and worked deep underground are fading into history as well.
That reality inspired us to start documenting as many ghost towns and abandoned mines as we can—before this colorful piece of our past is lost forever. I hope you’ll join us on these adventures!
#exploringabandonedmines
#MineExploring
#AbandonedMines
#UndergroundMineExploring
I wasn’t sure if you guys would find the stulls formed from mature trees or the setting of the abandoned gold mine in the burned forest more interesting. So, I tried to include both features with the title and thumbnail. It can be tough to come up with titles and thumbnails that will interest you, will interest the YouTube algorithm and, at the same time, avoid sounding sensationalistic or repetitive. I certainly do not always succeed, but I do try.
I wish I could tell you something about this mine, but it isn’t even marked on the topographic map, much less given a name. I would estimate that it dates to the 1930s given the size and layout of the mine as well as the state of the timbers underground. It was certainly a large operation by the standards of the time and the area and so I am surprised that it isn’t even given the honor of being marked on the map. However, that would certainly not be the first time. Typically, however, that is much more likely to be the case with the mines dating back to the 1800s (very, very few of the mines from the famous California Gold Rush are marked on the topographic maps, for example).
There’s only a narrow window of time to explore the lower reaches of California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains after a forest fire has swept through. Historically, these areas burned regularly, which kept the brush in check. But after more than a century of aggressive fire suppression in the western U.S., much of the Sierras have become terribly overgrown and choked with dead trees. When the inevitable firestorm comes, it burns with such intensity that everything is killed. In the past, fires were typically lower in intensity: they cleared out brush and deadfall while sparing the mature trees.
Immediately after a modern fire, the landscape is left a stark moonscape. Features like waste rock piles and adits are suddenly visible, and getting around is surprisingly easy — almost like exploring in Nevada. But by the following season, the area often erupts with an impenetrable tangle of new growth, and everything disappears into a sea of brush.
It was only thanks to salvage logging and the lack of soil on the waste rock that we were able to find and reach this mine at all. Even then, we had almost given up — despite being tipped off by a friend of Mr. McBride’s, who had spotted the site when it was still less overgrown after the fire.
*****
You can view the full TVR Exploring playlist of abandoned mines here: goo.gl/TEKq9L
*****
Several kind viewers have asked about donating to help with the many costs of exploring these abandoned mines. Thanks to their generosity, I set up a Patreon account. If you’d like to contribute, you can find me under TVR Exploring on Patreon. Thanks for watching!
*****
Growing up in California’s Gold Rush Country made it easy to take all the history around us for granted. But abandoned mines face many threats—nature, vandals, scrappers, and government agencies. The prospectors and miners who once roamed these mountains and worked deep underground are fading into history as well.
That reality inspired us to start documenting as many ghost towns and abandoned mines as we can—before this colorful piece of our past is lost forever. I hope you’ll join us on these adventures!
#exploringabandonedmines
#MineExploring
#AbandonedMines
#UndergroundMineExploring
