Uploaded January 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
There’s a certain exotic appeal to working in the snow when the first storm of the season hits. That “appeal” wears off after a few minutes when the cold starts biting into you and the wind starts whipping through your always-damp clothing. I often say that the temperature is the same 55 degrees(ish) underground wherever you are in the world. Well, there’s an element in play here at this gold mine that changes that… The powerful blower that we use is blasting freezing air onto us underground. So, standing in the cold water flowing through the mine for hours, while freezing air is blasted over us can become a bit uncomfortable after a while.
Not that I’m complaining. I started my professional life working at an investment bank in London. I had the hot secretary, the open-ended expense account, the expensive client dinners, etc. So, I can speak to both sides. I’d take the work of a miner any day. Not just because of the work itself, but the camaraderie without the office politics, the absence of petty humiliations from demanding clients, the great feeling after hard physical work (like a good workout in the gym), the experience of something new every day – I could go on and on…
A viewer asked the other day what our intent with the core drilling is: We’re essentially drawing up a map of what is around us for several hundred feet in every direction underground without having to drill and blast our way through everything to find out. The core drilling allows us to map out serpentine veins, ore bodies and, most importantly for us, to see where the old workings are that are not on the newer maps we have of the mine. The old timers did a lot of work in the 1800s at our mine, but the maps from that time (if they ever existed) were lost long ago. So, there are large sections of Levels 1 and 2 that remain a mystery and even parts of Level 3 are unmapped and unexplored (Level 3 is the primary level where we are working and are what you see in almost every video). So, the core drilling gives us an idea of what we have and, with that knowledge, what is best to do with it.
*****
You can see the full TVR Exploring playlist of abandoned mines here: goo.gl/TEKq9L
You can see the gear that I use for mine exploring here: bit.ly/2wqcBDD and here: bit.ly/2p6Jip6
Several kind viewers have asked about donating to help cover some of the many expenses associated with exploring these abandoned mines. Inspired by their generosity, I set up a Patreon account. So, if anyone would care to chip in, I’m under TVR Exploring on Patreon.
Thanks for watching!
*****
Growing up in California’s “Gold Rush Country” made it easy to take all of the history around us for granted. However, abandoned mine sites have a lot working against them – nature, vandals, scrappers and various government agencies… The old prospectors and miners that used to roam our lonely mountains and toil away deep underground are disappearing quickly as well.
These losses finally caught our attention and we felt compelled to make an effort to document as many of the ghost towns and abandoned mines that we could before that colorful niche of our history is gone forever.
I hope you’ll join us on these adventures!
#ExploringAbandonedMines
#MineExploring
#AbandonedMines
#UndergroundMineExploring
There’s a certain exotic appeal to working in the snow when the first storm of the season hits. That “appeal” wears off after a few minutes when the cold starts biting into you and the wind starts whipping through your always-damp clothing. I often say that the temperature is the same 55 degrees(ish) underground wherever you are in the world. Well, there’s an element in play here at this gold mine that changes that… The powerful blower that we use is blasting freezing air onto us underground. So, standing in the cold water flowing through the mine for hours, while freezing air is blasted over us can become a bit uncomfortable after a while.
Not that I’m complaining. I started my professional life working at an investment bank in London. I had the hot secretary, the open-ended expense account, the expensive client dinners, etc. So, I can speak to both sides. I’d take the work of a miner any day. Not just because of the work itself, but the camaraderie without the office politics, the absence of petty humiliations from demanding clients, the great feeling after hard physical work (like a good workout in the gym), the experience of something new every day – I could go on and on…
A viewer asked the other day what our intent with the core drilling is: We’re essentially drawing up a map of what is around us for several hundred feet in every direction underground without having to drill and blast our way through everything to find out. The core drilling allows us to map out serpentine veins, ore bodies and, most importantly for us, to see where the old workings are that are not on the newer maps we have of the mine. The old timers did a lot of work in the 1800s at our mine, but the maps from that time (if they ever existed) were lost long ago. So, there are large sections of Levels 1 and 2 that remain a mystery and even parts of Level 3 are unmapped and unexplored (Level 3 is the primary level where we are working and are what you see in almost every video). So, the core drilling gives us an idea of what we have and, with that knowledge, what is best to do with it.
*****
You can see the full TVR Exploring playlist of abandoned mines here: goo.gl/TEKq9L
You can see the gear that I use for mine exploring here: bit.ly/2wqcBDD and here: bit.ly/2p6Jip6
Several kind viewers have asked about donating to help cover some of the many expenses associated with exploring these abandoned mines. Inspired by their generosity, I set up a Patreon account. So, if anyone would care to chip in, I’m under TVR Exploring on Patreon.
Thanks for watching!
*****
Growing up in California’s “Gold Rush Country” made it easy to take all of the history around us for granted. However, abandoned mine sites have a lot working against them – nature, vandals, scrappers and various government agencies… The old prospectors and miners that used to roam our lonely mountains and toil away deep underground are disappearing quickly as well.
These losses finally caught our attention and we felt compelled to make an effort to document as many of the ghost towns and abandoned mines that we could before that colorful niche of our history is gone forever.
I hope you’ll join us on these adventures!
#ExploringAbandonedMines
#MineExploring
#AbandonedMines
#UndergroundMineExploring
