Uploaded August 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
We made a camping trip out of this one in order to be able to better focus our exploring efforts on this area. Some of those roads were pretty rough and took a while to make our way over. So, it was a lot more efficient to simply sleep in the forest rather than trying to drive back and forth. Not that we at TVR need much of an excuse to sleep out in the woods…
For those of you following along at home or for those of you that actually read the description, the sequence of mines visited in this video were the Wallis Mine, the American Exchange Mine, the Lone Star Group and the Willoughby Mine.
When I got home, I looked into the Willoughby Mine a bit more and this is what the USGS had on it: 2 ADITS, 566 FEET & 700 FEET LONG. X CUT, STOPES, ALL ON FRONT LEDGE. 2 PARALLEL VEINS, 75-100 FEET APART. FOOTWALL SLATE & PORPHYRY HANGING WALL.
Obviously, there was more there than was reported by the USGS, but it at least gives us some idea of what we missed. I’m not surprised that the workings were caved with the geology involved…
The discrepancy between what we saw in person versus what the USGS has listed is extremely common. The USGS information is a snapshot of a certain point in the development of the mine, but, almost always, work is continued after the information in the possession of the USGS was recorded. So, usually, the workings at an abandoned mine are more substantial than those on record with the USGS.
*****
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
We made a camping trip out of this one in order to be able to better focus our exploring efforts on this area. Some of those roads were pretty rough and took a while to make our way over. So, it was a lot more efficient to simply sleep in the forest rather than trying to drive back and forth. Not that we at TVR need much of an excuse to sleep out in the woods…
For those of you following along at home or for those of you that actually read the description, the sequence of mines visited in this video were the Wallis Mine, the American Exchange Mine, the Lone Star Group and the Willoughby Mine.
When I got home, I looked into the Willoughby Mine a bit more and this is what the USGS had on it: 2 ADITS, 566 FEET & 700 FEET LONG. X CUT, STOPES, ALL ON FRONT LEDGE. 2 PARALLEL VEINS, 75-100 FEET APART. FOOTWALL SLATE & PORPHYRY HANGING WALL.
Obviously, there was more there than was reported by the USGS, but it at least gives us some idea of what we missed. I’m not surprised that the workings were caved with the geology involved…
The discrepancy between what we saw in person versus what the USGS has listed is extremely common. The USGS information is a snapshot of a certain point in the development of the mine, but, almost always, work is continued after the information in the possession of the USGS was recorded. So, usually, the workings at an abandoned mine are more substantial than those on record with the USGS.
*****
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
