Abandoned Maine: Lost Gold Mine
Abandoned Maine: Lost Gold Mine
After locating a university document from 1934 about an unheard of gold mine in an Androscoggin County town, I tracked down the owner and he helped me locate it with basic directions. For some reason, this mine isn’t listed on the main mine database websites nor is it listed on the Maine resources database. Despite that, a young woman died in shaft #2 when she fell in and drowned a couple of years ago indicating that its locally known, somewhat. Thankfully, the document details a typical turn of the century attempt at gold mining by amateur miners and the disaster that resulted. At the request of the owner, references to the location and town are not mentioned due to liability issues. As with all mines, extreme caution should be taken when around old diggings, especially vertical shafts.
Thank you for respecting the owners wishes. I am sure that it is hard. I never knew there were ever any gold mines in Maine. I am pleasantly surprised. I love learning more about my home state. I think in my heart that our history has only ever been scratched at the surface. May always remain safe on all your adventures.
Cool site! The equipment reminded me a bit of the Enterprise Mine site you and I were at. I hope you can get an underwater drone, Drew. That would be cool! Glad to see you’re finding some mines up there.
Thank you.
I think I’ve stumbled onto my newest favorite channel. Just subbed…. I’m totally loving all these places you’ve brought your viewers to and the Maine history you’re telling us about along the way. Can’t wait to watch more later. K-
Do you think the land owner would sell the steam donkey ? Or would the owner be interested in getting the steam donkey running again ?
I no where thier is 2 more in Penobscot County. Allot of fools gold so it was all ways fun to go smash rocks as a kid and find fools gold. Felt rich lol
You should have went in the spring time. Several surficial viens can still be found at the perimeter of the mine site. The very same vein structure has out crops at the top of the hill near the old Keith homestead about a mile to the NE, but aren’t as large/wide as the lower vein. I tried several years back to get the owners to let me mine it. I had a decade of underground gold mining experience under my belt when I approached one of the family members and wrote out a proposal. I didn’t get a response to my proposal and assumed they thought I wasn’t serious and/or capable of the task. Either way, I would love to buy the mine, lease it or offer my knowledge to get it up and running again. The mine is not a hoax and is a paying lode mine and can be mined at a profit on a small scale with modern practices. The cost of shipping, processing, frivolous investors and mismanagement cause the closer of this mine at the turn of the century. It is, with out a doubt, a paying vein. The old assay reports range at .5ozt and higher just for the gold. If you know what your looking for you can easily find free gold in the quartz on the waste pile at the mine site with just an eye loupe. I gathered several samples years ago when I visited the site. In closing, I will admit the only way to truely know if it is a paying mine or a hoax is to pump out the old mine and take samples throughout the mine including at the face and throughout each of the levels along the vein itself. Until that happens its all just rumors and people repeating unproven tales of no ore being present. The assays taken from the early days of the operations prior to becoming incorporated under the Androscoggin Mining and Milling company prove otherwise.