Secret Miner’s Cabin & Mines In The Sierra Nevada – Part 1
Secret Miner’s Cabin & Mines In The Sierra Nevada – Part 1
Probably less than a dozen people know about the historic miner’s cabin hidden away on this mining claim – and even fewer still know about the abundance of gold mines found here… It remains a secret because the people that do know where this is remain tight-lipped about it and this cabin and mines are located in an absolute black hole on topographic and other maps. There is simply nothing marked anywhere near here. With the contractors for the Forest Service, BLM, Abandoned Mine Lands (AML) programs, et al working overtime (with taxpayer money) to get all of these historic mines erased, it is very nice to be introduced to some gold mines that are not (currently) in danger of being permanently closed. It is a shame that we have to wallow in such secrecy simply to protect a historically significant site from the very entities that should be preserving it, but such is the upside down world we live in.
The two adits featured in this video appear to be quite old. I was able to find a couple of references to the mines consolidated on this claim in mining journals dating back to the turn of the last century and they were described as already having been worked for a while at that time. So, initial work here probably dates back to around the time of California’s “Gold Rush” era.
The earliest gold miners in California were placer miners. However, when the easy pickings from the surface were worked out, they became lode miners and headed underground to start chasing the veins where the gold in the creeks originated from (some underground miners also chased the rich placer left behind by ancient river channels that were buried millions of years ago). The little hole by the creek under the huge boulder would have been referred to as a “coyote hole” by the miners of the time. These were in abundance along the creeks and rivers of California in the early days as the miners pursued gold flakes and nuggets back into the rocks and gravel lining the waterways. So, it seems likely that the small adit we visited first would have been the one developed initially and then the larger adit punching into the hard rock would have come along later.
In further support of the idea that these mines are older rather than newer is that, although it may possibly have been there at one point, there was no sign of rail at the mines we visited. The claim owner also stated that he has never seen any sign of rail here either.
It is not difficult to imagine a swarm of miners crawling all over these canyon walls like ants during the “Gold Rush” era, churning up the creeks and digging out coyote holes. This initial surge of miners, however, would have been followed by a more patient, more sophisticated group of miners that had an eye on heading underground. At the second adit shown in this video, for example, you could have had something like a father and son team or two brothers slowly working away at that lode mine for years, chasing those quartz veins and hauling load after load of ore and waste rock out in wheelbarrows.
I’m giving more of a general feel for the area with these videos rather than showing every single bit of mining history present as both sides of this canyon are covered in mines and the remains of mining equipment. We’ll see more of that in the next video.
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You can see the gear that I use for mine exploring here: https://bit.ly/2wqcBDD
You can click here for my full playlist of abandoned mines that I have explored: https://goo.gl/TEKq9L
Thanks for watching!
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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. But, you know what? We enjoy doing it! This is exploring history firsthand – bushwhacking down steep canyons and over rough mountains, figuring out the techniques the miners used and the equipment they worked with, seeing the innovations they came up with, discovering lost mines that no one has been in for a century, wandering through ghost towns where the only sound is the wind… These journeys allow a feeling of connection to a time when the world was a very different place. And I’d love to think that in some small way we are paying tribute to those hardy miners that worked these mines before we were even born.
#ExploringAbandonedMines
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How do they know where to start?
Bigfoot country
and uhh
So little grizzly or big grizzly?
I like your content! Multiple people making seperate videos in a single small space is a little weird, but I get it lol
Mosquitos were the winners on that day
Love your video’s. Hooked now.
Sure I seen the owners hand sticking out from under that boulder 🙂
I’ve always taken for "granit" the hard work those ol timers put into mining….WOW
Absolutely amazing
Leaverites! Lol leaver right there!
Good video ,all ya need is some dynamite for that bolder
What a treat. Thanks alot for showing us this!
Surprised roof not more steep
I’m glad it’s you going into that mine. That would give me the willies.
Any chance you are willing to share the location or maybe the contact info for the owners? If not I totally understand. I am fascinated by the mining history in the Sierra Nevadas. The reason I would be interested in the area in your video is that you stated it was safe enough for your dog and I have 7 & 9 yr old girls I’m trying to expose to the reality of how the world really works. the naivety of kids never stops amazing me. Want to show them real-world Minecraft :). Either way good video.
Put it all in a personal museum!!!!! KEEP IT SAFE PLEASE DEAR GOD KEEP IT SAFE ITS HISTORY!!!! it would be an honor to see that stuff
Glass Mrs Butterworth bottle that’s cool
the more mine exploring videos i watch, the more im in wonder at how people of the gold rush spent their entire lives digging these tunnels in the ground in the middle of nowhere hundreds of miles out in the wilderness
Glad to hear you get permission to pass keep out signs- so many "explorers" tresspass blatantly and pilfer (steal) things. Some even climb in windows of locked houses and buildings.
That tunnel is crazy, lot of work.
Looks like your in the bowels of a huge petrified tree stump . . . .
Very beautiful landscape
I hate Keep Out Signs on our Public Lands, if it is not a Patented Claim that Keep Out Sign means nothing. the Claimant only owns Mineral Rights and not Surface Rights so if a Miner ever asks you to leave Public Lands ask to see His or Her Patent Papers, however it is Legal for a Claimant to ask you to leave a Work Area providing they have a Valid Plan of Operation on File with BLM or Forest Service.
FYI: If you want to keep folks off your Claim then below you Mining Claim Sign post another sign that warns of Poisonous Mine Gas in the Area. I had a dumping problem at one of my Lode Claims and no amount of Keep Out Signs would stop anyone from dumping trash but one Poison Mine Gas Sign and never a problem again.
I used to owm that claim
Say hi to jack
Howcome water drippin in ybese caverns? Where it comin from?
That salamander is actually binary so its not him or her its zhimzam
Great video I was in a canyon with a friend and we came a upon a very old ground sluice was a pretty awesome thing to see especially because of how long it’s been there in a running creek
*I subscribed to this already.*
At like 7:52 ish, does he say that was a frog back there in that hole? I seen something, I thought one of you guys were back there
Well to have a legal claim it has to be registered…just saying. I can appreciate wanting to be low key tho. I would scour the nearby country as well. The curse of the gold! This appears to be placer too..right? What other minerals?
It caved in, it looks like, under the weight of that huge boulder….you would not catch me in there…interesting but scary….. thanks for the video
Those white stones look like crystals
No dogman,or bigfoot there
The syrup bottle is 1961 or later. It was introduced in 1961.
What were they mining?
That boulder at the portal was unnerving lol..good video man!!
Grizzly creek or little grizzly creek? Lot of hydro washes. What gold is left. Where has it been dredged in the 80’s?
Wow, like an open air museum very cool
I love exploring things but usually me and my friends can only explore sewage tunnels
Looks like it could still be profitable. Nice
I either see silver and copper, or there is some funky mold growing in that quartz.
Wonderful video. Thanks for making it.
A widow maker right outside his door?
In reference to gold stuck in equipment, heard true stories about finding amalgam retorts that weren’t cleaned out when the mine or mill shut down. Pounds of amalgam have been later recovered still in it when found years later.
That would be a great place to make some "shine"
Cool stuff. I love lookin and exploring old mines. Miners back then dudes were tuff bustin there asses all day hard work no 4 sure gains u know. So cool seein water dripping into these tunnels. Y is that?
My goal is to own at least 300 acres like this with a good amount of 2nd growth timber amongst some old growth that nobody wanted to fool with (pipe dream). That along with good minerals in the ground & I’d be a kid in a candy shop for the rest of my life!
What are veins and why did the miners follow them?
Amazing