How efficient were the Spanish hard rock miners. Did they pretty well clean them out, or did some get abandoned before they were mined out? Do these mines get more dangerous as they get older?
They took out the easy stuff, leaving a LOT behind. With the equipment we have today one could easily work an old Spanish mine for profit. They did always find high quality mines too, so if you find and old Spanish mine, and the Spanish were the last one's in it, you can bet there'll be plenty of minerals left over
All mines get more dangerous as they get older. Caution and safety is #1 at all times!!! Life sucks when your dead.
Working with hand steel and pick was not economically feasable on deposits under 1 oz/ton. Now thats a bonanza !!! Way tooooo many newbies dead this year--ifn' ya don't know what your doing?? Don't do it. Tons a au 2 u 2-John
Thanks for the responses. I have no idea what I'm doing as far as the hard rock mining goes. I do have a couple of friends/associates that have many years of mining and prospecting experience. I just happen to be the one that knows where the mines are. They may have been worked again in the early 1900's, I guess we'll just have to check it out and see.
2fishon,Not sure if the Spanish used fires against the face and then throw cool water on it as the ancient egyptians did or not.Randy is in to all this lost mine stuff,so perhapsd he can clue you in......If one believes in lost mines you'd think with thousands of people looking for gold every year in Arizona a find would be made.Fish,always watch the back of the mine and where your walking,an old winze might be anywhere and the last noise you here is your own scream as you sail and tumble into eternity.Do your sampling and good luck........Dave
Thanks for the responses. I have no idea what I'm doing as far as the hard rock mining goes. I do have a couple of friends/associates that have many years of mining and prospecting experience. I just happen to be the one that knows where the mines are. They may have been worked again in the early 1900's, I guess we'll just have to check it out and see.
Check news reports for Crandall Canyon,Utah.Be certain of your 'friends' experience before you "climb down a well on another man's rope."
No incision into mother nature's guts improves with age.
2fishon,Not sure if the Spanish used fires against the face and then throw cool water on it as the ancient egyptians did or not
Dave
Dave,
I believe they mostly hand mined their ore. I could be wrong, but from what I understand it was hand mined. Most of the mines are to small to stand up in. Getting fire and water in there would be quite the feat
I'll take some pics and post them. I haven't seen any evidence of fire inside. You can definitely not stand up in them. The floors are too rough for them to have used wheel barrows or the like. It must have been some tough mining, or they had slaves.
Having dug many a coyote hole myself,heed my advice about the back and read and re-reread that post about Sonora which is twenty minutes from here.........Dave
Gentlemen: First the mines on the then frontier were always short of steel, explosives, labor, etc. They did no more work than was absolutely necessary for their labor to work, with no concern for safety or comfort.
Some mines look like a crack in the ground.
As a result they generally concentrated in simply sinking a shaft to the depth that they could still supply sufficient air to keep theirlabor alive, then stoped their way back up. Many times the vein continued strongly down, but today it will be covered with tons of dump or scrap rock which they used as a back fill..
They used fire to bring in cooler fresh air and also to actually mine with, as was earlier mentioned..
Not all were bonanza mines, but to excavate each one to find out, is a practical impossibility..
S T I L L -----There are many beauties out their, go get em..
These stones were obviously placed here on purpose. I thought maybe they were to catch the material that was coming down the slope. After diggin around a bit I found the uphill side of the circle was just buried. Now it appears to be a fire ring or something. It is about 150ft uphill from the mine opening. Any ideas on what this might have been used for?
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I'll dig it out next time and see if there are any ashes. There aren't any fire marks on the rocks that I can see. It would have been a really poor place to have a fire for cooking. Is it possible there is a shaft underneath and this was a protective barrier? I apologize for all the questions, I'm new to this stuff and it is fascinating.
If it was a fire pit,
don't expect to find too much except maybe some charred bones and some charcoal.
You may not even find that much.
I have only found a few that retained any remains of a Spaniards passing.
they used to really clean a place up, and bury all traces of their having been there.
If you dig this and find a large flat stone underneath...
clear away all the soil covering the stone and turn the stone over.
What you may have accidentally discovered is a Pozo. or Airshaft.
If the mine is as you say... Below you 150 feetit may be trapped,
if so the pozo is possibly the best place to enter.
But before you go in at all become an expert on death traps. ( EXPERT) don't get excited and take shortcuts.
Never go in without someone to help , if you get in trouble.
Never forget you are pitting your wits against a man you can't talk to.
He set out to KILL you as far back as 300 years ago.
You can bet that his stuff still works.
Dig down to the bottom of the ring and see if the bottom is flat rocks/bedrock. If so look for a small hole in the center. If you find that hole you've found an arrastra. They used these to crush up the ore. They'll be all kinda gold/minerals in it
I don`t know about the western mines but here in the east you would be dead without proper ventilation.
Black Damp is a name for one of the gaseous combinations that will not support life. I happens in unventilated silos, tanks and mines, usually several are killed trying to go in and help. Dangerous stuff, be careful.
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Originally Posted by 2fishon
