Dig it out or not?

[sdcfia]

Explored a very remote brushy ravine deep in the Pinos Altos Range today. After a long hike, we happened across a large dump in the bottom of the ravine. No trails or old roads anywhere nearby.

Dump with very old hand made rail ties on top.


Fought through the brush and found a collapsed adit with a small opening.


My partner tried to worm himself inside, but the hole is too small to get into - no dice.


Stuck my arm in as far as I could and took a photo. Things look solid.


Of course we want in - might be some artifacts in there. From the size of the dump, it looks like the tunnel may go in a couple-three hundred feet, more or less. The next trip we make, we'll search more for some sort of trail into the place. It'd be hell carrying the tools all the way in through the brush.

 

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[smokeythecat]

Be sure to take pictures of the rattlers and mountain lions in there. Best stuff is probably on the dumps.

 

[dog the treasure hunter]

I say dig, or send in remote control vechecial with camera. Maybe take smaller lighter tools. Nice find,that tunnel sure looks like quality work, whoever did it sure took pride in there work and did a beautiful job. If you do find anything in there it will probably be quality kept stuff.

 

[Back-of-the-boat]

I would detect the tailings and along side the trail out to the tailings before ever going in the mine a lot of gold has been found in tailings and alongside the tracks to the tailings.

 

[Quinoa]

Cool find. It looks like it may be collapsed inside , I think I see big rocks at the edge of the darkness of the tunnel photo. Can you strap a flashlight around a video camera (or do timer photos with flashlight) and stick in the hole with a pole? Maybe see deeper in.

 

[sdcfia]

Cool find. It looks like it may be collapsed inside , I think I see big rocks at the edge of the darkness of the tunnel photo. Can you strap a flashlight around a video camera (or do timer photos with flashlight) and stick in the hole with a pole? Maybe see deeper in.

The tunnel is solid with no debris on its floor. The work looks the same as another "arched tunnel" we've been to decades ago in the same range, allegedly done by Cornish miners ca 1860s. That tunnel had been discovered and opened by someone at least 50 years ago. It went in about 150' and left a much smaller dump on the outside. Don't know what was originally found in that one - all that was inside when we were there was a religious shrine.

The obstacle here is the intentionally collapsed adit which created the backfill plug. We can probably move a couple of the bigger rocks at the top of the fill pile (tunnel ceiling), then dig/push down to get a better look at things inside and enter if possible. I done this sort of thing before and don't see a problem other than heavy work and our age, ha ha. Our next move is to try to find a trail into the site.

One thing that bothers me is that the rails leading out to the dump have been removed, leaving only the old ties. If the original miners removed them, they may likely be stashed inside the tunnel. Problem is, no rails showed up in the photo - which admittedly wasn't a great photo. It's possible someone else found the site and merely salvaged the rails, although carrying them out of that location might not be worth the effort.

 

[sdcfia]

Be sure to take pictures of the rattlers and mountain lions in there. Best stuff is probably on the dumps.

The early miners went after the highest grade ores because of the difficulty in getting the rock from remote locations to a market. As you say, they often left values in the dumps, which with today's metals prices, might pay. Trouble is, the best stuff is often buried too deep to be viable. Also, in cases like this, there's no way to get a backhoe and a truck to the site.

 

[Quinoa]

Well, hope you find something, stay safe. There's old mine tunnels I know from the early 1900's like that which I have friends who have went way in them when they younger. But they were well known and documented places, just abandoned and now filled back in.

 

[yangonoverture]

NIce, it has been my dream to be a reasure hunter too!

 

[Aronia]

I think, should first of all, you must use a snake camera

 

[claypile]

I think, should first of all, you must use a snake camera
View attachment 1869738

Agreed, This thing might be a useful item in terms of searching on small/tight places. Maybe you can see what is inside.

 

[sdcfia]

A little update. Mines this size always have an old road leading to them - or at least a good trail to get men and equipment in and ore out. Sure, these routes become overgrown with trees and brush in time, but are always easy to find and somewhat maintained by deer and bears since the passage is the easiest than through the surrounding undisturbed ground, which in this case is killer brush on steep and rocky hills. We've circled this mine from all directions and haven't found anything close to a passable route into it yet, even though an old narrow-gauge (18") mule tram grade is only a quarter mile away. We're down to one final possibility, which will be checked out next week.

By the way, here's an old photo ca 1910 of the mule tram, originally 10 miles long. The rails have been removed, but you could drive a Prius down what's left of it.

 

[Quinoa]

A couple of the old backfilled mines I know of, there is no direct trail or road directly into them. There may be an old foot/horse trail nearby (usually downhill and below about 150 -300 feet ) that has pointers of some sort. The way that is cut in the arched tunnel is typical spanish from what I have been told. But it could be anybody. Spanish would have torch holders on the sides of the tunnel on in.

 

[Quinoa]

Another thing to do would be to look for a bullion/ore cache at 30, 60,90, 120, 150 bearing (plus opposites) degrees from the entrance at a place where rock formations make images, about 100-300 feet away. Distances can be more specific, but it can be anything 50-100 varas.. There is no formula, just alot of variables and variations of the same numbers that were used over and over again..