Exploring the Remains of a Historic Gold Mine in the Los Padres National Forest

The historic Contact mine is located deep within the Los Padres National Forest. The mine was first discovered in 1897 and was worked intermittently until the 1930’s by the Harris brothers. It was probably worked on the small scale in more recent years.

Not much remains of the mine at all. The two-stamp mill, located far below the mine, has been removed, and the three cabins have been destroyed. The three adits of the mine are currently caved, which is unfortunate, as the lowest adit was open three years ago. It apparently went in about 1000 ft., though, I was never able to explore it that far as there was a major collapse about 150 ft. inside. The collapse looked like it could be bypassed, but this would be treacherous as the mine is very unstable.

Outside the lowest adit is a large Sturtevant Multivane blower. This would blast fresh air into the mine to clear away dust and to provide ventilation. The fan is probably fairly old, but it appears to have been retrofitted with a newer electrical motor. I also found a broken ore cart wheel in the canyon below the mine. It’s always nice to find historical pieces of mining equipment.

Видео Exploring the Remains of a Historic Gold Mine in the Los Padres National Forest канала Forgotten Mining History