A Canyon Full Of Silver Mines

An abandoned silver mine in Nevada? Who would have thought such a thing were possible... Yes, this canyon of mines was primarily a silver mining operation, although there was also some gold and copper reported as secondary minerals. The mineral potential of the area was first discovered in the 1860s and a settlement sprang into existence around that time to exploit these ore bodies. Mining was conducted throughout the 1800s and then, again, in the 1930s. Obviously, some work was also done in the 1970s or early 1980s, but I was unable to locate any records on this.

The large workings along the creek that you can see in the distance at the start of the video are the remains of a shaft, developed during the 1800s, that dropped for hundreds of feet. Even the reports from the 1930s state that these workings are a bit of a mystery as they are all underwater (a situation that has not changed since then).

I’m on the fence about returning to this site to rope down the ore pass at the end of the video. The amount of shit (I’m talking about literal shit) that one would have to crawl through to get into the ore pass and to descend it is really off-putting. Furthermore, our ropes and gear would come out covered in shit as well. So, there’s that. Also, the amount of water at this site suggests that any cool artifacts would likely be rusted or rotted beyond recognition. Furthermore, given the number of caved adits and workings at this site, whether we could even get far enough to see rusted or rotted artifacts is brought into question. Lastly, the evidence of work done in the 1970s or the early 1980s makes me think that any cool stuff would likely have been hauled out or destroyed by core drilling and blasting. Those are the cons. The pros, of course, are that we don’t know what is down there.

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You can see the full TVR Exploring playlist of abandoned mines here: https://goo.gl/TEKq9L

You can see the gear that I use for mine exploring here: https://bit.ly/2wqcBDD and here: https://bit.ly/2p6Jip6

Several kind viewers have asked about donating to help cover some of the many expenses associated with exploring these abandoned mines. Inspired by their generosity, I set up a Patreon account. So, if anyone would care to chip in, I’m under TVR Exploring on Patreon.

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.
I hope you’ll join us on these adventures!

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Видео A Canyon Full Of Silver Mines канала TVR Exploring