Levitating Headframe In The Nevada Desert

We camped at this abandoned barite mine on the last night of a great mine exploring trip... I was initially attracted to its surface features and mine buildings, which appeared ready to serve as a good place to spend the night. My enthusiasm for the abandoned mine increased upon our discovery of the spacious underground workings and the unusual “levitating” headframe that was hovering over the severely deteriorated shaft below. The metal headframe, supported by a thin cable on either side, was certainly a unique creation, but, as I have often said, there appears to be no limit to the ingenuity of miners.

And, thus, this mine served as a good home for the night, as we enjoyed both interesting slices of Nevada mining history and good food and beers around a campfire. The next morning we were treated to a beautiful sunrise over the vast, open Nevada desert. There was no one else around for miles in any direction…

Barite is also spelled “baryte” as geology-minded viewers will undoubtedly comment. The primary use for barite/baryte is for the specialized mud used in the drilling of oil wells. However, it also has uses in plastics, glass, sound reduction, paint and in various medical procedures.

The historical mill seen in the video dates to the 1870s and supported a surrounding town that boasted hotels, saloons, restaurants, a livery stable and a telegraph station among other marks of civilization. The town was also host to a reputation for murder, mass brawls and other “Wild West” fun... By the 1890s, the boom was over and the town was withering into the scarce remains that you see today.

The historical photos are courtesy of the University of Nevada, Reno's collection.

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

And a small gear update here: https://bit.ly/2p6Jip6

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

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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.

So, yes, in short, we are adit addicts… I hope you’ll join us on these adventures!

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The photos are courtesy of the University of Nevada, Reno.

Видео Levitating Headframe In The Nevada Desert канала TVR Exploring