Meth Lab Was Hidden In This Abandoned Mine

I have often been asked whether I have ever found any hidden meth labs at an abandoned mine. Well, I now present this mine to you, dear viewers… Interestingly, encounters with these things that seem to trigger many people’s fears are exceedingly rare. We have not (yet) encountered any rattlesnakes, bears or mountain lions underground. We see them plenty of times on the way to a mine, but never underground (I hasten to add a “yet” to that statement as I don’t wish to tempt the mine exploring gods into throwing all three at us in the very next mine we visit!).

A friend of mine encountered a mountain lion mother with cubs deep underground once, which led to a very awkward retreat with the mother advancing on him as he backed out of the adit. Another friend encountered a skunk underground, which got him moving out very quickly. However, they both escaped unscathed.

Mr. McBride and I got into a tense encounter with a squatter once that had the idea that public land (National Forest) was HIS land. And we have come across several grow operations… The above are the dangers I seem to get asked about the most.

However, I believe the old classics like falling down are likely the most dangerous elements of exploring abandoned mines. I’d actually be curious to hear of anyone’s experiences with dangerous wildlife or dangerous humans at a mine? Anyone?

Given that the meth lab operation was disrupted by law enforcement personnel, I was shocked that this abandoned mine was not sealed up tight (this mine is on public land). Our friends in the mine closure business work in mysterious ways… To be clear, I’m not complaining. I was just surprised! This mine does have a lot of shafts and open cuts though, which may have something to do with it because it would be a significant job to seal every opening.

Lead, zinc and silver were mined here with small amounts of copper and gold also recovered. However, silver appears to have been the primary target. The earliest production data I found dated to 1920 and the last work I saw any record of was in the 1950s.

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

As well as 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

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. 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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Видео Meth Lab Was Hidden In This Abandoned Mine канала TVR Exploring