Lost Worlds Project: Into the Deep Unknown

Haha, I’ve actually been impatient to get through these past couple of videos so that I can reveal in the next video what is in that cave with the undercut ledge and, more significantly, what is beyond it… To me, this whole complex represents the peak of mine exploring, but I really feel like the next level in this series perfectly encapsulates it all – the camaraderie, the technical aspects of multiple rope descents (and the exhausting ascents) in extreme conditions, the amazing discoveries, the fact that no living person has ever laid eyes upon what we are pushing into… I just realized as I was typing that last sentence that it is likely that these workings have never been photographed before and, certainly, no video of them (outside of our little crew) has ever emerged before.

Given the nature of the internet, I’m sure that a few viewers will rudely declare that some of the caves were stopes. No, they are actually caves… The miners expanded some of them and some of the caves tie into stopes, but they were originally caves. The miners also dumped large amounts of waste rock into them, which gives them an artificial appearance, but, again, they were originally caves. How can we be so sure? We have a map that details exactly where the caves and stopes were and the reports on this complex of mines describes the miners punching through - and descending through - a series of caves as the mine was developed.

I’m sure that some of you noticed that the levels shown in this video were more damp than the levels in the prior videos. That stands to reason as we are descending toward the water table. However, interestingly, the levels below these are generally drier. Odd, huh? I suspect that there is perhaps a specific route that water is percolating down through or that the type of rock and soil layered on this level (possibly heavy in clay) is slowing down the percolation of the water down to the water table and it is, in effect, getting backed up on these levels. That’s wild speculation, of course, as I do not possess a hydrologic engineering degree from the Colorado School of Mines. However, those possibilities are the only explanations that made sense to me.

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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 Lost Worlds Project: Into the Deep Unknown канала TVR Exploring