| This is the remnants of the mine track that went out to the upper
tram station. Yes, it's as scary as it looks in the photo! |
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| The trestle looks like it just goes out into space. |
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| Well, it almost does. The mine cart was pushed to the end of the
line, then dumped into the chute. From the chute the ore was loaded in the
tramway bucket for a ride down to the base of the ridge. |
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| On the next ridge over is another mine perched on the side of the
hill. I had wondered how the miners climbed up to that mine. From here I can
see that the mine trail comes up the back side of the ridge, then down to the
mine. |
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| Above the mine adit is this foundation. It appears to be where the
winch was mounted. The cable must have gone from the winch to a pulley mounted
on the ore hopper then back down into the mine. |
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| This is the brake band for the winch. The band wrapped around the
cable drum and attached to a large lever that the operator used to stop the
winch. |
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| The years have taken their toll. |
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| This photo doesn't do justice to how steep this hillside really is.
|
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| This is one of the mine adits. |
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| Looking inside you can see a lot of debris. |
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| A bit further in I found the inclined shaft. It angles downward
about 30 degrees. It's steeper than the photo shows. |
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| A bit further down I came to the place where the inclined track was
undercut by a lower stope. Since I didn't have any safety gear I decided that
this was as far as I was going to go. I would like to return with the proper
equipment and explore deeper into the mine. |
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| A ways below the upper adit was this entrance. Of course I had to
go take a look. |
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| It wasn't far in before I realize that this too would require
additional gear to explore. I'm assuming that the miners used ladders to
descend into these areas. The ladders are long gone. |
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| It appears that Edison Primary Batteries were used at the mine at
one time. The batteries had to be refurbished by replacing the plates and
adding caustic soda mixed with water. |
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| No mine site would be complete without a dynamite box. |
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I'm safely back to my vehicle and looking forward to my next
adventure.
Since my visit to the mine another explorer provided me with
some interesting details about the mine. Now I need to plan a return visit to
follow up on those details.... |
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