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We came upon this winch not too far into the mine. At this point the mine becomes an inclined shaft. The winch is positioned to pull ore cars up the incline.
It appears to have been driven by an engine that had been long since removed.
The operator would stand behind the winch and haul cars up the incline.
It appears that the miners changed the oil in the hoist engine.
The winch cable cut into the track tie at the top of the inclined shaft.
In one of the stopes we found this ore chute. Ore was shoveled in the top and let gravity load the ore carts at a lower level.
This is a short, level section of track before it continues downward. There's another drift that leads off to the left.
Not exactly a modern day switch. We found it quite a ways down the incline shaft. It's impossible to say what it was used for but the small gauge wire makes me think it may have been used to turn on a signal lamp for the winch operator.
Here's an air reservoir tank. We didn't find where the air compressor had been mounted.
The control valve handle is decorative and functional.
Here's where the air line transitions from steel pipe to rubber hose so the miners could move the drill as necessary.
Here's a typical drill hole. Normally a series of holes like this one would be drilled into the rock face. Then they were filled with explosives and blasted.
Most explosives boxes that I have seen were made from wood. This cardboard box would indicate this mine was in operation in recent history.
An ore chute from a stope at a higher level. The miners would position an ore car underneath and let gravity fill it up.
This is looking down into the same ore chute from the upper level stope. I'm impressed with the precision that the miners could blast.
At the lowest level the track flattens out. The mine ends just a few feet from here.
Back out at the mine adit and time to head back down the hill. You can see the air line running along the track.
On the way down the hill we were able to follow the old miner's trail. We're about 2/3 of the way down from the mine. If you look closely you can see my SUV waiting to take us home.