36 Miles of Abandonded gold mine!

[@wesleyweisberg8895]

Awesome job bringing locations to match historical photos. Well done

[@joelhill4107]

Excellent!!! Love how you cross reference the original pictures to how it is now. Awesome music to go with, Really good job of these video's. Thanks for sharing with us!

[@richardstump4582]

Happy Minding! Thank you! For Letting me join You! Will See Ya!! Happy Minei by!!

[@yellowboy1866]

An enjoyable trip, thanks for dragging us along. Sad to see the abandoned machinery.

[@HamHomestead]

Thanks for watching!

[@richardstump4582]

Great Picture! To thank you!! Sir WOW!

[@PirateStyle2013]

These are the some of best miner videos I have come across yet. The references to maps and pictures are great and music you choose is always fitting to the scenery. Great job. If you are going alone you need a partner because its dangerous to be in the woods alone. Peace

[@TheWozWizard]

At 8:05 - A similar incident happened to me in the early 1970’s. Some college friends and myself where on a gold panning trip. We were working our way along Poorman Creek a tributary the South Fork of the Yuba River when we came upon a quite extensive abandon mining operation. After exploring the old buildings, we decided to check out the mine. It was a horizontal adit going into the side of the mountain with a small amount of water running out of it. Since I had a flashlight, a Ray-O-Vac Sportsman, that put out about as much light as one candle, I got to lead. One in our group have enough sense to insist we tie ourselves together with a rope we had. About 50 feet into the adit that flashlight was totally useless. I should have turned around then but I forged, or should I say stumbled, ahead. It was not much farther that I took a step and found myself over my head in the coldest water I have ever been in. I felt the rope tighten around my waist and then it pulling me up and out of the water filled vertical shaft. Luckily, I only lost that flashlight and my hat. After regaining our composer, we turned around and head for the pin point of light that was the entrance. It was a long, wet, cold walk back to camp. Needless to say I have not entered a mine or cave, except on a guided tour, to this day.

[@sumacmt]

Great video, you know your mining and video making, Can appreciate the time it took and it shows... good job.

[@tomgately9275]

Thi has been a fine discovery, I love looking over google earth to find these mines, This video was great. I sit back on my haunches and search for what I can find. and I'm on the east coast. Thank You for these fine videos.

[@OurSoVaLife]

beautiful country out there,,thanks for taking us along

[@davidgowdy3177]

Man that's some beautiful Country there

[@h.w.h.6732]

Great job documenting and preserving our history. Thank you.

[@HamHomestead]

Hydro Warehouse Thanks for watching! It is fun to explore these old mines.

[@freekzero]

Really appreciate the post-filming research you did and the addition of relevant historical photos. As many others have written: what a great job you did with this video.

[@HamHomestead]

Thanks!

[@TVRExploring]

That's a really impressive site and it's in a beautiful setting. Thank you for taking the time to document it for us...

[@TVRExploring]

Open adits are becoming increasingly difficult to find in our world... I haven't visited any abandoned mines in Oregon yet, but plan to do so in the coming season (I'm based in California in the summers).

[@HamHomestead]

Yes they are. Prospecting and mining have become so overly restricted with red tape not many attempt to go do anything anymore and all these old mines are quickly disappearing into obscurity. It always amazes me to see how many open mines are left in Nevada.

[@KubotaManDan]

here you'll need this map bakeroregonhistory.info/exhibit3/e30127b.htm

[@HamHomestead]

Thanks Dan, Isnt that great they have all that info for the public to access? There is such a treasure trove between that site and the DOGAMI site.

[@theogdirkdiggler]

TVR Exploring Hi Justin!

[@chrisackerley1842]

Ham - Sorry for the repetitive comment, but I just have to say what a great video this is. The old photos are really cool! When I look at what those people went through to mine at that elevation, I have two feelings. The first is simple amazement at how tough they were. The more powerful feeling I get looking at those old photos is simple pride that I am an American. These are the people who built our country. They didn't whine, they didn't look to the government for a handout, they did what needed to be done. I try to remember that every day, and to emulate them. Thanks for a fantastic video.

[@HamHomestead]

Thanks Chris!

[@michaelschindele5484]

Hey Ham , The miners from left to right are none other are Bill Meyers , a man known as Lundgren , Lon Simmons himself , and Fred Steene . Bill Meyers and Lon Simmons were partners at the Simmons mine and other workings at the west and lower end the Norway Basin . Slightly above , on the same side of Norway Basin was the Norway Mine owed by Fred Steene and Lundgren . This cabin was located further up the basin and was used by all in the picture while they worked their claims . Of course , Lon Simmons was one of the first miners in the upper Pine Valley / Norway Basin area . His partner Bill Meyers passed away after Simmons did and Meyers` widow reopened Simmons` mine w/ a man named Lovett , who was the former superintendent of Cornucopia Mines . Rather an odd partnership . They built a tram which brought ore downhill and it was trucked off to Robinette . The partnership was short lived though . The new upper tramhouse they built burned down four and a half months after operations had started . Not much was written about the Norway Mine . Only a few assay reports . Fred Steen was very active in Cornucopia as he was a member of the town counsel . Both he and his wife Augustine are buried at Pine Heaven cemetary , along w/ the infamous photographer , miner , and strawberry farmer Lawrence Panter . Without his pictures , much of the history Of Cornucopia and Pine Valley would have been lost forever . So how`s that from an old tinhorn from Seattle ? I did have a place in Sumpter for about six years , but had to sell it due to health . Love your videos .

[@donaldpowers5557]

very INTRESTING old mine every extensive subbed will be checking out more of your videos......thanks for your posts

[@neckbonz3152]

Great job making this very interesting video HH. Thanks for the extraordinary effort of making it and sharing this vanishing piece of history. Great old historic pics added in to give a real feel for what it was like and the difficulty in the quest for precious metals. First time I’ve seen your work- definitely won’t be the last. Keep it up plz. But take a companion with you and stay safe!

[@skipwavedx5151]

Awesome site and pictures of History as well. Thank you.

[@HamHomestead]

Thanks!

[@FredCDobbs-mj7hn]

The best documentary on western mining I’ve seen. Great photography and really good oral history that makes the film come alive and takes you back in American history. These miners and their families lived hard lives. It’s difficult to imagine how they dug the mines, transported all the heavy equipment at unbelievable heights and in some of the roughest terrain. Where did you find the old photos? Would really like to know the sources. It’s great that you put this effort in to preserve some of the fast disappearing past. Thanks very much for giving an old fella a fond remembrance of days gone by.

[@HamHomestead]

Thank you very much Larry, I very much appreciate it. The old photos are mainly from the Baker County Library, they have an excellent collection. Take Care and thanks for watching.

[@andrewclark4781]

Respect to the miners, engineers and the draft animals that worked that harsh beautiful landcape. Appreciate you including the sobering tale of dropping in to a flooded winze! You can never be 100% sure what lies beneath your feet in a dry adit let alone a wet one. Thank's for sharing your exploration.

[@HamHomestead]

Thanks Andrew, glad you enjoyed. I will be doing more mine videos here soon. Snowed out of most of them currently.

[@richardstump4582]

Glad you made it!!

[@allenknight555]

It's a shame that these mines are not in operation . Thanks for sharing this . I like how you included the old photos.

[@HamHomestead]

Thanks Allen

[@snarf2948]

Excellent presentation. Thank you.

[@meradu2]

Love the video and now you are motivating me to go and explore this place some day soon Thank for sharing the video

[@brianlaird5355]

Wow made me nervous just watching you hanging over those cliffs. Another great video. Thanks

[@HamHomestead]

Thanks Brian, will get back to more mine videos here this spring. Pretty much snowed out of most of them for the year.

[@BadHa6it]

Thanks for sharing your adventure and the history in that area. I've been doing a lot of hiking in the greenhorn district to some of the mines in the scenic area that are inaccessible to motor vehicles.

[@greghanlon2235]

Thanks for your hard work.

[@petecooper4412]

Hi, what you are doing with these films are just what I came on youtube for, wish I'd found you earlier. I'm tucked away on the Isle of Wight in the UK so this to me is absolutely going to be my favorite site from now on. Please do some more. Love you and what you do. Pete Cooper.

[@HamHomestead]

Thanks Pete. As soon as the weather improves (probably about May/June) I will be getting back up into the larger mines. I am trying to get some of the lower elevation ones done this next month or so, thought we received about a foot of snow at the house overnight so that will delay things a bit.

[@thomasackerman3995]

I like the video format music etc, The Video is all funky tho. Thanks for posting tho! Subscribed!

[@DriverDean]

Prospector Dean here.....Thanks for posting!! Great research!

[@HamHomestead]

Thanks Dean, more mine videos coming when I can get back to them (snow).

[@richardstump4582]

Wow! Great History

[@patricknoveski6409]

I can't believe they built a mine on the cliffs up in the middle of nowhere. Great job. Now get the hell out of there.

[@richardstump4582]

A lot of History! Wow!

[@goggleuserunderduress9927]

thanks for posting, really awesome video.

[@susanlee9532]

LIKED YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY & angle of shots. great video! Pretty country. Note - some plywood uses blood to hold pieces of wood together in plywood.

[@mikeallen9909]

Awesome video!!

[@karlschweizer2554]

thats cool just think how hard them guys worked back then and risked there lives and lost there lives respect right here

[@blurboards1]

I can't believe you only have 611 subscribers! You make some terrifically edited videos, and I love how you include the historical photos. I live in the Portland metro but have a fascination with old west history. Someday soon I plan on venturing to eastern Oregon to see some of this for myself. Regards, your 612th subscriber.

[@HamHomestead]

Derek Mcclenahan We are up 618! Getting closer to that gold giveaway! There are lots of great spots to explore, you will love your time spent here!

[@richardstump4582]

Wow! Way up there!!

[@richardstump4582]

Amazing!!

[@222palafox]

Thanks for the video. Wish I could pull all the gold outta there.

[@OGRocker1]

Stepping into a flooded winze/stope is my biggest fears in mine explorations... seems a good fear after hearing your story... How much have you explored in S.W. Oregon ? I'm in the Gold hill district and very curious about this area Jackson/Josephine counties... anyone you know that is a realiable explorer down here ?

[@richardstump4582]

Wow! Cooler Temperatures!

[@spudnikholyghostroller7314]

I did some prospecting around there in the late 1980s and I came across an outcropping of blue quartz that had fine wire gold the size of your hair.

[@richardstump4582]

Very Interesting!!

[@charleserps848]

It's refreshing to watch a well done, historically accurate video. Thank you sir for the guided tour. We lived in a small town about 50 miles south of Anchorage Alaska in the early 1950's and at the age of 13 I had a job cleaning the local bar, hotel and social gathering area called the "Little Dipper Inn" which was owned by an old hard rock miner named Joe Danish and his wife Alice. Joe's mine was called the "Crow Creek Mine" and although he no longer operated it, it was still intact and could have been put back in production at a moments notice. I believe he and Alice thought there was more money in the beverage industry than there was in mining. If I remember right Gold was running around $16.00 and ounce at the time. I remember climbing up to the mine and seeing a vein of Quartz over 2 feet thick running across the side of the mountain. It would be interesting to know what the yield per ton of ore was. Crow Creek also produced a substantial amount of Placer Gold. The Erickson mine was a placer mine there on Crow Creek, and Mr. Erickson would let us local kids borrow a Gold Pan so we could go Gold Panning, and let us keep our meager gold dust and the occasional small nugget we may have found. Those were some of the happiest times of my life, and it is pleasant to reminisce about those times

[@HamHomestead]

Thanks Charles!

[@chrischerry6017]

I really enjoyed that video too bad you couldn't gotten to the Queen's mine I really wanted to see that but I figured you wouldn't be out of yet to it it considering the looks of the terrain around there but really good video really cool information on the whereabouts of that mine in Oregon there thank you

[@richardstump4582]

Wow! Look At the View

[@davedennis6042]

Wow! That is treacherously rough country. If you stop this video at 21:46 it looks like a Bob Ross painting. Excellent video.

[@HamHomestead]

Thanks Dave

[@ericlakota6512]

Im in westrn mass and we dont have mines we have old turn of centery quarry ponds i love exploring and reserching doing history of the mine after and seing spots where pics are tacken

[@spudnikholyghostroller7314]

I had heard that it was a Canadian Company that bought that mine and that it was completely flooded out that they hit such a big river that it was said they don't make a pump big enough to pump it out.

[@richardstump4582]

Wow! Nice

[@justincannon9365]

The multi layer metal parts and iron cans, are the remnants of electrical transformers. Someone obviously scavenged the copper coils long ago

[@deanharvey7556]

Agree with others this is a very interesting video and very well done.Us modern folk probably take most things for granted where these guys working these mines would have just done whatever needed to be done under extreme hardships and not much in the way of health and safety way back then.

[@theogdirkdiggler]

Yeah....Tunnel!

[@npsit1]

18:24 I would guess that it was part of a small steam engine or locomotive. What a view of scenery... Wow.. SO much respect for the people who lived and worked up there. That must have been tough.

[@HamHomestead]

Very well could be, but that area did not have any trains. I am leaning towards part of an one or two cylinder mechanical donkey (which many times were made from old steam engines). Thanks For Watching!

[@BackyardProspector]

great video, thanks

[@HamHomestead]

Thanks! Will get some more old mine videos done here in the next couple months once the snow goes recedes some.

[@mmmcquoid]

there all parts of the ore train .except the thin laminated steel that's a transformer

[@deluna7386]

Hi great video

[@richardstump4582]

Wow! That's Right!!

[@AGDemo]

Great video thank you!

[@paulcampbell5202]

I suspect that piece of machinery you saw with the hex head nuts and bolts is the upside down remains of a two cylinder steam powered winding engine. The two cylinders with their respective square shaped attached steam chests are obvious on either side. There would have been a large drum in between the cylinders supported on a shaft with cranks at each end joined to the connecting rods from each cylinder. It would have been piped up to a separate boiler nearby. This machine could have been used in many places around a mine such as hoisting in a shaft, pulling ore skips up an incline or operating the aerial tramways. I hope that is helpful. That was a great video! by the way. Paul

[@HamHomestead]

Paul Campbell thanks for the great insight.

[@davecrosthwait8793]

The reason for my dislike is simple. During the next few minutes of filming he encounters the non-ferrous; Copper layered conductor. My uneducated opinion is that the "manifold" pumped water to the upper dry reaches evidenced by the unexplainable upper elevation piping for hydrologic blasting or sluicing. Don't beat me up, its just an observation.

[@davecrosthwait8793]

I forgot to explain my theory behind the "non-ferrous" copper layered parts. Copper conducts electricity, electricity provides the obvious. There are multiple dwellings, mills and so forth in that upper region.

[@billwing6917]

Is that all your guitar work? I really enjoy it 👍👌 Let’s jam some time‼️

[@spudnikholyghostroller7314]

Have you been on the middle John Day river at Susanville Mine they took 150 train cars of gold ore that would be another great video, in the early 1990s someone found a 7 lb gold nugget up on the hill near there.

[@HamHomestead]

Not yet!

[@danr5105]

This is the Baker OR site? If you really want to see a big tailings pile (or something made out of tailings) take a look at the Oroville dam in Northern CA. A train ran box cars of tailings 24/7 for 10 years to make that dam.

[@HamHomestead]

Its close to Baker, about 60 miles away near Halfway Or. The funny thing about this mines tailing biggest pile is they hauled it all away. They used some to build one of the damns on the snake river (brownlee I think) and a bunch to level the playground at the local school... Then of course years later the EPA came in and claimed it was all bad and they had to dig it all up from the playground (thousands and thousands of yards). This was the crushed fine material after the mill and flotation plant so ... yeah it probably was not the best for kiddos to be rolling around in.

[@meradu2]

Dan R thanks for the information on the Oroville dam I like to know more Ty

[@rogerdavies6226]

to imagine all this material was moved by hand

[@richardstump4582]

That's Something!!

[@richardstump4582]

It's Something! How they Just left Stuff Behind!!

[@richardstump4582]

Yes! It Is

[@Brad-OTRT-Webmaster]

Very informative video. Thanks for sharing it. I think you may want to have another person with you when hiking in the mountains for safety reasons.

[@HamHomestead]

Thanks Brad

[@dougsimerly6829]

Awesome history and scenery, thanx for the video. I have been to a lot of mines in this area, but every one I checked out in high school was too sketchy mostly due to water and just a casualty of time. Those miners were amazing, as are the people in Baker and the surrounding area. Have you ever checked out the shafts at Virtue Flats?

[@HamHomestead]

Thanks Doug, Yes I have been in several of the adits around virtue and through most of the old Virtue mine. I need to contact the owners again and see if I can get permission to film it. That would be a great winter mine exploration project!

[@richardstump4582]

Wow!!

[@CBeard849]

Nice video thanks for sharing it! Can you just imagine guys living and working up there around the turn of the 20th century..?? It's too bad we don't have movies of those old mines in operation. Back when men were men......and women were too!

[@brzr67]

The Good Ol Days...

[@richardstump4582]

That's Nice

[@richardstump4582]

Ok! Nice!

[@JadesAdventures22]

nice work cool vid hop to see mor

[@HamHomestead]

Thanks Jade, next weekend going out to some low elevation mines to get some more footage!

[@robertsnyder5149]

Sounds like you went intothe Cougar-Independence mine and fell in a winse.

[@wesleyweisberg8895]

Gold mining was banned during WW2 as it didn't further the war effort and that is why gold mining at this mine shut down.

[@MattCookOregon]

Awesome stuff. I just did a video here as well!

[@stalbertjocelyn]

The laminated metal looks like a transformer and the casted base looks like the base of a steam engine and boiler.

[@darrenadams13]

It’s funny how you’ve gotten so used to those huge mountains, that you refer to those treacherous mountain sides as “hills”.. :)

[@richardstump4582]

So Sad! Sir

[@richardstump4582]

Big! And Steep!

[@richardstump4582]

How they got that Stuff up There!!!

[@anthonysadowski5983]

I have been dry washing for about 2 yrs.and I only run about 10 buckets a day for about 6 months a year,and have gotten about 36 grams of gold.Which is ok for a hobby,but all my gold came from the over burden,the first 1 foot of dirt.In New Mexico and northern Arizona.

[@richardstump4582]

Be Careful!! Sir

[@ericlakota6512]

Wow. You are in Gods country for real

[@ericlakota6512]

Looks tike part of a trainunder carage

[@therrienmichael08]

8 minutes in hoping you'll be taking a pan to the water. There must be some placer deposits.

[@jakestech28]

I'm interested in getting underground here, any promising adits/shafts?

[@richardstump4582]

Are these owned by Some 1?? Or the State!!

[@RTLichable]

If you like to be amazed how mines can be in the most rugged and unaccessible places come to the San Juans of Southwest Colorado!

[@HamHomestead]

Well we may have to just do that! Thanks!

[@deluna7386]

RTLichable I want to find a place to go an visit . An also prospects

[@richardstump4582]

Some thing!!

[@chopstickw1801]

I really appreciate the long journey you took, high in the mountains, towards the Queen of the West Mine. Another world. Queen of the West Mine in 1915 photo at www.bakeroregonhistory.info/exhibit3/e30400b.htm And the old Douglas Fir tree at 13:03! Heartbreaking. Trailhead at 13:55. At 29:03 the tragic avalanche of January 1923 that killed Mrs. Fisher, along with her children Garland 8, Jesse 2, Minnie Woodcock, Katherine Motley, and Loreno Irwin. Hard lives, with very little opportunity. We have nothing to complain about. A remote location, almost in Idaho, if you can imagine such a thing. Thank you for the video. It is magic.

[@conartistarttheives6337]

Who is the musician in the intro? I need that in my life!

[@kirrilian]

Not sure if you know it or not but the audio from your mic is only in the left channel, not sure if that's on purpose or not though.

[@spudnikholyghostroller7314]

They had the main mine then all the other prospectors started punching a lot of other mines on both sides are riddled with mines.

[@chrisackerley1842]

Ham - The War Act took effect October 8, 1942. It prohibited mining, except for strategic minerals. Hundreds of gold mines across the West shut down as a result. Did this mine shut down as a result of the War Act, or did it shut down before that, as a result of high costs and low gold prices?

[@HamHomestead]

Up until I made this video I had assumed this mine shutdown due to WW2, but while researching I found they actually had shutdown several months before WW2 started due to what you just said, low gold prices and high wages. That and and more development work needed to be completed to open up more material and the investors were not keen on the idea since the cost of production was so high in relationship to the Gold prices.

[@chrisackerley1842]

@@HamHomestead Ham - if you ever have the time, there is an on-line archive of Desert Magazine. Desert was published monthly, from 1937 to 1984. Although Desert focused on the Southwest, starting in around 1939 or 1940, they did a monthly feature called "Mines and Mining," in which they assembled short news blurbs on mining in the West from various sources. Fascinating stuff! Did you know that, in 1944, Arizona copper mines were so short of manpower that the War Department caused the Army to assign something like 4,000 newly trained draftees to work in the the mines? True story. A number of mines across the West were forced into temporary shutdowns during WW II due to manpower shortages.

[@chrisackerley1842]

@@HamHomestead I forgot to say, keep up the good work! I like your mine exploring videos, but I also like the other videos you do on tech topics. You're a good guy, Ham! KZbin needs people like you!