Mining The Corpse Of A Mighty Ancient River For Gold

If ever an abandoned mine exemplified the spirit of not giving up, this one would be it! Perseverance paid off big time here by getting us in to explore this extraordinary underground placer gold mine. In my opinion, this is the best placer mine that I have explored. Some, such as the Ruby Mine, have been bigger, but I have been in a lot of these mines inside of the ancient river channels and none of them have been as unique and as visually interesting as this one is…
I always receive questions on the nature of the placer deposits in this “Mother Lode” region of California and so I’ll repeat the explanation I gave previously:
The placer here is made up of the compressed remains of giant ancient rivers that used to run through where the Sierra Nevada mountains of California are now. Just as modern creeks and rivers in “gold country” fill up with gold over time, these ancient rivers did as well. However, there were no miners around back then to pick the gold out of them. Over time, volcanic eruptions and other geologic activity buried these ancient rivers and shifted them around. Now, one can find these ancient river channels at the top of a mountain. And, of course, even there they still contain the gold that tumbled down into them so many millions of years ago. So, gold miners will eagerly tunnel in through even thousands of feet of rock after them. No one knows who first discovered that there were ancient rivers full of gold buried in California, but can you imagine what went through their mind when they made that discovery?
In case you didn’t catch what happened in this video in relation to my prior experience… Several years ago, I visited an underground placer gold mine in the area that ended up being much larger than I expected. Exhaustion, bad blisters and dying batteries led me to wrap up my visit before fully exploring that mine. It was always my intention to return and finish it one day, but I had not gotten around to doing so yet. More recently, I was looking around the area and, entirely by chance, stumbled across the portal that you saw in this video. Well, that portal looked large and inviting and so I returned with a couple of my exploring crew to see what this mine was all about. As you saw in the video, this tied into the mine I had explored several years ago! So, what you saw in this video is what I was unable to finish last time (and there are still a handful of sections in the workings I visited in the early videos that I have not visited). The two portals essentially bookend the workings of the mine as each is at the extreme edge of the workings.
If you’re interested in seeing the other workings that I visited several years ago, those two videos can be found below:
Part 1
bit.ly/2GsxtCq
Part 2
bit.ly/3jTwY20
The earliest records of this abandoned gold mine that I could find were newspaper articles dating back to 1908. However, the articles also mentioned that the mine used to be known by another name and dates back even earlier. So, we know that the mine is well over a century old. We’re just not sure of exactly how old or what its origins are. The most extensive work appears to have been done during the 1920s and 1930s.
Frustratingly, we located the remains of the miner’s bunkhouse in a nearby meadow. It was impressively furnished with a washing machine and dryer, a refrigerator, a stove and many other household luxuries. Unfortunately, all of this had been burned and pushed over a cliff. I don’t have any proof, but I suspect the Forest Service was responsible as during the 1970s, they burned down all of the historic miner’s cabins and bunkhouses in the area.
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All of these videos are uploaded in HD, so I’d encourage you to adjust your settings to the highest quality if it is not done automatically.
You can see the gear that I use for mine exploring here: bit.ly/2wqcBDD
As well as a small gear update here: bit.ly/2p6Jip6
You can see the full TVR Exploring playlist of abandoned mines here: goo.gl/TEKq9L
Thanks for watching!
*****
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.
So, yes, in short, we are adit addicts… I hope you’ll join us on these adventures!
#ExploringAbandonedMines
#MineExploring
#AbandonedMines
#UndergroundMineExploring

[@nedoran5758]

That formation at 20:10 is amazing, what causes the dark blue coloration I wonder? Mind boggling to think this river had dinosaurs romping thru it when it was flowing Edit: did you guys take samples of that white funk that was oozing out of the rock? Microbiologists might love to get their hands on that

[@dave_in_florida]

yes, seems more question remain unanswered

[@TVRExploring]

No samples... It's essentially a variation of flowstone. Your observation about the dinosaurs romping through this river when it last saw daylight is an awesome one!

[@jonasraulin5284]

Looks exactly like Ravne Tunnels at Bosnian Pyramids

[@JohnPaul-yf9xd]

I think it was probably Simon samples. You should do a DNA analysis on this! I think you may have just found where the Bigfoot live!I think you should really seriously consider collecting it from the source. Bigfoot himself actually Asian point I've heard of Big ' molesting men. I saw it on KZbin.You should definitely look that up!I think that will answer a lot of your questions That college and point

[@clydebutler6487]

Nope! No dinosaurs. This is a tertiary riverbed. The tertiary epoch started the day that the asteroid fell to earth and killed the dinosaurs. About 60 million years ago.

[@bluemanhealing]

Great video As someone who attempted to get an old underground gold mine reopened in the 1980s, with many partners, the question about the dark gray gravel is a good one. When you hear the word tertiary, it refers to the third generation of river flows. The rocks that were deposited in those stream beds tended to be blue gray or dark gray in color. There Is a channel in California that's actually called the deep blue lead. The tan colored gravels that are seen overlaying the dark blue gray gravels are from the quaternary age of rivers, which started about 2.6MM years ago. Quaternary gravels are known to contain gold, but the richer gravels were from the tertiary age. Sometimes the gravels in the tertiary streams were harvested by rivers flowing through deposits of an earlier age of gravels, which are thought to have been extremely rich with gold.

[@vbee6938]

Nice thanks for sharing ur knowledge

[@Stand.Your.Ground.]

You answered my question thank you! I would love to find old undiscovered ancient river beds in Oregon!

[@georgesass447]

You missed out, walking over nuggets!

[@tedpreston4155]

I recall reading a book years ago called "Bacon and Beans from a Gold Pan." It was about a couple who survived the depression by mining gold from abandoned placer mines left over from California's gold rush days. One of the old mines they found was in an ancient river channel like this one. They started out by panning some of the mine tailings, and they found lots of gold in the tailings. They guessed that the early miners didn't get it all because the gravel and gold from the ancient river channel had been largely cemented together, so much of the gold went through the sluice without dropping out. After sitting in the tailings pile, exposed to the air for decades, the cemented together gravel broke apart, and allowed them to recover gold that the early miners had missed. Maybe it's worth a try at this mine in the video. Good luck!

[@nickford5549]

They also didn’t mine as thin of deposits cause of price. I bet the ceiling is worth taking now

[@cutthroat2273]

I agree with Jeff, and that is a super nice find, very nice work on the perseverance of digging through that initial cave in, either way you guys struck gold and so did us viewers!

[@clivekibbler4578]

i don.t know what other viewers think im so used to seeing mines been very forgettable very similar in rocks and design but this one is something else its different i shall not forget this one ..thanks all of you for making and showing this well made film

[@jw2218]

You should definitely check out the first time they were at that mine on one of his earlier videos, you won’t be sorry. The other videos are called Gold Rich Underground Placer Mine part one and two.

[@sugarnads]

@@jw2218 yep its AMAZING. My favourite. Glad hes back in it

[@vince38curious2]

Imagine the Gold still waiting to be recovered from this old mine !

[@TVRExploring]

There is certainly still a lot in there...

[@kevinironside8062]

In other words you're not at liberty to divulge its location?

[@ProspectorJosh]

I'm so glad you didn't walk away from this one. Your placer mine videos are my favorite. Incredible discovery by the J crew!

[@TVRExploring]

Thank you. Yes, the good underground placer mines are really a unique phenomenon...

[@bobrenner7213]

WOW! If I were 40 or 50 years younger, I would pester you to allow me to join up on an exploration! Great video and commentary!

[@nutcase0001]

Me too! Darn age factor!

[@phiellason3180]

Thank God for the trusted E-tool! Great video. You have a new subscriber.

[@jamesscott9081]

Absolutely incredible mine! Your so lucky! I wouldn't be able to resist running a few pans at various points along that bedrock!

[@susanjane2498]

Exactly 💯

[@SueGirling68]

Hi Justin, very cool that Jake decided to open the rest of that mine for us all to see. It was very interesting to see just how many drifts they put in and that gobbing was really well built the way the miners slotted it all together. Thank you for your hard work to get the mine all documented and thanks for sharing, much love. xx🤘💖

[@TVRExploring]

Yes, I'm glad he was persistent! Sometimes these underground placer mines are an absolute labyrinth!

[@SueGirling68]

@@TVRExploring True but very dangerous though. x

[@davecurtis8765]

I used to live in Pine Grove Ca. in the 70's. One day me, my brother and my stepdad went to visit a friend who had a mine in his backyard. He had an elevator in his shop that went down 160' to an underground river. They would pump out the river at night and dig in the riverbed during the day. His house was north of the town of Volcano about 3 or 4 miles. he also had a map of the underground river that was very old and written in Chinese, who knows where in the hell he got it. The map showed the river went about 6 miles to the North east. It is said that the town of Volcano had so many mines underneath it that the town that the townfolk were afraid the town would collapse into the ground.Now here's the kicker...On the way to the mine we stopped at this old digging a mile or two above Volcano on the road going North. I was exploring on a little hill above an old mine entrance. And as I was crawling around some large boulders I felt a presence and looked over my shoulder....I looked right into a very large red eye about 6 inches in diameter with a black reptile center.. In a fraction of a second I made out it's head and ran screaming down to the car and told my family members that there was a giant lizard up there. and they were like what ever .In the 1850's South sea Islanders were brought in to help mine the area around volcano according to the history of that area....Well they brought baby Komodo dragons with them and they are still there living in those old mines and underground rivers. And that area in only a few miles from Black Chasm National Monument which was just a hole in the ground in the 1970's True story...And the dragon I saw was huge probably 14 ft. and 800 lbs at least.And in blended in with the moss covered boulders perfectly. BE CAREFUL

[@EthanBonardel]

Cool info! Thats why you bring protection and never go alone. Thanks

[@anthonytadena4235]

If that was a komoto dragon, there's no way you would of made it anywhere except in it's jaws and belly! There bite alone carries a venom like saliva, they can run up to 30to40 mph in a flash! Not saying I didn't see one, but for a tasty little kid to get away like you did, it must have had a full belly already. They can bring down a water buffalo 🐃 with no problem!

[@davecurtis8765]

@@anthonytadena4235 What i find fascinating is the myths and legends about gold and dragons. Large round nuggets are called dragon eggs...I actually held one that came from that underground river. The mine owner let me hold it and it weighed about 5 pounds, solid gold shaped like a potato. That dragon is a cold blooded creature, and I say is because it's probably still alive..It wasn't really hot that day and it was probably sluggish. But boy did I move fast. Now one thing to consider is that it is not trapped on an island with limited resources. And down in that underground river is was really hot, probably about 120' because of the volcanic activity underground in the Sierra's. I know what I saw and it was bigger than the ones on Komoto waaay waaay bigger.

[@1849ad]

Well, now we know where all the dragon eggs have gone.

[@rickeverett7416]

That is the tastiest looking ancient river I ever saw. Beautiful job!

[@DaleDuffy]

Wow, what a find, you can bet there is shiny left in that mine. Excellent video as always....thanks again..!

[@belleange590]

I have no idea how I missed this one. This is AWESOME. Easy to see it was a river bed - back in the dinosaur era. WOW. There has to be fossils in there!!!

[@UKAbandonedMineExplores]

Imagine those walls are quite crumbly, been in one similar, but was glacial deposits.Got to love wet mines, I prefer them, as long as it's not to my chin lol. Lol, never declair a mine dead until you've examined the collapse :) Got to love that compaired to a lot of the dessert mines I see on videos from America, so dramatic. Yep, calcification, we get lots of that in our wet mines. Eek, I wouldn't like to use dynamite in that environment, be like doing it in shale, which is unheard of. Hmm, modern ladder, some somebody has been through that collapse in recent years. Ever found floating calcite? I have some in my next video. Wonder where the word gobbing comes from, we call them deads. Enjoyed that, much better than the usual drift with hoppers :)

[@MrShotlighter]

Gobbing probably derived from UK coal mining term for worked out seam area "Gob" often supported by packs. These are waste stone built up into walls and packed with smaller waste.

[@iwantthe1icanthave179]

Myself and partner are still watching you guys explore these amazing hidden away mines. Unless it's something you chose to do, the majority of us are unlikely to find ourselves in an abandoned mine. Still, really interesting, even to us, who have no idea about pockets/stopes etc ( all mine jargon, I guess?) We learn something new with each video. ( we are not watching in any particular order) Thank you for taking us, along with you on your journeys/adventures. Wish you all the best from The UK x

[@TVRExploring]

Thank you. No reason to watch in any particular order... Hopefully, with time, the mining jargon will become clear.

[@SyberSqueegy]

@23:47 OMG look at the glitter of gold dust stuck to the stones!

[@TheAverageNooob]

Am I tripping or was I seeing gold when he would zoom in?

[@delphicdescant]

Wouldn't there still be tons of gold in a place like this? They only carved a few narrow channels through the old river bed, but wouldn't gold have been scattered all throughout it, horizontally at least?

[@dylanmccallister1888]

Yeah but mining that would be suicide. And they generally find the deepest crevices of the river bed and mine out those pockets leaving behind the less densely packed placer material I have seen mines in drier climates where the timbers stay intact that pretty much mined out a whole river channel but those are smaller rivers, not as deep with solid bedrock above and below the river like a basalt flow of some kind Mining this out like that would get you killed. Gold fever can be deadly its not worth your life

[@I.Live4oldcars.prospecting]

Thank you guys for bringing this awesome mine to us. Its so mind blowing to see a Ancient river like this. Ive been in a couple old mines that also go into ancient river beds,Its fascinating to see. And to think how far back in time you are looking.

[@richtyler1353]

I can’t believe some of the areas that you guys go into. So much of that looked like it could collapse on you at anytime. Huge giant set of cojones. This was an amazing video thank you so much

[@TVRExploring]

Yes, the underground placer mines can get pretty sporty.

[@philipbond9896]

do you guys ever take a gold detector down them old mines .

[@intimidate2161]

At 32:39 I started seeing lots of sparkly crystals on the rocks. Nice

[@paulcarpenter2800]

One of your best mine explores. Awesome tunnelling. Wish I could have been there. Thanks for sharing. Paul in Lower Boddington UK

[@stevenhigby3512]

I was going to say the same as Jeff that mine is loaded. Great video.

[@hectororellana3397]

Wherever that mine is, I never seen a mine so freaking scary, if you feel a little earthquake, you need to run and fast, for that shaft is going to cave in on several places, one thing I know, there should still be a lot of gold there, I’m bitting my nails , I said a prayer for you guys.

[@pebble100c]

As far as the rusty plates, notice how they are closely spaced together so they aren't transformer fins, which are used for cooling it down. This indicates they were actually a capacitor or capacitors used to balance against the inductive reactance of the power line & or transformer itself. This lowers the power losses when using A.C. & can allow them to approach the resistive losses that are unavoidable in any case (A.C. or D.C.). This also allows the voltage to be boosted back to normal levels in long distance distribution lines. If there were any electric motors around, which is likely, note that capacitors are used while starting large motors for pumps, etc. so, this particular one could have been used for that purpose as well.

[@Nobluffbuff]

I swear, I was seeing gold in that layer just above the bedrock...I must be crazy!

[@sugarnads]

No. Highly unlikely.

[@woopteedeewoopteedye]

People also traveled thousands of miles back then because of gold fever, and that, just by hearsay and no KZbin videos.

[@chrisklein8488]

You did

[@Dave_9547]

Serpentine is often associated with mineral asbestos. At 36:56 that looks very white, but it could just be the lighting.

[@WareWolf801]

I pick up a vibe on THIS mine, that is is FAR MORE DANGEROUS than most. That compacted material, isn't stable above you. YIKES! Then add to it the multitude of drifts and chambers that all look the same; and different than most mines. Not a squarish rock as far as you can see -- SO different from typical underground "hard rock" mines. I've never seen an underground placer mine. Incredible footage.

[@chrissaucier9386]

All of those rusty seams are the areas of interest ! I'd sample them for sure. That's all the heavies in them pockets where they fell out of the flow and concentrated. Should have some yellow in it. Obviously

[@wishicouldspel]

Looks like a finger of Old Blue or its brother or sister somewhere in the Sierras. The whole geology of it is just amazing.

[@DramaMustRemainOnTheStage]

I would Never leave from stopping to collect cool ROCKS

[@DavidHuber63]

Right!?

[@PSBEadventures]

Man to be able to go back in time in an indestructible vehicle and look around when these rivers formed....Our great planet holds some amazing mysteries! Between you and itchy boots, I threw the TV out in the woods and YT it is! Thanks for what you do man!

[@TVRExploring]

Thank you very much... I haven't owned a TV for more than fifteen years now and I have never missed it once.

[@PSBEadventures]

@@TVRExploring amen!!!

[@UKAbandonedMineExplores]

Your worn out exploring it, imagine working in it....by candlelight too, and being still a child.....must have been terrifying, especially given teh beliefes and supersticions of the time.

[@rdamp2374]

The fin metal pieces came out of the transformer . The come was sold at the barber shop and still can be bought. How many holes in the waders in days exploring or buy new ones.

[@scoobydoo5925]

another great explore! thanks for sharing, i'm stuck at home due to being disabled so ifeel like i've been there with you in weird sort of way it gets me out! thanks again, loved this one.

[@bufordpusser279]

This one is awesome; I would love to get in there with my G Monster 1000; I am on my way

[@benmcreynolds8581]

I would literally bring a backpack full of all my flashlights and batteries, a bag of jerky, and just geek out on collecting ancient agate's, jasper, you name it, I love collecting rocks of all types and colors. If I happened upon a nugget then hell yeah 🤘 but the regular rocks alone mesmerize me lol 😆 too bad I'm in Oregon and no where near this. I love exploring like this tho! I wish there were more caves near my home.

[@matthewtracy8744]

I just gotta say... that was a damn good intro man. I love these old riverbed mines.

[@illeodavinci]

Amazing to see a mine like this, makes one ask how much Is still insidie that mine.

[@pam7106]

I really appreciate your videos and adventurous inquizative spirit. You have opened up a whole world of interest that many would never otherwise have seen. It helps to go along and reconnect with history:)

[@chance2smoke]

A time travel episode if I ever saw one.

[@jebstewart666]

Going back 3 yrs to where you came in the other way what I found interesting is after the second ladder (the one you find here) and you get to the fork and look back to the left how much had fallen in three years time from when you were first there.. Amazing and disturbing at the same time. Also, I love how much you have learned, as well as vocabulary, from 3 yrs ago. I too have learned along with you, but didn't realize it until going back. Thanks!

[@chucklotro8749]

so with a placer mine presumably there's a narrow region of the bedrock where the gold accumulated and rich pockets? or perhaps the miners followed the richest deposits?

[@ADITADDICTS]

They basically followed the channel along the bedrock as far as possible or until the claim played out. But yes there are glory holes in pockets and esp where waterfalls were.

[@gingerbread6614]

Wow what a mine. Great exploration. Thank you

[@unrulyjulie4382]

I think it's amazing that the tunnels didn't collapse as they dug the floor out and without much bracing or timbering!

[@TVRExploring]

I can assure you that that is rare. The overwhelming majority of underground placer mines we visit have collapsed...

[@unrulyjulie4382]

@@TVRExploring ... I guess that's why they are so special when you find them!

[@jeffstrains4014]

Lot of man hours went into that mine wow cool video!!

[@unclejohnbulleit2671]

Have you ever considered taking samples of the fungi and other things growing in these mines, such as the white stuff in the pool? Temp., humidity and a sample (if its growing on wood take a small piece of it to determine what kind of wood) of the fungi could be given to a university, who knows what could be developed from it, or what knowledge (especially medicinal) it could hold.

[@TVRExploring]

I wouldn't know what to do with any biological samples taken... No universities or researchers have expressed interest so far. You're right though about potential new antibiotics and all sorts of other potential discoveries being there.

[@ggggggggggggggg1614]

The you tuber Crime Pays but Botony doesn't may be interested in the cool fungi growing in the cave. Those are some wild and fungi'S

[@pip5461]

It always amazes me how they managed to make their way, carrying piping and timbers with them, They were brave dudes,,, with a good sense of direction.

[@labandonaldhock80]

This was a real treat!!!!!

[@gerardange]

Big Rocks = Big Gold!!!!!

[@gingerbread6614]

Great mine. Thank you

[@ralphpatrick3071]

I’d be so tempted to pack in a pan and test some of those gravels. Glad you pushed on through the collapse. Great video, thanks!

[@americanminerals9538]

TVR, growing up in gold country I'm sure you have heard of the Great Blue Lead, the ancient river that ran where the Sierra's are now. Looks like you were walking through it.

[@davidmicheletti6292]

This makes me wonder how much gold was missed as you would expect the gold to be spread out everywhere on the River bottom. I’m amazed you haven’t gotten lost in this mine.

[@ralphpatrick3071]

Hellva explore! Glad it was you and not me. Much respect, thanks!

[@edwardmckenzie3402]

Capacitor plates?

[@hughaskew6550]

Decent guess. I find myself thinking that they look like transformer core laminations as well.

[@tarf1a]

@@hughaskew6550 I'll vote for the transformer plates.

[@pebble100c]

Yes Edward. Please read my comment about how capacitors work!

[@steveklick]

Just lets you know how advanced they were back then to be able to do stuff like this. Puts a whole new spin on things.

[@StarScapesOG]

Would you even call that material rock 🤔 or just really compact dirt... Also, those mines are low key terrifying.

[@pnwprospecting]

It's called concreted gravels.

[@ung427]

38:41 that is awesome! The white stuff looks like a human skull with one eye, and a stick, sticking out of the other eye socket, and a puffy hat on.

[@nikolaisikes6245]

That is AWESOME! It looks like water flows through there about once a year, probably impassable at that time. We never did see where the air flow was coming from, did we? I live on an old riverbed, not ancient, but old enough it's a short drive to the current river. While there isn't anything valuable in my yard, when I did some dirt work it was fascinating seeing everything riverbeds collect and how they transform the rocks.

[@TVRExploring]

I posted links in the description below this video to where the air flow is coming from... It ties into a mine I explored several years ago.

[@oldman8268]

They probably dugout the bedrock so the top of the ore cart was level with the top of the bedrock. Easier to shovel into the cart maybe?

[@ADITADDICTS]

Good call. I was thinking the same thing because they always wanted to come into the gravel low in a placer or any drift mine if possible and let gravity do most the work.

[@conradlowenstein9210]

Often the best gold works it’s way into the bedrock. It can work it’s way multiple feet down.

[@DigDougDig]

This is typical for the original 1850's first drift tunnel, the miners punched in to high, and deep in the mountain the bedrock dropped down lower, this was filled with water. The miners would then punch another entrance lower, cutting through the rim bedrock and intersecting the gut at an elevation and grade so that the water can drain and the carts can roll out full down hill. Found many ounces of nice nuggets underground in El Dorado.

[@oldman8268]

@@DigDougDig makes since, probably why the height of the back shown later in the video.

[@alvinosullivan2804]

Nice video, very interesting! They probably carved deeply into bedrock, for support and stops the sides of the tunnel caving in on its self, keeps all that crumbling material in place, to make it easier to extract. Lovely long video as well👍 Thanks for the share!

[@sctpc]

As you said they must have got Gold to do such extensive works, at $30 a oz, it would be more profitable at $2000 oz now days.

[@dieselphiend]

I don't understand why the paystreak is apparently so small and narrow, and even stranger still, perfectly straight? The material to the right and left looks like good material, how is it that the gold could mostly constrain itself to such a small channel? That thing looks like a big ancient river, one would think there'd be gold everywhere. What's also odd is how high they were digging, how did the gold get all the way up there?

[@keithk5504]

You know what is cool? Jeff Williams watches your show and comments.... Jeff you made YT blow up with miners!

[@TVRExploring]

Jeff is a great guy... And very knowledgeable!

[@boolewis1093]

Great video justin I can't go in mines, so you explore it & share it thanks

[@thomasvnl]

Orange stuff: Bacteria feeding on the iron oxide

[@rosewhite---]

Orange stuff = ochre.

[@thomasvnl]

@@rosewhite--- ochre is made from iron oxide and is a powder. What you see in the video are deposits of iron oxide from bacteria that have fed years on the iron tracks that lay beneath, deforming the tracks and creating solid formations of iron oxide.

[@rosewhite---]

@@thomasvnl I was seeing ochre in a quarry 65 years ago. It is iron oxide in the soil and coal beds.

[@thomasvnl]

@@rosewhite--- No need to pull the age-hierarchy card. I never said it wasn't iron oxide, but you said ochre and ochre is a very specific mixture of substances, as described by wikipedia: Ochre or ocher is a natural clay earth pigment which is a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand. That is not the case here, as there are iron tracks and iron ducting beneath what was shown in the video, which some bacteria feed on and in turn produce iron oxides in a solid formation as, again, seen in the video.

[@unrulyjulie4382]

@@thomasvnl ... Yes, I always thought that ochre was a pigment color.

[@_tyrannus]

Great to see a continued visit of that same placer mine from the other videos! I didn't know about placer mining before getting into your content, amazing how they put the large scale time into a perceptible perspective.

[@TVRExploring]

I hadn't realized how unusual the underground placer mines were until I started visiting mines outside of the area...

[@ofcourseofcoursebutmaybe]

The sedimentary layers are very interesting and fun to read? I imagine you can map out the position along a river by getting out a geologists loupe. And derive some way to understand the sequence stratigraphy and the architecture of river bedding systems to find out how the gold would be deposited? By looking at the layers, sediments, rock sizes, etc etc you can judge where you are in the river and what type of river, and so on.

[@ADITADDICTS]

What really blows my mind in mines like this is when we come across palm tree trunks and logs in the pyroclastic materials in the walls of a drift. I've had miners tell us that they've used chainsaws to cut them out on occasion.

[@ofcourseofcoursebutmaybe]

@@ADITADDICTS Pyroclastic, wow. So it's perfectly fossilized material? Ever bumped into it...?

[@ADITADDICTS]

@@ofcourseofcoursebutmaybe Absolutely. One mine we were at above ground, you could pull the palm leaves ( pressed and carbonized but still pliable ) right out of the side of the cliff. It was under about 65-70 feet of ash and clay. Not a pine needle in the mix at all.

[@ofcourseofcoursebutmaybe]

@@ADITADDICTS Damn. You got me drooling. That's the juice right there if you find it. We need to mix up these episodes with some "Crime Pays But Botany Doesn't" style expertise ... and maybe take tiny samples and throw them under a portable Olympus Microscope deep in the mines or back home. Just for the details... and so my silly monkey mind never gets bored.

[@worldtraveler930]

@@ADITADDICTS That's Just Wicked!

[@intimidate2161]

This mine is amazing! Really incredible features.

[@cameronmccreary7697]

At 7:35 and that tubular piece beforehand is orange colored; it could be a tin corrosion smut where the tin has corroded and "grown" this stuff.

[@gingerbread6614]

Wow wow that mine is so big. Thanks again.

[@cleanerben9636]

Love these longer videos

[@hunterraines7702]

The colors are beautiful!! great video

[@zoltanbozzay3797]

@TVR Exploring So freaking cool. Love your videos.

[@metualolesio4296]

Awesome stuff guys thanks for sharing bro, Happy New year from SAMOA 😊

[@myhandyman1]

I would have a good time with my detector.

[@saintracheljarodm.holy-kay2560]

There's still alot of gold in there: they were mining the paydirt down too the bedrock; that's why there's so many round rocks, set off too the side . Even the sand stone had veins of black sand (iron ore) . The ground water seeping into the ground pooling on bed rock . Looks pretty unstable in alot on areas, nothing that couldn't be addressed. There probably was silver as well in there. Pretty interesting to see, take care and God bless amen.

[@margaretchabot2692]

The Most Beautiful rocks I have ever seen totally amazing

[@stevetimothy759]

Well done, brilliant explore, love watching all your videos Steve T in the UK

[@kerzwhile]

This is absolutely incredible!! 😲

[@jeffreyyoung4104]

Great video, but I could only go to the half way point due to claustrophobia. Something about those placer mines make me nervous.

[@c103110a]

28:50 I've been watching your videos for some time and this mine did remind me of an earlier one that you had explored. It has some out buildings and was an old river channel. Very similar looking material.

[@PoppaRyno]

Have you ever found any gold? Love the channel & the adventure. Thank you for sharing. I dont get this kind of stuff to explore where im at.

[@Hurricaneintheroom]

That's cool how all the river rocks are kind of stack up on both sides. It looks cool.

[@blackbbbbiochip]

0:35 Now, that's impressive.

[@DARKSIDEOFURANUS]

Do rely on memory for the exit route or do you leave any locators ?

[@canastasiou68]

Those flat plates at the end of your video, are ,i think parts from a transformer. They still make them the same way now days. I would have gone nuts sampling a bunch of the rocks. Cheers and thanks for sharing. ✌❤

[@jefffleming8103]

How come you don't bring a metal detector with you

[@TVRExploring]

Because abandoned mines are often on land that is part of a larger active claim...

[@labandonaldhock80]

Most interesting thing ever! Grab a pan, check out that gravel!

[@chet2201]

I swear I could see gold nuggets sticking out of caving. I saw a partial nugget collection from caving the miner got pounds of nuggets. Got to be careful in Unconsolidated material.

[@rolfsinkgraven]

Well that was a bloody big mine behind that tight hole you guys climbed through, wow having walked through a river with a lot of round stones like in that mine i have a lot of respect for you guys walking along in that place, great explore thnx.

[@mickie7873]

From your overview of the area and lay of the land as you ended your explore it appears that the mine is running through glacial till. Yes, a waterway running out from the side hill in the past. The cobbles gave it away.

[@lesliebarham7852]

Excellent explore as usual, thanks.

[@garydaniels2002]

Great tour. You gave to ever one

[@outdoorfrenzy]

I would imagine that the sandy areas were on the inside of a bend in the river.

[@feelinghealingfrequences7179]

visually stunning! 43:07