Queen of the West abandoned mine- Cornucopia Oregon

[@HamHomestead]

If you watch real careful you will see an opening into some old workings. I had not noticed it until I watched the finished video..... There maybe a return hike to look into that!

[@AUMINER1]

would love to hike up and into some of those tunnels :)

[@robertsnyder5149]

I saw that Jack.

[@oldschoolmoto]

Great job awesome shots and cool old photos hope you return and do some more exploring

[@ZhulMechanos]

Fantastic! This is the kind of documentary I love to find. Thank you for the passion, effort, and history. 73

[@prestongriffin416]

what a video i don,t have the words to tell you how good that was just how much of a mountain goat you must be great job great editing .

[@AUMINER1]

wow - what a great way to start my weekend! I love how you put this all together and showed the history and what is left today. Your passion about mining and history is very similar to mine. Thank you for taking the time to tell an important part of history, loved hearing the audio of the woman who rode the tram - great story! :)

[@erikpearson5310]

Your best video yet. So happy you made it out there! Always wondered if you would

[@HamHomestead]

Thanks Erik, I am now planning on another trip.... I will not rest until I know what is in that opening.

[@robertsnyder5149]

Jack, what a kool story by that lady. I totally enjoyed it.Glad to see you are back.

[@HamHomestead]

Thanks Robert, I needed to take a little breather and reset.

[@theogdirkdiggler]

Fantastic drone action, excellent slideshow, great story... Ham you're the best, TY.... Euchman tha Burg. S.Ore.

[@aarondenig6924]

This is awesome to watch a video on these mines. I actually grew up in halfway right at the base of Cornucopia. As I was growing up my buddies and I would ride our dirt bikes up as close as we could to each of these mines and take a look at everything we could. And I’m one area we found the remains of a two story mansion up on top of one of the mountains. You did amazing telling these stories!!! Would love to see more on this!!

[@richardsweet5853]

What wonderful, beautiful country. One has to wonder how those old boys managed to get all of that heavy equipment up on those cliffs. They certainly had to be rugged individuals. I remember that some of the large wheels etc. on the equipment around the mines in the Salmon River CA area were segmented so they could be packed on mules. I especially liked the story about the ride on the tram by that adventuresome lady. Not for me! Thanks for the great video. 73 WB6MYF

[@Hunter-ym2kk]

Ham, just completed a tour of the mines of california, nevada, idaho, oregon, and washington. The winch spool you are trying to save is also in Bodie, California. There are 5 of them. One is a flat cable type.

[@fuzzwack1]

What a story! Very Interesting!!

[@AUMINER1]

i loved hearing the women riding the tram part :)

[@joeblan9426]

That was a Great Video, Jack! Looking for the Sequel ! God Bless!

[@mikerogers9711]

Awesome video. And yes I saw a couple black holes in that mountain.

[@tomsawyer5576]

Nice story, keep up the good work.

[@lazyfox661]

Had to watch this one again Jack this is an epic video. I would love to join you if you ever do want to hike it ,to be able to document all of what is there would be a grand honor. Thank you for the wonderful views.

[@ksfixitmangaming617]

Great job Jack. Cant wait to see more on this mine.

[@AUMINER1]

Being it's so remote, there must be a lot to see inside the mine adits and tunnels :)

[@henry1924]

I was there in the early to mid 90's. There was a long building past the town that had a rail line that went through a pretty secure steel door into the mountain. We rode quads up the mountain I'm going to say south west? There was a pretty good size foundation and fire place chimney over looking the valley to the south/east? I have a fairly large print of the internals of that mine with all the tunnels, elevators and rail system. If I could just find it.

[@510prospecting]

Enjoyed the video! Great story and info.

[@jerrydunn2380]

Looking forward to this!

[@AUMINER1]

hopefully a part 2 or 3 coming up :)

[@spudnikholyghostroller7314]

Last time I was up there above Cornicopa mine I took a hike above it a mile or more there was a water fall off the left side and you could see an audit that had bars on it, but there was a straight down drop of 300' - 500' feet you tell there was a small ledge in front of it, but it would be enough to make me very leary. That's a long drop it would really mess you up real bad if you slipped.

[@duaneredden6842]

I own a copy of that book to hey I just wanted to say thank you very much for the queen of the West video remember it was quite a while ago that I asked you if you would ever make it there also I was wondering maybe you can do a video on Grassy Mountain and what the differences are between the mines there thank you again for the video

[@chet2201]

Great Story , I wonder if Lidar would help Uncover details , it's a valuable tool For prospecting.

[@royglassow402]

Fantastic video. What an amazing engineering feat. Not nearly as large but I found an intact hoist and dragline? type bucket in the Imnaha area a few weeks ago, I had the same thought that it should be in a museum but I'm not sure who to contact, it would be more accessible to get out of it's location. Would the USFS just want to scrap it? It was probably from the 30s I was guessing. Maybe the museum in Halfway? I know they are limited budget wise.

[@spudnikholyghostroller7314]

I used to have the same book, did you know that when they were in the process of building Hells Canyon Dam when they were cutting a notch in the bottom in the bedrock when they were around 100' feet down they found a 2' foot wide gold vein. There crews went nuts but they poured concrete over it our government has no interest in mining, that is the same when they built the Brownlee and Oxbow Dams they flooded out a lot of mines that were active and they got flooded out.

[@ewjutube]

Were parts of that hoist small enough and light enough for mules to carry to that cliff location, for assembly? And how did the required cables get brought in for the hoist and tram? Wonderful video and story!

[@gawnjah8447]

Is the Sparta store still intact? Theres the remains of a rock building that looks similar along the left hand side of Sparta Lane road heading towards the mountains.

[@markkriedeman7188]

Jack, when I look to the West of this complex it has a defined ridge on the western flank. Is this part of an extinct caldera? Thoughts?

[@JamesGroth]

How did they ever get that built in thast steep envroment

[@robertsnyder5149]

Jack, my deceased partner Merle Brown told me of his trips up Greenhorn to talk with Miles Potter. That book is my mining bible too. Do you have anything at all for history on the Gold Hill mine? There is a guy in Pendleton that says he has all the history on it but wants $20,000 for it, I would guess that means the mine is worth alot?

[@HamHomestead]

I do not have a lot of info on that mine.

[@chuckbaker6935]

My grandfather had something to do with the concentrates from the cornucopia his name was wb gover any info would be appreciated

[@spudnikholyghostroller7314]

Hey I want that in my front yard except that would be a real trick to get that off the side of the mountain.

[@HamHomestead]

I am just guessing, but I would bet that hoist weighs about 6000+ lbs.. We need to get a fund going to get a heavy helo in there to pluck that thing out of there!

[@gawnjah8447]

Great content, love your vids. I've been deep in that country before also. What cameras are you using?

[@HamHomestead]

Depends on the trip, I think on this one I used a canon M50, a sony handycam and of course the DJI Drone. That Handycam takes some amazing video for what it is.

[@gawnjah8447]

@@HamHomestead Awesome yeah the footage looks really crisp and clean, very cinematic. The DJI footage is really impressive also, I heard they're coming out with a new launch soon.

[@patruddiman4228]

What do you know about quartsville?

[@HamHomestead]

Not a ton off the top of my head...

[@patruddiman4228]

What brand of drone do u use?

[@HamHomestead]

In this video its a DJI Mavic air... recently switched to the Mavic 3