Searching for Lost Mines in Southern Minnesota

[@magic.marmot]

I'm consistently amazed about all of the things that you do. I barely have enough time just to do maintenance on the house, let alone go adventuring. It may be my mindset, but work takes a huge chunk of my energy on any given day.

[@MsMNnice]

Love this! As soon as I read "late 1800s...Minnesota River...claimed to have found gold," I knew exactly where you were. I'm a history buff, too, and love researching, locating, and exploring sites in Minnesota, as well as other states. You created an enjoyable video! Thanks for sharing!

[@dredesa6423]

Where is it!

[@erickrobertson7089]

At 1:55. A rainbow sheen on boggy ground can denote the presence of bog iron I think. If you had pulled back the top layer of sod, iron nodules, the size of gravel, may be present. This is what a Viking smith would have looked for. It can also be from decaying organic matter like leaves.

[@saveitforparts]

Interesting! I don't think we had that in Alaska, I only saw rainbow colors when someone had spilled oil nearby.

[@erickrobertson7089]

Not to beat a dead horse but some sheen deposits can be the result of iron-loving bacteria present. SE Minnesota, in particular Fillmore County had at least one iron mining company, the Hanna Co., which operated from the time of WWII to around or before 1970. I think they processed limonite, which is limestone with iron present, and sent it off by rail to St. Louis. Roughly one car load per day. Not a big producer. The layer of water in a swamp below the surface tends to be anaerobic, no O2 present. The anaerobic bacteria that digest fallen plant material release methane but when that methane is released a small amount is converted into another form of hydrocarbon that isn't as volatile yet is lighter than water, hence the sheen on the surface. A much different environment from moving water. I'm not a geologist either in fact I work in a warehouse but I find such things fascinating and I'm glad someone else does too. Northern Minnesota, Wisconsin and the UP have mining histories that would make for some great videos. Especially the UP. Thanks for the upload.

[@mlsjustice4671]

Loved it. My grandma s first husband was a coal miner. Back in the 20s and 30s. He passed away from black lung. Around 1941. My mom was 11yrs old and she was born 1930 in Minneapolis.

[@katihanson]

Where are you at 10:43? I'm gonna check out more of your videos!

[@saveitforparts]

I tried to reply earlier but I guess it didn't work. The bridge and waterfall are in Redwood Falls MN. There are several cool spots along the Redwood river there.

[@katihanson]

@@saveitforparts oh shoot, didn't think of the Redwood area! Been a couple years since I've been there.

[@PhysicsPolice]

I love the adventure videos! Do more!

[@saveitforparts]

Everything's buried in snow at the moment, but I'll probably do some more this year!

[@StepvanDan]

Great video and thanks for bring us with and now i need a nap all that hiking lol,big hugs from Cedar,MN

[@bbrockert]

That was a really nice rock wall, some quality construction. In places where there is limestone karst it's normal to find things that look like human made pits in the bluffs like that. I've been to places where they look like big bomb craters, but it's just a depression formed very slowly as water finds some crack to flow through and dissolves bedrock along the way. Fountain, which is in the southeast, claims 20 sinkholes per square mile. And features "Karst Brewing LLC".

[@drewl9133]

Where were you at 10:35 I've been to gold mine which is pretty cool I would love to get locations to the other areas I love down that way and want to go explore more!! Great video definitely earned a subscriber.

[@saveitforparts]

That was in Redwood Falls MN, I think it was the old dam above the zoo. There's a walking / bike trail past some interesting stuff in the stream valley.

[@MustangsTrainsMowers]

There was some logging railroad lines in that driftless area of SE Minnesota. There was also some coal mined in NE Iowa years ago.

[@memejeff]

Really scenic area. Very cool even if you didn't find a shaft. The well was definitely a very cool find in my opinion.

[@safetyforemost]

The north side of gold mine lake is private land not state forest. State forest may be east or west of the lake yet the hill is private. The way to gold mine lake is a legal ox cart road/trail. Very nice digging up articles and pictures on the mine. The actual tailings pile was to NW or W of GM Lake. And shaft. It was some 15-20 ft tall in late '50's and hauled away slowly by '70s.

[@evilcanofdrpepper]

Technically in this video you are saving old mines for parts so it still fits within the channel's name as long as you take something from them like a piece of coal or rock to check for ore content ect...

[@mikewinings4120]

That roch you have found is conglomerate,thanks for the video,just found it,keep going bro!

[@andy1845c]

Are you from the area? I live along the Minnesota river and wonder where exactly you were hiking. I didn't specifically recognize any of the places.

[@saveitforparts]

Hi Andy, I live in the Twin Cities. Some of the coal mines were near Fort Ridgely in the state park, and the gold mine was North of Delhi. If you know of any more in the area I'd be interested in checking them out!

[@andy1845c]

@@saveitforparts I don't know of any but am intrigued! Thanks for the video!

[@flyinryan1986]

@@andy1845c try Google (gold mine lake redwood county minnesota) should bring up Info on it

[@michaelthompson1530]

Many caves or tunnels along 169 between St. Peter and Mankato…. Most are visible from the Highway, but many have been covered…

[@saveitforparts]

I've poked around in some of those. Supposedly the large one had some amazing carvings before the highway was rebuilt and destroyed most of it.

[@Haydy5040]

Oh shoot, must be from the Cretaceous rocks! Coal isn't uncommon in the cretaceous out here but it's all lignite pretty much. OMG I was in that first pit before! right by morton! there's a bauxite deposit not too far from it too!

[@saveitforparts]

Cool! I'm only a very amateur geologist but I did enjoy the rock formations in that pit and the weird rocks along the Minnesota River.

[@oleradiodudea.m.4735]

That truck is probably stolen. Did you notify police?

[@saveitforparts]

There were a few hunters on the road in ATVs, some of them had already called it in.

[@richardholte1859]

Really the only mineral to mine in the Minnesota River valley near Redwood Falls is kaolin clay. The largest known site estimated at 26 million tons sits mostly under the Redwood Falls airport. Kaolin sits in a bowl type structure of which some of one side is exposed near the Minnesota River and was mined. Other sites are known near by. One produced kaolin clay for a brick manufacturer which closed years ago. Google Earth does show some very small kaolin clay mining operations. There are a number of products that kaolin clay is used in with the majority is used in paper and paint. Back in the early 1980s, a company out of Colorado did send a representative to look at developing a possible kaolin processing plant near North Redwood Falls. A viable railroad line was needed to ship out processed materials and bleach in. Bleach was used to whiten the clay. The rail line still exists but is not used much because of its condition. Local politics helped kill the kaolin processing plant which at that time would have employed 35 people and cost $85 million dollars to construct (1980 dollars).

[@saveitforparts]

Interesting, thanks! I was looking more for underground mines than surface open pits, but I didn't really find much. I've heard that coal and clay are often found together, so that makes sense!

[@richardholte1859]

@@saveitforparts I lived 4 years in the area. My field of work was in regional and transportation planning for a 9 county planning commission. The rock in the area is Morton gneiss. There were stories of some effort at trying to find gold and a shaft was reported dug near North Redwood Falls. Nothing came of it. Some of the oldest rock in the world is found just north west of there at Granite Falls, MN. There, the rock is crushed for rail road track ballast presently. In Morton, MN near North Redwood Falls, the Cold Spring granite company has a surface mine that produces decorative stone. The Minnesota river valley has a number of kaolin sites. All exposed about 12,000 years ago when a dam holding back glacier water broke creating the Minnesota River valley and exposing the clay along the river banks. As to coal, there isn't any. Now if you were to take interstate 90 west to South Dakota, then further west to where it crosses the Missouri River, then up the west side, you will come to a concrete portal and mine waste and it really looks like coal. I never stopped to investigate.

[@n1663r]

I shot the 1968 flood high water sign off that steel framed bridge in 2011 with a .38 special. Didn't think it would knock it off into the river.

[@bhatkat]

There's actually humungous amounts of gold under MN, little catch to this being it's all mixed in with the nickel and iron of the core more than 1,000 miles deep. So just drill an iron well deep enough and simply pump it out.

[@bend8353]

I'm looking for investors to help me tap this. You in?

[@leeturner1838]

thanks

[@patchvonbraun]

So, the beaches of Superior in some spots yield small flour gold, and some of the rivers creeks and streams draining in to it do, too. Not "I'm going to get rich" but enough to amuse oneself. The river you showed with the river-run stone banked up on one side would be the kind of spot that Dan Hurd would do a few test pans on. Not that I want to feed your ADHD, but maybe buy a classifier and pan set and check out some of those creeks and small rivers?

[@peteloomis8456]

There is gold deposits by the St Croix river on the Wisconsin side supposedly if you look I to this but most of the people who have tried to pan gold out of it find very little flakes so it's not hardly worth it for panning for gold most say .

[@mrgouldin3312]

I’m from northern Minnesota so I see a lot of mines.

[@saveitforparts]

Anything underground? Seems like most stuff other than Soudan is under water :-(

[@johnfree2833]

The Ojibway tokes a bong and enjoys your explainations.........

[@bubaks2]

That was pretty cool

[@Mcdashiznit]

that wall look like houston county

[@mr.giggles4995]

0.75oz of gold is a lot. If you were panning for gold you'd be lucky to find a fraction of a gram. At least in MN.

[@joelnordstrom8049]

Get some long cable have that truck towed out. If you put a windshield on it, truck probably still runs

[@WilliamKennedy-q6o]

their is some very very small gold along 169 s before mankato

[@saveitforparts]

I've seen those. The largest apparently used to have extensive carvings and sculptures before the highway was widened and smashed most of it 😢

[@nodularification]

The oily sheen you see in the wetlands is naturally occurring and the result of biological decomposition of organic matter. Not an indication of coal, oil, or pollution.

[@B.M.0.]

You should go back and get the coal for your next "smelting" adventure when you get a new crucible

[@saveitforparts]

That could be fun, I'll have to check the public land laws for coal collecting :-)

[@Coastwiser]

Why didn't you save the truck for parts? Haha LOL haha

[@saveitforparts]

I think all the good parts had already gone to the nearest pawn shop by the time I found it!

[@Moundanddome]

I found silver coins...4

[@brucecarter8296]

beaver skull

[@terrywheelock9458]

Until you FALL down the MINE SHAFT! 🤣 WOAH, did you see BIG FOOT! 👀 That was DINOSAUR POOP! 🤣 TURKEY DINNER! 👀

[@MISTERPRESIDENTELECT]

They were all millionaires, they just had to get it out of the ground... Big waste of money. You were better off buying the miracle glasses, picking one of the churches to go to, and listen to the preacher tell it it like it is; Devil lurks in them woods my childs! Ain't nobody found nothing, in them no good for nothing no good pits! Praise the Lord-a!

[@midwestscanner]

My sons a huge urban explorer, hes been miles beneath the city of Minneapolis and St.Paul, did you know theres a secret room under the airport? pretty interesting things in it, we agrees to NEVER go back, I hope your equipped to go in caves if you do!