Рет қаралды 39,661
Part 1 can be found here: • Santa Margarita Mine: ...
We’re really getting into it with this drift level off of the mine shaft… Given the infrastructure at this mine, I figured this next level down would be a larger one, but I did not anticipate the underground labyrinth we discovered.
As you’ll see in the video, we almost didn’t find the small, sporty passage that leads to the extensive workings covered here. I am glad I kept following that drift even though the ground was pretty bad initially. That’s a classic example of why I always say that one must check everything! That was a seriously impressive drift level and we would have missed it.
Obviously, someone had been in there pulling out some samples. I would guess that they must have roped down one of the other, smaller shafts on the property that tie into various parts of the mine. I don’t see how else they could have gotten in (or out) otherwise with things like a ladder because that would not have been possible the way that we came in.
I hope you’re enjoying this series… We go all of the way to the very bottom of the shaft!
For those that missed it in the last video, this mine was a silver and lead mine and was mostly active in the 1920s. As you’ll see in these lower levels, the vein the miners were following is cut off by a mineralized fault.
*****
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
Several kind viewers have asked about donating to help cover some of the many expenses associated with exploring these abandoned mines. Inspired by their generosity, I set up a Patreon account. So, if anyone would care to chip in, I’m under TVR Exploring on Patreon.
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. But, you know what? We enjoy doing it! This is exploring history firsthand - bushwhacking down steep canyons and over rough mountains, figuring out the techniques the miners used and the equipment they worked with, seeing the innovations they came up with, discovering lost mines that no one has been in for a century, wandering through ghost towns where the only sound is the wind... These journeys allow a feeling of connection to a time when the world was a very different place. And I’d love to think that in some small way we are paying tribute to those hardy miners that worked these mines before we were even born.
So, yes, in short, we are adit addicts… I hope you’ll join us on these adventures!
#ExploringAbandonedMines
#MineExploring
#AbandonedMines
#UndergroundMineExploring