I never imagined at 64 years old, a retired grandmother, that I'd become so fascinated with old mines. Your videos are by far much better than the other explorers videos. And another thing I really appreciate your clear voice and volume and thank you for not using low life foul language. I enjoy my grandchildren watching with me. You are truly a man of integrity. The only thing I wish that you'd do differently is to bring some chalk to mark your way in and out and around. If one of you got hurt it might be hard to get out quickly. And the thought of you getting lost and maybe running into some bad air is another terrible thought. Thank you for sharing your adventures with us. Be extra careful and God bless you.

The scope of this mine is literally mind boggling. Those tunnels were not only never ending but huge. The amount of ore/rock they took out of there is hard to believe and THEN there is the building with the core samples. OMG, again hard to imagine. The steam shovel is very cool. Be safe as always guys.

"Looking up and up and up"....meanwhile, 6 levels up another pair of explorers decides to see how far down that shaft goes...*toss rock*

Awesome seeing something from my home town! Rockford, IL is a big town for industrial equipment specially old ones like this

This was an awesome set of videos. Thanks for all the work you put into making it.

Wow, this is mammoth. Love it

This brings back memories of working underground gold mine here in Australia and we used to drive underground..

I have been to this exact spot back in 2014. The core sheds were cool but i missed the shovel. I drilled in the Robinson Copper Mine and Stayed in the Four Sevens and the Rustic motels. Love that area.

Thank you for always taking us along to some very interesting mines.

what nice surprise at the end... that THING needs to be put with other saved things from old mines..

Thank you I very much enjoy your adventures 😊

The man hour puT into this mine has to be unreal!

That steam shovel is so nice and pristine. I saw a steam shovel registry on line, you should add that to it.

What a shame that converted steam shovel is just going to rust away. It should be in a museum.

Thank you for sharing the old shovel that is unique tool I've only seen I answered but never won that small

That was one hell of a mine! I loved the old excavator at the end too, that's been sitting there for many a year.

Great video I wish I had the money to buy that old shovel and make it run again

Wonderful video and no one more suited to being caught out in the darkness than you.

That shovel was awesome!

Great Video! The steam shovel was an awesome find.

Hi Justin since you did'nt mention it in you comments. Why the walls of the tunnels looked so dark. It's from the diesel smoke from the vehicular traffic.The talcum powder effect is from the constant passage over floor, of the heavy tread on the tires.Great video thanks mate.

They sure made some nice tunnels!

Luv the steam/diesel shovel

Awesome Mine Exploration series! Just started watching your channel, great stuff! That mine is a monster!

WOW! what an amazing find all those core samples!

The interesting thing is that the loop back wasn't accidental. An amazing engineering feat to build that so far underground.

This would be a great starter mine for me to explore,lots of room and solid bed rock!!

Yep now I know where you are at and I’ve been there Spent 4 days looking

A brutal hike I'm sure, many thanks for your efforts sharing close ups of that old steam shovel. FYI John Deere used Hercules flat head engines on their combines (grain harvesting machines) until the early sixties. The engine on that shovel looks exactly like the ones on that Deere equipment.

hercules engines, The company was founded in 1915, known at first as Hercules Motor Manufacturing Company, to build industrial engines, especially for trucks .[1][2] The company reincorporated and reorganized in 1923, emerging as Hercules Motors Corporation. Hercules expanded greatly in the interwar period, developing gas and diesel engines, serving the needs for truck, tractor and a plethora of equipment operators. Therefore when World War II came Hercules was ready to help the Allied effort in a major way. During World War II the company produced about 750,000 gasoline and diesel engines for allied military vehicles, ships, and various bits of equipment.[3] But Hercules could not respond effectively to changes in the post-WW II engine market, so WW II remained its high water mark in terms output, earnings and profits so it had to be a 1915, or later that engine. very cool find. keep the good alwsome work up. love the viedos.

Am I must missing it, or is there no reference to the name of this mine?

Sweet garlic smell might be arsenopyrite, a major indicator of high grade gold.

Thanks again for sharing life with enthusiasm guys

I'd be scared of getting lost down there!

awesome peace of history.

The sweet garlic smell is probably something sulfuric. Given the amount of pyrite in this mine, a sulfur compound such as sulfur dioxide is likely.

theres two steam shovels sitting in the woods by my house and there bigger than that but that be so cool to get it running again

The old shovel is a bonus

Hell of a video

The gear box I presume next to the engine, was made in Rockford, Illinois, which is 34 miles from where I live in Freeport, Illinois. You never know what your going to see when watching your explorations.

The Hercules Motors Corporation was organized in Canton, Ohio 73 years ago (1915) I sure that engine came out of like military surplus I would love to get my hands on that engine During World War II, Hercules recognized its responsibility to supply the U.S. and Allied armed forces with infinitely more engines than could then be produced. you guys do a fine job with your videos

As soon as you showed the building with all the samples I knew exactly where you were at. I need to go back now to see that steam shovel. Was that an Osgood brand?

Hercules at Canton Ohio, built two, four and six cylinder enclosed engines that were used to power various kinds of industrial equipment. 14:17 To a lesser degree, they also powered some small farm tractors, balers and combines. The transmission at 14:28, indicates PAT. APR ‘18 (Patent Approved 1918), Model T-558 or 556. The manufacturer is hard to read, the location possibly Rockport, Illinois. An excellent museum candidate.

Thanks for the guided tour of these places I may never see! In all three videos I spied with my little eye things in the intersections like at 0:15 in this video. I thought they were boxes but they seemed regularly placed in several junctions in this mine, they are square "wooden looking" somethings what are they? And thank Google: . Arsenopyrite is generally an acid consuming sulfide mineral unlike iron pyrite which can lead to acid mine drainage. The crystal habit, hardness, density, and garlic odor when struck. Much of the arsenopyrite that has been mined formed as a high-temperature mineral in hydrothermal veins. It is often mined, together with other metallic minerals, from veins that might contain gold, silver, lead, tungsten, or tin. Again thank you for the great videos, be safe (which is of course both relative and subjective) and live life like you stole it my I will prolly never meet you friend!

The core samples were how they knew which way to head in that maze of tunnels. the large rooms with pillars were the main ore body. and the drifts that had the short side outs every 10' feet or so were also a way of getting ore out without doing room and pillar removal.

Cool beans. Sharing to Facebook on treasure hunter mining page.

By the way arsenic smells like garlic - and so does oxidised arsine gas. And this is the problem with your gas meter which I assume is actually just an oxygen meter, arsine is toxic in fairly low concentrations. Incidentally do you carry a dosimeter? Also that digger looks restorable, should be in a museum.

I would love to go with you to check out that place. My grandfather wirk in a mine when he was younger In the 40's. Jim

I'd like to build a house out there out of them core samples

I wonder if any of the many folks who explore these old mines have ever considered mapping the tunnels. It would be a neat project.

WOW JUST WOW what a mine so big then the very old equipment and the building shame people have to destroy things Just sucks love what you do and both of you such a nice video

That old shovel is cool. Imagine, some bloke drove that thing all the way up there!

You have some fantastic videos! I'm part of a group that runs a museum in an old silver mine in Norway. I see that I have to go for a trip and explore some mine in the US :) Keep em coming!

Maybe a 1940's Bucyrus Erie shovel. That's a gas engine.

I'm just curious. In all your mine exploration, did you ever run into anyone else exploring the same mine at the same time?

I met a swedish prospector who has a Trans-Scandinavia Gopher Mining Co. He trains gophers to dig tunnels inside the mine while you can rest. The animals even eliminate mosquitoes. He offers also the service of his sister a teacher to educate children of the miners in daylight outside the mine, and at night the children can help dig gold inside the mine! It was the same person that sold me the dogs experts in smelling gold. I want to buy a Balloon to arrive at the mines without walking kilometers in bear-infested forests...

We'd love to join you on a few mine road trips

I think in an earlier video a few year ago, someone tried to buy it but the owner refused to sell. A couple of days later when he turn back at the excavator he noticed the gun shots. That is just sad

Remember the old shovel that was at pine grove going up to howland flat , they cut it up and hauled it off for scrap.

Pretty mad how that level just went back on itself like that, I have experienced similar in a couple mines, doesn't feel right at all when you come to the end, its like "what just happened" lol Love the old digger at the end, well preserved in the desert air, what a great find!

I wish there was a safe place we could share the locations of these mines. Sadly I have a huge list of mines that are excellent to see but for fear of vandals I don’t dare post any location. Sadly due to that very reason most of you on here won’t share. It pisses me off that people have to vandalize HISTORY. I saw a KZfaqr who thought I was cool to light a rag out of a 1 gallon gas can and throw it into anvirtical shaft. Why why why. I personally have seen endangered owls that live down in those shafts. We should all get together and make a site where we can share locations. Password protected and must like provide IDs and pictures of mines that we have found. That way we know who is who. The ones doing vandals won’t show their identity. But this would be great to do because there is so much history and the older the lines the different mining habits you will see. Such as hydraulic, open pit, blasted tunnels with dynamite. Tunnels done with pick axes. Etc. you see a lot of neat relics and the ones that piss me off are those who take the objects with or vandalize. If you want that object take a picture with it and leave it for the rest to enjoy! We seriously should start a protected site where we all can share pictures, names and locations of mines. And create a big database. There are mines I have found where you wouldn’t think there is anything. And I e searched and searched and some of these don’t show up on any maps even old maps from the 1800s. Sure some are small but others are large and there are old model A and T cars and parts laying around and other awesome equipment. My one place I loved to go. Used to have a huge 4 cylendar diesel Fairbanks Morse engine. It’s been being stripped over the years and now it’s completely gone. Also a old steam shovel converted to a diesel like in this video was shot up and parts stolen. What do you all think? Let’s somehow think of a way to make a secured site. Maybe make it mandentory to skype and setup a person as an administrator to view/interview new memebers to be able to access location names and directions or even GPS coordinates. Otherwise they can only see video of the area and what’s there but won’t beable to find location without being approved! I’m also irritated at the inexperienced people going spelunking and they get hurt or fall then need emergency search and rescue. Now Nevada has campaigned to backfill and or blast shut any mine they find. It’s a shame. Yes some mines are unsafe. Life is unsafe. If you enter and get hurt that’s on you. I’ve seen where they have welded grates over the entrance, to filling with high density foam then covered. People have cut and or pulled out the grates with trucks or whatever like winches. It’s nice to let our kids and future generations see what made our community grow. Thanks to vandals and idiots not using common sense. We are loosing badly.

Amazing

This mine appears to have had motorized mucking equipment operating in it at one time.

How cool a old steam shovel

I'd like to see some mine interiors with Timbering. Have you found any or been in any?

Do you guys carry a compass? sweet garlic smell might be sulfur or Hydrogen sulfide. Cool old steam shovel!

Chris Craft used those Herc 6 engines in their boats in the 50's

Can you please leave the comments up a little longer, I can't read them till the end because they dissaper to quickly.Thank you

This one was mind blowing. Any clue when that mine shut down? Looks like many years of work there.

I want to make the shovel run again!

Very interesting

0:56 it looks like tire tracks in the rocks

Hercules JXD-5 engine 320 cu.in. Common larger industrial engine from the '40's.

I believe that one long building contains lots of core samples.

out of the corner of your eye, you think you see a long lanky figure peeking out from another tunnel, you turn that way, but nothing is there. your light begins to flicker.

should do a cool start video on that steam shovel

I believe the Yellow stuff is yellowcake uranium.

This huge mine feels creepy to me for some reason. I don't usually get that feeling from your videos in mines. And the old steam shovel reminds me of the old children's book about a steam shovel. Seems like it had a name like Mc-something. Wow, hadn't thought about that book in decades.

You hiked up to the shovel for the exercise? Cuz there's a road right next to it. Probably just for Jeeps. :)

Thankyou

How you can keep track of where you have been and where the way to get out is I don’t know.

What city is the mine in? Was it a silver mine or gold?

a quick google suggests that the sweet garlic smell might have been arsenic "The garlic smell is actually the smell of arsenic trihydride, better known as arsine gas"

GUYS I THANK FOR SHOWING ALL OF THIS BUT IM BUGGERED HOW U TELL FROM WHICH WAY YOU CAME WITH ALL THE TWISTIN. YOUR SO BRAVE. PLEASE BE SAFE IM SO IMPRESSED WITH YOUR JOURNEY. THANK YOU. CAMILLE AUSTRALIA.

Way cool video!

Arsenopyrite, sulfur, Antozonite, and pyrite one of the 4 here are most likely the smell culprits just hope it's not the 1st one

how come you don't carry a squeeze bottle of chalk for refilling snap lines to put arrows on the floor pointing out as you go in.

Old machine wasnt in bad shape considering

What kind of light do you use? I'd like to pick up something a bit more powerful for the huge room-and-pillar stopes in the limestone mines here.

That is your old Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel type digger.

How do you find these?

fantastic video! - do any mine fans remember a youtube video where two guys explore a mine and crawl through more than one dangerous collapse ? - quite a long video, not on Franks channel, I dont think it was shango66 either. Wish I could find it....

The H beams in the core sample room on the roof are never super good condition, I wonder what they are coated in? Or is it the dry atmosphere?

*Many of these so-called "collapses" are triggered by the natural movement of crustal plates, earthquakes and tremors.*

Just wow, just the idea of mining core samples, would you get a good amount of what the miners were hunting for? Think gold, how much was just put on a shelf?

I could get into exploring this mine because it doesn't seem claustrophobic.

Hello I've been to a handful of mines in Nevada this one does not ring a bell can you tell me where it's located roughly thanks

Adit Addicts + TVR Exploring Nice find on the Shovel ! I approve of the way you filmed every number you could find on the Engine and the Shovel . It will be important to others someday . It is a shame Builders plates are removed From Bridges , Locomotives and other equipment . Quick story : There is a huge Steam shovel at a quarry Not far from where I live . It is the same Model as Ones used Digging the Panama Canal . The Builders plate was removed as a Souvenir Many years ago . A local Historian has spent more than a Decade Trying to research If it did Dig in Panama ,but the Serial number is missing . The Historians Budget Does not allow Her to Travel out of state to hand sort thru the records held by a Person who owns them . It would really be a point of pride for the town If The Builders Plate was still there with the number . That Shovel you filmed is Wonderful . Thank you

Just curious...what’s that faint clicking noise that comes and goes through out all the filming that you’ve done in this mine? Also, looks like you guys have some pretty kick ass flashlights. What are you guys using for flashlights?

What kind of meter(s) do you use? Been looking for one for exploration in VT, haven't been able to find a good one that does a few gases without costing an arm and a leg.