The most enjoyable explorations I’ve done are of mines that keep getting better and better the farther you go into them. These are mines that just keep on giving and each level you explore is more exciting than the last. This is one of those mines. From the headframe, ore bin, and incredible dry-stacked walls outside, we had a feeling that this mine was going to be neat, and that assumption was absolutely correct. As we descended into the depths of this mine, not only did the artifacts get better, the geology did too! This mine contained some of the most visually stunning geology I have seen. We saw a whole lot of calcite, but it wasn’t like anything we’ve seen before. The individual crystal grains were huge and there were clusters of it large enough to cover the whole drift floor to back. Inside the calcite were pockets and veins of beautiful mineralization. I can’t imagine what the ore they removed looked like. This was a lead, silver, copper, and zinc mine that was worked primarily from the early 1870s to just after the turn of the century. It was then worked on and off into the 1950s.
One thing to note, I am not sure if the last level we were on was really the 640 level. It may have actually been the 400 level, as it didn’t feel like we climbed nearly 640 feet of ladders. If I was mistaken, then one of those two winzes we saw may actually go down 240 feet. We plan to return to this mine to drop those winzes and explore areas we were not able to access this time, so stay tuned for that.
Link to Xavier’s channel: / @ercole746