Whitlock and Glenn's excellent mining adventure

glenn kangiser · July 21, 2009, 01:25:10 AM

Last winter Whitlock told me he would take me mining in one of his mines up north.

True to his word, he asked me a couple weeks ago when I would like to go. I replied, "Right now - lets go." But then reality set in and I realized I had better wait until Sassy went off to work.

So - we agreed that this last weekend would be the date and we proceeded to get everything ready....

Yeah, right...... at the last minute.

One of my customers had a propane leak that had to be fixed and we were busting out granite boulders at her place with the Bobcat Jackhammer also. We finished out the day there and then started gathering things together for the adventure.

To say I was a bit excited about going was a bit of an understatement.

glenn kangiser · July 21, 2009, 01:32:13 AM

After working late .... until 11 pm getting ready and getting more stuff together in the morning, we worn't exactly the early birds getting the worm.

Who needs worms anyway. Not me...

We looked at a few interesting geological formations along the way and soon we were at the mine. First thing on the agenda was to take a few pix to share here.

We parked the truck in front of the mine and took off on foot up the hill to look at some of the mine's historical artifacts. First was the old oak tree. Wonder if any bodies ever swung from those branches?

While it looks to be standing from a flat spot, that is only an illusion. I doubt there is a spot around there except the road and mine landing that is less than 45 degrees. Look to the right of the picture and you can see the hill going up behind it.

July 21, 2009, 11:54:37 PM

I think it had been a year or so since Whitlock had been to the mine.

There was a bit of caved of dirt and rock on the ore car tracks to be cleaned off and a nice layer of mud well into the mine.

First things first though. Continuing the hike up the hill to have a look at history.

A bit past the above tree, was the old steam hoist that ran the tram to move the ore to the river below.

Apparently it had a cable drum plus a chain drive to run the tram.

It would have been interesting to see them use the hoist to skid it self up the mountain as that is likely how they got it there.

Windpower · July 22, 2009, 09:47:38 AM

Restoring that steam engine would be a really interesting project

It looks much larger than the engine in my BIL 25 foot steamboat that cruises at 8 knots

great pictures glenn --keep 'em coming

Homegrown Tomatoes · July 22, 2009, 12:14:34 PM

Very cool pictures... sounds like an excellent way to spend a few days!

July 22, 2009, 10:03:57 PM

Here's another shot of the hoist. It's actually a twin steam hoist I'm guessing about a 6 x 10 or so.

Getting it out of there would be a major undertaking. I have a similar one at home that is just a little smaller - maybe a 5x5 .

Here is the chain driven tram wheel. It was laying a few feet from the hoist.

Whitlock was giving me a bad time about starting out with just a picture of the oak tree, but I was burned out so that's as far as I got.

glenn kangiser · July 22, 2009, 10:07:39 PM

Homey, it was about 55 degrees in the mine and over 100 outside, so I think it may be a good way to spend the summer.

Homegrown Tomatoes · July 23, 2009, 10:12:19 AM

I'd have to agree

phalynx · July 23, 2009, 11:21:40 AM

Quote from: glenn kangiser on July 21, 2009, 01:32:13 AM

Look to the right of the picture and you can see the hill going up behind it.

I looked to the right of the picture and I see empty web space.........

July 26, 2009, 12:17:32 AM

Just a cotton picken minute there.... I meant within the boundaries of the picture

It was steep when we tried to walk up it...

After an hour or so of shoveling mud and rock we had the tracks cleared off to where we only had to slog through a couple inches of mud and water. Whitlock likes to keep it clean as it may possibly prevent a thousand pounds of ore in a drum from crushing one of us as it is running down the tracks..

A modification to some of the guard steel around the door allowed it to come open wide enough to get the ore cart through. Due to the sharp turns and narrowness inside we were using a 55 gallon drum on a frame with ore car wheels to move the ore out. Banditos must be kept out of the mine, hence the steel.

Look at that - clean as a whistle...

gandalfthegrey · July 26, 2009, 10:32:41 AM

When do we see a nice Quartz vein with some color running through it?

glenn kangiser · July 26, 2009, 11:37:21 PM

hmm Trying to rush things a bit I see there, Gandaldf.

First we have to go back into the mine a bit.

We were working around 265 feet underground, horizontally from the entrance. There is about a 2% slope up if I recall correctly, so that the water will drain from the mine without pumping, and the ore care will roll downhill without (most of the time), killing us.

Whitlock said to never put your fingers on the sides or you may come out without them. The ore car will not stop just because there is a piece of meat between it and the rock wall.

Kind of like in shoring up a basement. The foreman told me to never put my fingers where I wouldn't put my peck.. umm... uhhh private part.

Note: See the light at the end of the tunnel. (Actually it's not the end. I just wanted to say that.)

Ernest T. Bass · July 27, 2009, 12:08:45 AM

Awesome pics! Looks like a great place to film a movie...

glenn kangiser · July 27, 2009, 12:15:58 AM

Yeah - couldn't Indiana John ever have an adventure there....like it could be exciting...

July 27, 2009, 07:30:19 AM

You guys are nuts.

glenn kangiser · July 28, 2009, 12:35:27 AM

It's something I have always wanted to do, Scott.

I got an ore care out of a mine about 25 years ago.

Still have it.

A bit past the last pix -- about where the light not at the end of the tunnel was, is Whitlock at his powder box.

I think he was going to powder his face.

The water in the mine is a bit corrosive, or at least oxidizing, so the tracks and other steel things in there don't last too long. You can see the barrel on the trolley wheels in that pix.

That is another gate that is well inside the mine, where an earlier owner had locked it up. Whitlock put it where it should be, at the entrance.

diyfrank · July 28, 2009, 06:57:07 AM

How cool is that! I would surly like doing that if I could.
Keep the pictures coming.

glenn kangiser · July 29, 2009, 12:28:52 AM

Thanks, Frank. It was a real blast.

As we neared the stope there were two places to watch out for. I will call them the pits of death. One false step off to the left would leave a miner to drown in up to 14 feet of nasty mud and water. The gold had been removed from the pit and nothing was left but oozing brown slime.

No problem - I wasn't about to step off into the unknown depths of the pit.

The steel plate was placed there by us , not to prevent one of us from falling into the pit, but to prevent the loss of our ore as it rolled down the stope footwall to the tracks.

desimulacra · July 29, 2009, 08:36:34 AM

I'm really enjoying this thread and looking forward to more installments

glenn kangiser · July 29, 2009, 10:09:20 PM

Glad you are enjoying it.

I can't wait to get back up there to the safety of the mine. Whitlock and I have been working in Fresno and danger lurks around every corner there.

We saw an old man in an electric wheelchair give a hooker a ride on his lap today. I bet that made his day, eh?

Oh, Yeah. Don't let me forget to tell about our visitor to the mine --- in the dark, a bit later.

I will have to read back through as I don't recall telling about that yet.

Here is one of Whitlock approaching the pit of death area with the ore car/barrel getting ready for our first load of pay dirt. The vein is visible overhead sandwiched between the hanging wall (on the top - right) and the footwall - left side.

Whitlock several times, stressed to me to not damage the hanging wall as I was removing the ore.. A good fracture in it could bring thousands of pounds of rock smashing down on us, rendering us into two piles of useless sausage.

The part of the vein that is visible in this picture above Whitlock will remain as part of a pillar keeping the hanging wall from collapsing onto the footwall closing the tunnel and rendering the mine useless as the earth and rock falls. Gravity would reclaim this incision into the bowels of the earth.

Gold there? Yes....for sure. I have seen it in samples, but we mustn't become greedy and take it or our adventure will end, maybe permanently.

July 30, 2009, 12:17:36 AM

Ah, the suspense!

Please don't get killed... That would totally ruin it.

glenn kangiser · July 30, 2009, 11:26:15 PM

Actually as mines go, this one is a pretty safe one. We really don't want to get squishy.

Being a bit lazy I decided on the Large Bosch Rotohammer with rotation stopped and a chisel point for digging the ore. Picks are cool but sooo old fashioned.

Before the last barrel of ore I stuck and broke the chisel and had to go to the 40 lb electric jack hammer -- It was outrageously heavy hanging 4 feet out to the side off of the ladder but I was determined and did finish getting the last barrel filled.

Funny but Whitlock took the pix of me digging on the vein, and there was always a golden reflection in the pix. Maybe that is what it was. hmm

The knob on the ladder (the blue one - not me) was at about 10 feet above the ore car tracks.

Look carefully at the pix and you can see the ore falling down. In the future we will likely make a chute to make it load right into the barrel rather than shoveling it in. I picked up a handful of new chisels and a bit so we can set boards or a platform there in the future. No more running out of bits for me. I will also take a spare Rotohammer next trip.

See - still golden...

glenn kangiser · August 02, 2009, 01:54:32 AM

SHhhhhhh .... what was that?

We had thought about going back after some more ore - in the mine it is never day or night. If the lights are on it can be work time. If off, it is blacker than the inside of a cow.

After a bit to eat and sitting around a bit at the entrance to the mine, we started to realize... we might be tired. I was sleeping on top the truck rack over the cab. Whitlock was sleeping on his army cot. We got lazier and sleepier and decided to call it a night.

At the rate we were going we would easily get the balance of the ore we wanted in the morning.

I was just getting ready for bed when Whitock says, did you hear that?

"It's still coming......... IT'S STILL COMING AND WE ARE RIGHT HERE."

I go - "I didn't hear anything."

Finally I heard a twig crack. This is bear country.......

It was still coming, undeterred by our presence.

Whitlock's light was rather feeble and we couldn't see anything. I was finally over there by him and got mine out.

I shined it in the direction of the noise - both of us with our guns ready.

SKUNK....... [panic]

It was headed straight for the mine and all of our stuff was still in there. All we could do was shoot it. Whitlock did the honors, so I also let him scoop it up.

Well - it wasn't the worst spray job we had ever seen, but it was bad enough that his wife smelled it when he got home.