Digger Bob Posted September 16, 2008 Report Share Posted September 16, 2008 In a little known and short lived gold district, in a remote corner of Nevada, I recently came across this rare piece of mining history. This is in better condition than I have seen in any museum. Even more amazing that it has remained here, untouched, for almost 100 years at 9000' elevation. The heavy winter snows should have collapsed it years ago. It was so well hidden, it was only visible from a small section of road and that at a distance. To get up close, one would have to quad cross country or hike in. The old road was washed out, over grown, and almost unrecognizable. The face plate below the stamps reads," Union Iron Works, San Francisco, Cal. 1913".This a full 10 stamper, looking ready to pound again. All it needs is a little welding, a few nails, some grease, and a new drive belt (ok, maybe a little more than that). But still, an unusual find, even for Nevada. I have more pictures if anyone is interested.Digger Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridge Runner Posted September 16, 2008 Report Share Posted September 16, 2008 Hey Digger Great pictures from history past.If you would like to know what mine it is email me the county and I'll give you a list of old mines in it.Now all you will need is the GPS location because each mine is listed with it and you can pick it out yourself.The list of everything in that county is by County, Name,GPS and what they produce. Chuck Anders Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gus in idaho Posted September 16, 2008 Report Share Posted September 16, 2008 Very cool Bob, have you found any gold in the area?Thanks for sharing your find.Gus- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~LARGO~ Posted September 17, 2008 Report Share Posted September 17, 2008 Hi Digger,Cool stuff, fun to find, and contemplate how difficult itmust have been to haul all that iron and timbers in.Its amazing that it has lasted lo these many years.I was on a well known mine site in this area of Idahothat was opened in the later part of the 1800's,one that is huge in acreage, and many claims,being reopened now.One of the fellows on the claim eyeballed a nicespecimen, with visible gold showing, but a gold bug 2gave but a tiny zip...an Xterra 70 detected nothing...Thanks for sharing!~LARGO~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digger Bob Posted September 17, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2008 Hey Digger Great pictures from history past.If you would like to know what mine it is email me the county and I'll give you a list of old mines in it.Now all you will need is the GPS location because each mine is listed with it and you can pick it out yourself.The list of everything in that county is by County, Name,GPS and what they produce. Chuck AndersChuck, I already know the name of the mine and have it GPS'd. Actually, there are many mines in the general area. How many this mill serviced I don't know. If you look closely at the top of the picture, you can see the mine itself. It's that big sideways cut in the bluff above it. Looks like they were following a seam in the bedrock.BTW, about 50 away from this mill there is a shaft bored horizontially right next to the old road. Stacked inside the shaft on both sides of the floor are sacks and sacks of what I assume to be ore ready to be milled. The burlap bags are so old that many are split open and spilling out. There is no quartz in the area and the contents of the bags just look like ordinary dirt. I didn't go back into the mine, but there are hundreds of these sacks lined up agains the wall.Even if I could get some of them out, I wouldn't know what to do with them. Anybody got an idea of what they are or what one could do with them?Digger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digger Bob Posted September 17, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2008 Very cool Bob, have you found any gold in the area?Thanks for sharing your find.Gus-No, no gold in this area that could be detected. I looked but it appears to be ore that had to be milled and mercuried out. No quartz or any mineralization that I am familiar with.Digger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadyD Posted September 17, 2008 Report Share Posted September 17, 2008 fantastic find...it doesn't show weathering in the pic, looks like fresh timbered cedar to me...wow...great pics too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~LARGO~ Posted September 17, 2008 Report Share Posted September 17, 2008 Hey Digger,Those sacks could very well be ore waiting for processingI know the gold in the area I described above, is hidden in some light gray material, resembling clay, and in no way resemblesgold until it is cleaned with acids.I would expect that you beeped some of the sacked material.And maybe hauled a little off???Headed for RP area in a short while...~LARGO~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bandana Don Posted September 17, 2008 Report Share Posted September 17, 2008 Fantastic find and exciting discovery Digger! Gosh I'd like to have been with you to experience what you found. It could be the bags of material might have come from the output of the Stamp Mill. Sure hope you took some samples. Also I think it might be very interesting to know why the mine closed and why the bags of material are still there. Would like to see more of your pictures. Here in Arizona at the framous Beehive Mine I've seen samples of beautiful fine graned gold ore that ran in a soft white clay like material ... not certain what the white material is. I bought a couple samples of the ore from the owner of the Beehive. I am not certain but I do think the Beehive Gold Mine has been sold. At any rate, I'm very glad I bought the ore samples from the Beehive Gold Mine. Don Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kamikaze Posted September 17, 2008 Report Share Posted September 17, 2008 Maybe those are bags of Uranium ore? Did ya check if you glowed in the dark after that? Seriously though, pretty interesting find. And that stamper...I have a truck sitting outside that looks a lot worse after only a few years. They sure made stuff better way back when... Thanks for posting the pics! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
montana Posted September 18, 2008 Report Share Posted September 18, 2008 Digger Bob. I hope the scrappers don't spot that. Lots of crushers and other milling equipment has been removed from old mines in my area in just the last few months, and from very remote locations.----Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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