Welcome to the club! I have several mines here around northwestern arizona. Its quite the challenge working the mines but its also very exciting and fun. Somehow it just gets in your blood.
This is a picture of my newest mine. Has 7 levels. Had to dig out a couple of caveins though but the veins are quite promising. This was discovered back in 1864 and was worked for a couple of years but some miners there was killed by local indians and the mine was closed with alot of free milling gold still inside but due to the water issues it was never worked when they got down to the lower levels. Right now the lower levels are flooded so im in the process of setting up pumps down there and looking for some way of keeping the lower levels drained naturally. I estimated water output to be about 72 gallons in a 24 hour period. what ive been pondering on is maybe finding the water source down there then running piping from the water source to the outside, meaning, drilling a hole large enough to fit the pipe into the rock thats seeping the water and fitting the pipe into the hole so as the water will drain through the pipe and out of the mine instead of out INTO the mine.
This mine DOES have tracks and mine cars and stuff all through it, including a small motor barn that served this mine and another mine just on the other side of this mountain. Both mines are connected, although two different ones but have a door at the connecting tunnel at the end of the mine to mark the end of the claim and the begginning of the other mine but both mines used the same motor barn thats somewhere in my newly aquired mine although i have not been to it yet since, i think, its on one of the lower levels. I found this out by the former claimholder. The mine that this mine is connected to either IS or WAS a patent but i believe the patentholders may have sold the claim back to the government years ago since records show that the property is BLM administrative land as of current. If thats the case then i just may try and aquire that mine also, then i will have the entire mountain with both mines all through it.
There is some track in the picture but cannot be seen that well since i didnt throughly dig the dirt from around the track. From about where i was standing to take the picture to just before the mine entrance itself is where i pulled up all the track on the outside that runs to the tailings pile and the ore bin because im needing to replace ties then relay the track in a fashion that is suitable for the way im wanting to run my operations out there, and that is, to lay a "Y' in the track with one track going to the ore bin and crusher(once i get them installed) while the other track will dead end a short ways and will just be a storage area for the ore cars. This way i will not have ore cars sitting on my main track and i can keep them out of the way while im working the mine.
Im hoping to find a small trammer somewhere for dirt cheap or maybe as a giveway. I can REALLY use one out there as im getting a bit too old too be pushing ore cars around. :-S
Anyways, more on this later as i can get around to it.
Good luck on your new mine!
Dawn
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