Is everyone on our list familiar with The Original Sixteen To One Mine in Northern California? Chris from New Zealand brought this to my attention originally.This mine is absolutely and utterly unbelievable! I can't believe I found this!!!

First of all, it is a HUGE mine with nearly 30 *MILES* (yes, that'sright MILES) of drifts and winzes. Parts of the mine are still in operation today and best of all (for me anyhow) it has TRACKS! And some of the tracks are still in active use!

You can actually buy stock in this mine if you want to. I am very seriously thinking about doing exactly that. The mine also has its own online forum. If there is anybody on our list unfamiliar with this, I strongly urge you to check this out.

Here is the URL for their website: http://www.origsix.com/index.asp

And here is a link to a schmatic of the mine:

http://www.origsix.com/f/Image/maps/map_big.jpg

Unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable! But! it gets even better!

It is possible to sign up by special appointment for a three to four hour underground tour of the mine. And for $600 they take you through an "all day" tour.

Who in the world would pay $600 for a gold mine tour? Me! In a New York minute!

Does anybody on our list know if there are any more mines like this around? I think this really is quite a find!

Be sure to check out their photo album, too!

Here is a nice shot of an underground, fully tracked junction:



And here is a photo of two guys pushing an ore cart:



And here is a screen shot taken from the Alleghany topographical map showing some of the mines in the area:



And this one taken just south of Alleghany:




Regards,
Fred M. Cain

Fred, you wouldn't have to twist my arm for an opportunity to spend all day touring a mine containing 30 miles of tunnel with rail haulage for only $600. If I ever find myself within a 30 mile radius of the place, it will suck me in like a black hole. And you know, it is kind of hard to escape a black hole! This really is a unique mine and they appear to have a lot of pride in what they do. They could just as well be quietly running their mining operation but instead chose to engage the public by creating an informative website with photos, news, and even a forum to say the least. Kudos to 16 to 1! It would be nice to see more mining companies take this approach.

On a slightly different note, I could name a handful of mines I'd pay top dollar for the chance to see that are now abandoned and backfilled.

_________________
"If you thought old, abandoned mines were only in the west, then you haven't been to IronMiners.com!"

Mike,

You know earlier I posted a thought (I think it mighta been on the coal mining side) that I would pay money to be allowed to dig some and load a few cars. There's little doubt in my mind that this guy (Michael Miller) would let you do that!

As for the great mines that have been back filled, for another $600 or maybe a little more, you could sneak out there in the middle of the night with a back hoe and "unbackfill" them. Ha, ha, ha, I'm kidding of course; I wouldn't really advocated that. BUT!!! If you could successfully stake a claim on the backfilled mine, you might actually be able to do that LEGALLY!

Unfortunately, as Mr. Miller has made clear on his forum, the government is making it very, very hard on active mines as well as abandoned ones. The State of California tried to sue him over water contamination when there was, in fact, NO contamination. The water was just fine - you could safely drink it!

I think he finally beat the suit but it's just stupid stuff like that that makes mining difficult - and expensive. So, yes, you COULD theoretically stake a claim on a great abandoned mine that's been backfilled and reopen it but you will probably have cut and slash your way through an awful lot of government red tape.

Regards,
Fred M. Cain

Just one more thing that I'd really like to add about the Sixteen To One. I'd like to bring everyone's attention to a perfectly wonderful video just in case you haven't seen it. There are several scenes showing the mining railroad in operation, a shot of a mucker at work and miners setting charges.

Near the end there is a shot of some miners with a HUGE bolder in an ore car and I had to wonder how in the world they got the thing in there. Surely it was not light!

There are also a few scenes of the beautiful coniferous forest on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains *AND* I just LOVE that "Ragtime" guitar pickin' at the beginning!

Maybe it's about time for me to call Amtrak and see what the sleeping car fares are running these days to California !

Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DZDQysk2XA

-Fred M. Cain

Actually, theres a mine up around Oatman that USED to offer mine tours but im not sure if they still do or not. That mine changed hands around 5 or 6 times because of new miners going in the mine and discovering new veins that was missed in the earlier years. That mine is or WAS the Gold Road Mine.

Allowing tours in active mines requires serious insurance and bonding issues. The reason i know this is because after i got my patent together i wanted to offer mine tours but the insurances and bonding was just so outrageous on that that i started giving the mine tours( in my mine at least) a different outlook. Not to mention the stiff and mandatory rules you must adhere to by the different agencies that deal with mines(MSA, OSHA, etc).
Should a mine tourist get hurt or killed and then out comes all the legal issues, lawsuits, Mine Inspector, and OSHA and MSA investigations, etc. As we all know, no mine is safe, no matter how safe we try to make it and no matter how much we try to adhere to the mine safety statutes so there are just no guarantees that we could put onto tourists that they would be safe, however, on the other side of the token, ive heard of mine companies that offered mine tours but 'wrote off' any liabilities of the mine tourist meaning they had tourists sign a 'waiver of liability' form but even this doesnt quite keep you safe from certain legal issues.


And yes, fred, according to government regulations, just because you lay a claim on a mine doesnt necessarily mean you can just go in and 'unbackfill' the mine. It involves ALOT of governmental red tape, not only on the federal level but also on the State level as well. Even in some EXTREME cases, it could involve COUNTY red tape as well. You would actually have to file for different permits, etc in order to legally reopen the mine after a reclamation project such as a backfill, however, IF the mine hasnt been backfilled yet then the red tape isnt quite as bad. I would definately do some research in the State you are in to find out exactly what the regulations would be for claiming and 'unbackfilling' a prior reclaimed mine.

There IS ways to find loopholes if you look in the right places though. "hint hint".

Dawna

Dawna,

You brought up a lotta interesting points here. On the mining tours, the Original Sixteen To One Mine requires people who want to tour the mine to sign a legal waiver acknowledging that the Company is NOT responsible for accidents, or injuries. I think that is entirely reasonable. They offer an extensive all-day tour for $600. I think that's worth every penny and intend to do it when and if i can swing a trip to California.

Here is a link to their site describing the tour:

http://origsix.com/tmarticle.asp?id=330

I had asked about Michael Miller on a different thread and you said you'd heard the name but weren't sure who he was. He is the president and presumably largest shareholder of the Sixteen To One. He is not one of those "presidents" who sits behind a desk all day and makes phone calls and pushes papers. He actually spends a lot of time underground. He sounds to me like a thoroughly interesting individual who I hope to meet some time.

On the Gold Road, an interesting but off topic bit of trivia, the old "Gold Road" was actually a part of the original U.S. Route 66 in Northwestern Arizona. It was bypassed in the early 1950's, not by an Interstate yet but by a newer version of Route 66. Today the Old Gold Road is a part of the U.S. "Historic" 66 Scenic Byway in Arizona.

On the back filling and mining claims, I am coming more and more to believe that our federal, state and local governments are slowly killing this industry. That is why there are so many abandoned mines. Not all of them are exhausted but it's just no longer economical to mine them because of all the governmental laws and regs, red tape, lawsuits and the like. Mining companies who want to stay in business go to Africa, Brazil or Polynesia to mine. And above and beyond all else, companies avoid California like the plague.

Is this a good thing? I don't think so. Our whole modern, technological world and society we live in is completely dependent on the mining industry for survival. I could just go on and on and on about this, but, alas, I feel like I'm preaching to the choir here.

Regards,
Fred M. Cain,

You'd be quite correct about this. I live about 30 minutes or less from the Gold Road mine and Oatman. Ive got mines near there.

Dawna,

Great!!! As a former Arizonan, I am most happy to hear that there is someone in the Grand Canyon State who is still using tracks in their mines!

Keep up the good work and keep on diggin' !

Regards,
Fred M. Cain