Abandoned Copper Mine in the Mojave Desert with lots of Copper Still in the Rock

heading up to this old copper mine it's interesting is this excuse me the site was in operation from the late 1860s all the way up into the 1950s just on and off I mean the biggest production era was in the late 1800s and for those of you who are curious it is because I think the vehicle said 95 which is not bad hot enough to keep most people out of the desert still cool enough to find snakes here we go here's some of the ore and they used a smelter to extract this in later years this was cut open as an open pet there's some older workings in that little draw over there which I will be exploring today also I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this is going to be a good explore I just can't believe I've never explored this considering it's only about 110 miles from my house oh well it's getting done today so let's get going some really beautiful beautiful greens and there's obvious that there's still a lot of copper here but this is now in the Mojave preserve so that isn't going to happen it's gorgeous [Music] I hate these things when you brush up against them yeah I say and I hate them and I'm touching it um it leaves this sappy oil on you isn't that beautiful I would have loved to seen this before they open pitted it because it was all tunnels like I said there's still some more a little bit more that way which we'll be checking out here shortly I want to do this portion first oh check that out here in a little bit doesn't look like it goes back very far but we'll still check it out foreign [Music] [Music] down there too people are pulling out some really nice samples foreign that's it on that one that one doesn't go back very far and let me get my stuff on and see if I can get down into this one talk to you guys in a bit so I was coming to go ahead and start descending into this and I decided to look at the map first and it's showing the two tunnels up here somewhere so I figured before I start Going Underground I'll also see where all the tunnels are around this open pit I know this is I call this an open pit but for the turn of the century this was a big operation unlike today where they're just massive ah looks like it's been collapsed yeah that only goes back about 10 feet hit this other side nah it doesn't go back at all let's see what's around this pile though nope because there may have been a tunnel right here all right all right so there should be another one over there let's go take a look this isn't it I just noticed it a little pocket that somebody was digging out probably a gem Hunter and we'll be checking out that stuff later that's for another video hey Bob main reason is that's a shaft and I didn't bring any climbing gear with me today [Applause] now we got ourselves a tunnel well that's cool I don't need to go in and explore it foreign goes right through that's why I couldn't find it on the other side it's been backfilled I'm going to go ahead and turn off the camera and head over to the incline Shaft or incline tunnel however you want to call it I'm calling it an incline shaft today so that's what it is if you don't like it oh well but I'll go ahead and meet you guys over there talk to you guys in a bit I'm back at the incline shaft and looking down there it doesn't look like it goes down very far I think there's going to be more of a hassle to get in than it is it's going to pay off I'm just right now trying to figure out the best way of doing it so I'm not taking half the waste rock with me or not doing it as a cartwheel that'd be a plus so let's see here trying to get over here to this Edge there we go oh it looks like I'm going to be taking waste rock with me that's okay using it as a break [Applause] reason I hate doing that the Dust nice temperature in here yeah looks like god let's see how far down that goes there's something over there let's go check it out here in a couple seconds I'm going to take a peek over this Edge oh it goes down a little bit it goes probably down about 10 feet I don't see anything shooting off to the side though up here [Applause] I can't tell foreign [Applause] okay that's it okay so nothing in this now let's go check out that tambourine on the other side [Applause] come on there we go I'm gonna get my foot over for some reason all right I love it when you see those seams like that that's just so neat foreign [Applause] oh that's slippery that rock was like a rock right there was like ice that is so pretty now that's been backfilled I used to go someplace it's up here that's it okay I'm gonna go ahead and climb out of here now and you're coming home with me those are pretty um 88 deep ADHD addh whatever brain activated got sidetracked go ahead and climb out I'm gonna start walking towards those other tunnels if I find anything else interesting when I'm on my way over there I want to let you know all right really else nothing else except for just walking on over there so I'll talk to you guys in a bit what the map is showing is two tunnels and a shaft and the shaft is positioned directly on top of the tunnels so we'll see what the configuration of that is like I said back at the other site I didn't bring any rope so I'm not equipped to do any shafts today they had something here there's a couple stories too because that's set up for stairs ah it's starting to get hot temperatures now reading 98. but might be because the truck's been sitting and it wasn't much of a Speed Demon drive to cool the sensor down so the sensor just might be a little over hot and still might be just about 93. they had something built here too I'm wondering if this was an orcart way and they were using a um a winch system who knew who would knew no foreign that's what I'm thinking it was because you got cable or rope wire rope huh you can see how this was built up it might have been big enough to like have a um a wagon or a skid is going up and down because I don't see anything for sleepers but that doesn't mean anything because that could be a sleeper check out the band so that was used probably to break a flywheel or something you know provide some type of friction that is neat that is just really cool so it looks like the best way from this point is up that way I'm at the first level at the top of the horseshoot and a little orway I think these are just neat you know those funnel webs right they have some stuff up here I mean look how thick these Timbers are all right wow that is just so cool that looks like the tunnel over there first let's take a look at this wow oh just twisting my leg oh my knee's not happy now that is cool and you can see my Jeep down there you see how far away that is yep that looks like a good place hey dang I just turned on my light let's check this out that is blowing big can of carbide um I'm looking at my battery and that's blowing so I mean it might not be that big but I'll take a second battery with me just in case there we go try to get into one of my side pockets right now there it is hey check my audio recorder all right we have good stuff going on all right take two I'm not worried about my camera light this is a freshly charged battery and it will run for about 16 hours and my helmet light the level I run will run for eight hours plus I got a backup on my helmet okay I love it when you find boiler Steel [Music] that means they were doing a lot of blasting in there foreign that they were chasing foreign books is that an oil can you know just oily look at that green that is beautiful thank you wow I was not expecting it to be this big but considering how long this area was operated as a copper mine all right it only makes sense foreign gets me it's black graffiti Ally didn't see that when it was coming in it's pretty I like copper all the different Hues of green and green blues and Blues foreign oh wow you can feel the air so that's definitely to that tunnel above it all right let's check it out very rare that you actually see that tobacco can was still some of the original labeling on it that size all muddied up but it's still pretty good and you still got shiny bits inside that's neat for somebody else foreign well that's it so let me go ahead and walk out of here and I will meet you guys up at the next tunnel which is just above no point of climbing up the stove since there's supposed to be an entrance above I'll see you guys up there that's where the other tunnel site is you can see they had some type of or slide here foreign then over here they had a substantial Workshop it looks like where they actually carved out a section to store the tools and it's a little Skylight up there then above it this right there that's a tunnel I'm sorry a shaft okey dokey into the abyss we go all right agustope goes way up there there's shaft hey batty and this goes down to that lower tunnel that we were just in that's cool so so here's a section of shaft that I did not see from that tunnel and dead ends down there it's nice this is neat wow this I'm assuming this is what they were using to bring up from over there wow they really opened that up so got a wins here brought the material up dumped it down there and from this stop which is now a shaft did the same thing I've got a belt okay that's it that's it for this location that's really cool to see though all right well that's it for this site if you made it to the very end of this video I appreciate you to get you excited to do some exploring on your own do it have fun always remember to be safe and respect the bats foreign

Channel: Desert Trails

Views: 17,548

Keywords: exploring abandoned mines, exploration, adventure, travel, desert, mojave desert, underground exploration, abandoned places, decay, ruins, forgotten, mine exploring, hiking, abandoned, mines, mine tunnel, abandoned mines, abandoned mine exploring, copper mine, copper ore

Id: MaNewWaOFl8

Length: 40min 57sec (2457 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 28 2023