Artifact Heaven! Exploring the Loaded Smith & Wesson Mine

hey guys what's the mind detective here come naturally now the mind exploring videos right in front of me we got this dry waterfall it's about seven or eight feet high and i'm hiking up this canyon about to head to another abandoned mine and there's a shot looking up the canyon i'll be headed up there right now all right guys so let's climb up this dry rock waterfall let me find a nice handhold there we go and we are up all right so i toss my head up here and we will continue up this canyon and as you can see these canyon walls are really steep all right so here's yet another dry waterfall that i gotta go up and once we get up there we'll have a really good view of that tram tower so looking up there that's the tram tower and then right here we got the dry creek bed this would probably be a two-foot pool come springtime and i'm probably within close to a quarter mile of the mine it's probably right around that corner we are getting very very close to the mine side because right here we got the flywheel off of what looks like a hit-and-miss engine it's got six of these spokes yeah that is a very cool find my only guess as to why it's in the wash is somebody tried to haul it out but it's probably too heavy for them and it looks like i can even see the tailings pile spilling off the side of that mountain right there all right so i'm really excited because right here i found the second flywheel off of the hit and miss engine with this being here i mean who knows what else we might find up at the mine site and then right here we got some corrugated metal siding and then looking up this way you could see the huge waste rock pile and i can already see a couple of structures up there all right guys so i can already tell that this one is probably going to be artifact heaven because right in front of me this looks to me like the chassis off of the norcar right here look at that still pivots so right here this is where the body of the or car would have sat and the wheels would have been down here that's such a cool flying i mean the fact that it still pivots that's amazing all right and then right up here we got way more artifacts so we got a yet another wheel probably off of uh i guess hitting this engine or maybe a compressor yet another flywheel that is amazing and there's just so much more in the wash who knows what's up there let's walk around here a bit see what else we can find yeah i'm really in shock there's a couple of 50 gallon drums right there and then over this way so this looks to me like a compressed air tank maybe an accumulator these still turn that's really cool looks like this is where the hose would have hooked up that's a really cool find and i mean look at all this stuff in the wash that looks like a stove let's go up there alright so let's take a closer look at this cast iron stove so it looks like it's upside down because right here you can see it says clean out and it's upside down oh it still opens yeah that's a really cool flying cast iron stove right here this one still has a handle just looking inside as you can see it's riveted most of this stuff looks like it dates to the 19 teens maybe the 1920s and there's just so much more stuff scattered right here we got this uh boot heel plate this looks like it's made out of rubber says made in usa and there was so much more stuff i seen on the way up let's head up this way see what else i can find this place is just loaded it has so many artifacts as you can see just metal scattered all over oh wow we got yet another wheel what is that the third one no no that's a fourth one yeah there's another wheel that's probably off of uh all i can guess is hit and miss engine all these look like and then uh got this piece right here really reminds me of a drum brake off of like a maybe a car like a truck yeah if you guys know what that is it really reminds me of a drum brake and then uh oh i see some more stuff down here yep there's still some more awesome stuff down here check out this awesome gear it's about probably two feet in diameter that had definitely been off of uh milling equipment and then this piece right over here that almost reminds me of i seen a similar piece that came off a pelton wheel but this one is way bigger in diameter and then uh we'll be headed up that trail up towards the mine site okay so i think i just stumbled upon artifact heaven at this mine so right in front of me we got the hoist so cable would have been spooled around here you could see where the cable used to be and then here's looking at the large gear on the side this is so amazing and uh looks like this is made out of wood so wood is securing that uh gear in place and if you look over this way you can see the indent where it used to be so i rolled this sucker it's probably like 150 pounds i rolled it to where it is now so i could get a better shot of it yep that is one amazing find and we're not done yet this is a skipped car and it looks like it's a homemade skipped car too because if you look at these uh these are or car spikes and those are keeping these braces in place and you can see the welding work that they did here definitely indicates that this was homemade and then let's take a quick look at the mouth of the orc car and we will head to the finally start heading to the mine but yeah this is just amazing how all of this stuff is still here so there's enough of this skip car and there's just still more stuff all around here right here we got a cone top beer can dating back to probably the 1930s there's a sardine can a bunch of cans and uh we'll be headed up there right now it's just totally unbelievable how many artifacts are up at this mine site so here's yet another one of these gears and this is attached to one of those cylindrical pieces i don't think i've ever seen a setup like this like i said i've seen pieces like that off of shaker tables and pelton wheels but never that big and i've seen these types of gears before but not totally sure what they would have been off of so if you guys know what kind of machinery this is please comment and i'll be headed up the switchback trail keeps heading up the waste rock pile all right guys so right over there on the waste rock pile you can see a flywheel looks like that one came off of a jaw crusher and then here's looking up the waste rock pile and i see a structure right in the middle of the screen and then it looks like mine is right up here so who knows if previous explorers put all these artifacts right next to each other but here's three really cool artifacts so i'm pretty sure one of these would have been the clutch obviously this would have been on a car and then uh here's half of a flywheel that might have been off like a shaker table and this is probably the coolest piece of the bunch that is the gate off of an ore car here's where it would have hinged on so this would have been the bottom it would have opened like that yeah it's a really cool piece and there is just way more stuff up this wash alright guys so at this point i mean it's almost impossible to show all these artifacts but i'll try my best so right here we got a big block off of an engine and then right behind me we got this platform and there's another one of those wheels so i'm guessing these wheels would have been here i'm not sure if it would have been like a shaker table or pelton wheel or what but it looks like there was a pulley system you see these cables right here and those cables would have been wrapped around this wheel right here this pulley system and there would have probably been ore buckets going up the side of the mountain and i missed a couple of these artifacts uh explained in the pulley system so right here we got another boot heel plate it's got these uh nails in them probably dates to the 1920s i would guess made out of rubber and this is a really cool find that's like a really cool steampunk looking piece it's got four gears on it that is really cool and we'll be headed up the side of the mountain all right guys so right there we got a huge tank i really have no clue what that would have been used for i think it's too big for compressed air but maybe i'm wrong on that we got yet another pedal all right yeah that's really cool looks like it even has a number on there it says 24887-13 and right here we got a piece of drill steel that is very cool and then this looks like it would have been used for that amalgamation process we got two of them so this was kind of like a i guess like a ball mill almost would have rolled around and there's just so much more here we got a huge header another one of those gears there's just way more here but this is probably the coolest piece of the bunch check out those insulators this one all the way on the end is still intact and it says pierce p-e-i-r-c-e make sure not to break that that is really cool all right let's check out all these other artifacts all right guys so there's a shot off the waste rock pile and here's looking way down from where i came from obviously as you guys can tell i love torturing myself going to these mines hey but this one is totally worth it this place is loaded there are just so many artifacts there's a great view alright guys so i found another cool piece off of this uh pulling mechanism right here you can see the intact cotter pin and you can barely make out the word roebling so i'll leave a little bit of company history but in short they did some work on the golden gate bridge actually a lot of work and obviously they made some mining equipment as well all right guys so that's where i just crawled up from and seriously no words can be used to describe this place because right behind me right here just look at this mill site it is just massive like this flywheel right here it's probably six feet in diameter i've never seen a wheel this big and then right here it looks like we got it says lightning arrester with the w oh westinghouse yeah that's a wet westinghouse uh lightning arrester so right there it says type 15 auto valve lightning arrester max kv i'm guessing that's like kilovolts or something 12 and then it says style 716150d and on the bottom it says westinghouse electric and manufacturing company east pittsburgh works east pittsburgh pennsylvania usa so that is a very cool artifact and then uh there's a big gear up there there's even rails sticking out of there so that might have been a trestle there's just so much going on here and it sucks because you could see there's a fire here but here's looking up in this there's just so much cool stuff here there's a really big gear right there here's some electrical components this is amazing and then uh here's looks like there would have been two of these because there was one of these uh what i'll call like a ball mill or tumbler right down there so there's yet another tumbler and uh looks like this one has a name it says steve steffen's adamson manufacturing company very cool but yeah you can tell this thing is sideways and this uh flywheel has gotten crushed going around this corner there's a side shot of that rock tumbler used for the amalgamation process and i'd like to call that an elevator i'm not sure looks like it also has a pulley system and there's yet another flywheel right there but yeah this is really hard to figure out since there's like a fire and almost everything is pretty much falling over and let's check out over this way oh that is really cool look at that we got rail going right off the edge of the cliff [Applause] sick all right guys so here's looking up above what i'll call the main mill site there's that peculiar what i would call an elevator i'm not even sure what that is and then uh right over this way we just got a whole bunch of uh corrugated metal and concrete footings oh and then right here looks like this is the crankshaft off of an engine and then right over here looks like we got we got the whole engine yep that's an engine i really have no clue how old these are but if i had a guess probably in 1930s or so looks like this baby is a six cylinder and then uh looks like there's a concrete vat right here i'm guessing cyanide or some other chemical was stored in here and then i see some rail going off right there and i see the main mine and then right above it we got that cool metal structure all right so i crawled up here and here's the top of the tram system looks like it doubled as a probably a telegraph pole there's a whole bunch of strain insulators up there made out of porcelain and then uh looks like right here we got like a switch plate you could see the rail leading right up to it and then uh looks like there's a cable right here so maybe there was an ore bucket that transported the ore down to the mill site so let's follow these rails oh and right here talking about insulators that's really cool so these two would have held the insulators on top of those poles and then looks like we got a split in the rail and looks like we got a portal right here so right inside we got this piece i don't think i've ever seen anything like it not totally sure what the heck it is looks like this gear would have been on it that is a very interesting piece yeah if you guys know what that is please comment i'm pretty sure this would have been like an ore car it just looks like a really intricate and fancy one and uh i seen this it says cigarettes wheat cigarettes yeah i can't really read it but that is pretty cool we will continue on looks like that uh opens up to the surface right there another little hole right there let's see how far this thing goes there's a piece of newspaper right here august furniture yeah this looks pretty old i'd have to guess probably from the early 1900s probably in 1920s or 30s and then there's another strip right here cool stuff right there let's see what other cool stuff we could find in here so we got some rails tucked up in this pocket he's looking back towards the portal and right here looks like we got a stoked up section here's a ladder leading up into that stop there's a couple of stools up there that just dead ends and looks like that lays out to the surface so i'll head up here see what's up this way all right guys so i found a piece of newspaper that points out the approximate age of this mine or at least this strip of newspaper so looks like the latest date here it says 1935 ford and there's other cars on here looks like used cars 1932 graham said 1931 ford sedan 1931 essex coach 1930 dodge coach yeah whole bunch of cars and look at these cars 165 dollars almost 300 dollars 400 dollars yeah so this newspaper dates to approximately the mid 1930s maybe even 1940 and there's a whole bunch more over here all right so it turns out that ladder didn't really lead to anywhere super extensive and uh now we're in this stoked out section there's something down there looks like it just ends there's a little opening here and i see some sunlight through here yeah there's some more rail all right there's a huge portal so looking over here there's a looks like a shoe and this probably used to be a classifier and then looking down that way that probably keeps going but yeah look at that and almost looks like there used to be a skip car because you could see that's where the locking mechanism is on both sides so skip car probably would have went down there let's see what we could find down this way so there's that one hole that i seen let's use the right hand rule see what's over this way all right looks like that just faces that's where i just came from and i'll be headed down this left-hand passage yeah it looks like they try to remove the rail but it's still laying that's pretty interesting and then right up here we got these uh insulators that's really cool that they're still intact oh and check out this look at all this timbering we got a really nicely intact ore shoot right there and it looks like we got a winds you could see the skip car rails going down i wonder how far that oh yeah it looks like it goes down close to 40 feet and then that keeps on and going feel really cold air coming from that way alright guys so before i head down any ladders i'll explore all the drifts on this main level hopefully there's some cool stuff to be seen i'm sure there's way more artifacts to be found [Music] so right here looks like we're coming up on a really stoked out section here's an oar shoot and you can see the surface from here there's a bunch of gobbing and a retaining wall and that's one huge stoke whoa this is one massive room whoa no way there's a sunlight holy crap look at this place oh my god let me turn off my light wow look at that massive pillar that thing is like 10 feet across oh my god this place is huge so yeah there's a surface right there and right here looks like we got a collar whoa yeah we got a collar for a decline shaft and uh here's the roller let's see if that thing still rolls yep still rolls so this is where the skip car would have went down i'm sure they would have had at least two or three skip cards in this mine but yeah there's a look at the collar this is one huge and amazing mine look at that massive pillars and that goes way down there and i seen there were some steps right here and this leads to what looks like a workers section like their where they took their break very cool and we got some old and new graffiti from the miners and explorers that says may 25th 1926 1981 82 1965 february 28th 1941 1963 65 75 and here's a card from underground explorers southwest mine explorers yeah this place is just like this place is just hard to fathom i mean there are just so many different places wow the scale of this mine is just insane and then look in there there's a whole bunch of timbers and look at that pillar i mean that is really crazy to see and then there's looking up those steps towards the workers station and looking off this way i seen that there was a switch plate and the rails led right to it so you know i would have to guess that there was actually an ore car that went down here i might head down there alright guys so let's start heading down into this decline shaft the good thing about it is that it's not too steep so you don't even have to go on the ladders you can basically just walk down and there's a couple of insulators you could see one right there there's a couple more down there on these timbers all right so check this out it's not every day there you see [Applause] [Music] a pretty much fully intact shoot yeah so i'm pretty sure this would have opened and closed the chute there's looking up there's actually a ladder right here so this probably leads up into the stopped out sections and i'll keep going down there finally made it down to the bottom of this decline shaft and right here that's an orcar wheel you can see part of it's broken but that's a very cool fine and then the rails keep heading off this way right at the get-go we got an ore shoot you could see the carbide dots that they put to track the loads of ore that came out of that one all right so i made it to three-way intersection and this looks to be pretty interesting there's quite a bit of timbering and shoring in this section so who knows what else we might find just to the right we got a classifier that's a little bit more modern there's a filled in section that keeps going now let's see what's off this way i'm not sure but this looks like a muck sheet and that looks like the end here's looking back at the filled in section that i just traversed through so this drift just ends in about 30 or 40 feet and i already looked at this one this one ends in about 20 feet all right guys so i made it back to the top of this decline shaft and right now i'll be going down into these stops but just for a little bit because i'm really running out of time so here's the first artifact i found down in the stopes this is uh one quartz of rpm motor oil and on the bottom it says standard oil company of california based out of san francisco so that's a really cool find and they go way over that way here's a ladder i just went down and then there's looking up into the stop that i was just in a whole bunch of gobbing right there as well and this is one huge room yeah so not much else was going on in that stop so i'll be headed out and checking out that one metal structure but that's pretty much the end of this mine there's a couple of nooks and crannies here another pillar right here and look at all this gobbing wow that's about 10 foot high all right so i'm headed out of the hole and i didn't realize that there was this massive open scope i'll probably be really surprised when i see where i pop out on the side of the mountain look at all this rock look at that massive boulder i'm sure that fell off up there wow yeah who would have thought this is one massive hole all right so i know that this video isn't gonna do justice but this is the biggest open stop i've ever seen so it starts over there and it spans all the way to there and there's way more over that way it's at least 150 feet across and maybe even a hundred feet high that's the top right there this place is huge and there's just so many holes there's a hole there a couple open stops there another one here a couple more down there even so there's looking up the side chute that i just came down you can't really tell but it was really steep going especially on all these rocks there's yet another portal right here and this almost looks to me like explosives storage yeah look at that still got the door and it looks like it goes in about 20 feet and then it just ends so yeah that open huge open stop was right above where i started i was not expecting to pop up up there and there's yet another portal right here let's take a quick look see what we can find all right so i'm just inside the portal and right here you can see that there used to be a door and right over this way this looks to me like a possible camp stove a makeshift camp stove not totally sure if you guys know better than me please comment and then right there it says esso company california richmond california that has some numbers there and then right in the middle you can see that there's an open hole all right so here's this structure and it has corrugated metal on the sides and the roof so let's take a look yeah looking right in here i was just looking up that hole so if i had a guess this was probably a hoist house i had a hoist inside of here and here's a look at that side you

Channel: Western Mine Detective

Views: 18,172

Rating: 4.916955 out of 5

Keywords: #hiking, #mineexploring, #abandonedmines, #artifacts, #history, #westernminedetective

Id: 9mOYmZzP6U4

Length: 38min 37sec (2317 seconds)

Published: Mon May 31 2021