Okay, we're making our way up to this
abandoned talc mine. Check out these barrels here. They’re kind of unique because of
their shape. I normally wouldn’t film barrels, but these have that classic, barrel,
wedge shape and there are three of them here. They are a light green in
color, so those are kind of unique. We just came in where the exit sign is. We’re
in a talc mine again. We’re on the first level, and it goes down that way through that
timbered arch. There’s a little bit of water in front of it but nothing major.
We’ll continue down that way. Okay, so we just came from that way, and there's one
timber there that's almost snapped in two. We found an old bottle back here. Burgundy. Some
rope. More cracked timbers right there. Here’s some really cool miners’ graffiti — some pictures
— and just a lot of timbering. Here are miners’ dots. That’s how they kept track of the loads
of ore. Every dot was a cart full of ore, and they are usually found near ore chutes.
And here's an ore chute! Here are some more cracking timbers. There’s a lot of weight above
us here in the overhead. Here are more miners’ dots on that timber, and there's something
over here behind this chute. Check that out! That’s some kind of old gas mask. Wow!
Not much is left of it. That’s a cool find! Here you can see these timbers are kind
of buckling right there and right there. Okay, we're making our way through here.
There are some big boulders here that really aren't supported very well. You can see
Julie up there and Tom's in front of her, so let's keep going forward. I'll try to keep
the camera going here so you can see what it's like to explore through one of these things.
There is a lot of rocks there. Wow! Fractured rocks! Check out this timber right next to me
here. It’s totally snapped! We’re headed this way. Continuing forward here, you can see how
the pressure on these cross timbers from all this that’s above us is pressing down and
causing that big one to crack and break right there as well as the smaller board beneath
it. It’s just slowly and gradually coming down, and we're headed that way to the left around
the corner. Okay, we just came through that way. Tom and Julie have already passed through
here. They’re ahead of me. Tom said he found some cool artifacts in here and told me to
look for them. He found a couple things, I think. He said there was a bottle. There is some
writing on the wall there. It looks like S E.. Ah, there's a bottle! This is what Tom found. It’s
a…let's see…I don’t want to break it…. So that is a…what does that say? So that's a Purex bottle!
I guess that was bleach — Purex bleach! It’s in a glass bottle. Wow! That’s pretty cool! The cap
comes off. There’s nothing in there. There’s an old glass Purex bottle down here. He said
there's something else here, too. There’s some miners’ graffiti up there. I think I see
what he's talking about! There is something metal up here. That’s a Prince Albert
can. Check that out! There's the front. There’s the backside. I wonder what else
is up in there! It looks like it's kind of collapsed. We’ll keep going this way. Here’s
more timbering. Let’s keep going forward! Okay, we're headed down that way towards…. We’re
going to go past those leaning timbers. They start out vertical here right next to me but then
they start to lean outward. Let’s go check it out! Okay, we picked up some ore cart tracks
right there going into that maze of timbers. Right here is some more miners’ graffiti. R S G.
Up on top it looks like “Isaac” but in Spanish. I don't know. There’s a lot of collapse up in
there. Let’s keep going forward here. Those are pretty big ore cart tracks. Those are kind of a
bigger size than we usually find in these mines. That’s a dead end obviously. There’s an ore
chute right up in there. We’re going to go this way. Wow! Look at all this graffiti! Pictures
of naked ladies, I guess. They all look the same! Wow! This is crazy! We’re going to head down
there past all of that. I hope you're ready! So we're going to pass under that and go next
to that to where Tom and Julie are back there where their lights are. It’s getting kind of
sketchy in here! Look at all this timbering everywhere! So behind that timber there is a
dynamite box. See it there? On the side it says “Lane” or “Lant.” No, “C L A N I T.” I’ll have
to look that up. I’ve never heard of that brand. There is a metal can. That’s looking back. There’s
a Union Carbide way back there. That’s what we came through. We’re going to head this way. This
is like a fun house! Okay, we just came through all that. There is a winze right over there. You
can see those curved ore cart tracks coming up right where my light is. That was the top of the
winze. That was used to stop the cart from going over the edge when it came up the inclined shaft.
We’ll check that out in a minute. We’re going to keep going forward here for now through all of
this this. This is just a lot of collapse, and we're headed that way. Okay, here’s looking back
at what we just came through. That winze is back there off to the left, and we just came underneath
that and I'm currently underneath this right now, and we basically are crawling on our hands and
knees to get through here. Here’s looking down the tunnel where we're headed. Here’s more graffiti
there on that timber, and we're headed that way. That’s looking down at where we're headed, and
right here in front of me…. Again, these are all slow-motion collapses in progress. That’s looking
up, and we're going to keep going down where Tom and Julie are through that obstacle course of
timbers some of which are pretty hazardous. Well, we just came through there. We passed through
that exit sign — passed around it — and now we're standing up again. We don’t need to
crawl, and we're headed this way. Okay, so we just climbed up this debris pile. You can
see Julie down there below me, and we're in front of a big talc deposit right here. Then we’re
headed that way down into the tunnel proper, and there are some big timbers there on top. It
says right there “Dump waste here.” This must have been a dumping point for waste rock, and somebody
wrote “Popeye” and then they drew to the left of the name Popeye a drawing. They actually drew
Popeye’s head — Popeye the sailor man — and then we're headed that way. The ore cart tracks pick
up right here in front of me. There are some more snapped timbers and some more graffiti, and it
looks like the tracks curve off there to the left. We’re headed that way. See the ore cart tracks?
They continue. This tunnel is only about four feet tall, so we don't know how they got
the ore carts through that timbered arch there that I'm zooming-in on. There’s not a
lot of clearance. A person couldn't stand up, and I don't think a burro would be able to
fit through there — or a donkey. Looking up into the stope above us, you can
see all the timbering and collapse. We just came from that way behind Julie. You
can see some timbers there that are snapped. That’s where we just came came from, and the
ore cart tracks bend around to the right there. We’re headed that way, but right here is some more
Spanish miners’ graffiti. “La Mato el Grillo.” I don't know what that means. I’ll have to translate
that, and then right below it is this bottle with some rope tied around it. Because the base of
this bottle goes in like that on the bottom, this is a really old bottle. I'm almost certain
of that because of that bottom. So we are headed that way, and right up here a miner wrote with
his carbide lamp “I love you Liz.” We found some artifacts in this area — another Prince Albert
can which is right there. It’s all smashed, though, and then this is some kind of a paint can.
I can't quite read what that says. It ends -MIZE. I thought it might've said “SIMONIZE” but I don't
think that's what it is. It looks like a paint can or some kind of can for paint or varnish
or something. Julie is headed down that way, so let's go catch up. We are going to
make our way through that maze of timbers. Tom is going to check it out. He’s not going
to go down too far — just to the second cross timber. TOM: “I’m not planning on going down too
far.” Right, yes, just the second…. TOM: “I might inadvertently go all the way to the bottom!”
Well, here's another compromised section. You can see some timbers here on both sides that
are bowing outward like that one and those on the right. Yes, Tom thinks we might be able
to dig this out. If we did this — if we dug this out — we could get to another winze
that parallels the one we were just at.
