Finding Old Mining Sites
(The little things)
I was riding with Jack Bass, heading down hiway 140. We were going to Merced to pick-up some supplies. (Cheaper than Mariposa). For several years, I had been noticing some evenly spaced mounds on the North side of the hiway and had been curious about them. There were about 20 of them that I could see, and they were all laid out in rows. All about the same size, height and spacing (They can still be seen to this day).
I asked Jack if he had any idea of what caused them.
He said that the Chinese were pretty much kept out of the Mariposa mining claims, so they set up their own camps along the creek that parallels the present hiway.
Those small mounds of earth were created by the tailings they had cleaned, then dumped in their individual spaces.
In later years, as I got to know Jack a lot better, I wasn’t all too sure of some of the stories he had to tell, but this one seems the only logical conclusion I can draw for the regularity of these little mounds of “dirt”, especially since I can’t convince myself that the cattle that now inhabit these pastures would have been that neat.
I’m not telling the above story so that you can run out and start looking for little mounds of soil, all laid out in symmetrical patterns, but rather to call to your attention, how signs of long lost mining activities can endure the passage of time. And so that you understand that when you are in the mountains, or hills, searching for old mines or mill sites, except for a few extraordinary circumstances, signs/clues will be there to point out where these old mines and/or mills were.
There will be level areas that just don’t fit in with the surrounding area. Also, perhaps shallow “bowl” areas that don’t fit in with the surrounding terrain. Then, chances are, the barren, clay area on the side of that distant mountain is not the “land-slide” that it appears to be to the “uninitiated.
“Landslides” in nature are a fairly rare occurrence, especially if it is confined to a relatively small area. If you see one of these apparent “slides”, use a little reason. Landslides are normally about as wide as they are long. where-as the residue from mining activities tend to be longer than wide. This is caused by the deliberate dumping of the mine tailings down the side of the mountain. In my younger years, I climbed some of these mountains to see what was at the top of the tailings, and almost invariably, found the signs of tunneling, or in most cases, the actual tunnel itself.
Should you find one of these tunnels, before you even think about going in, check out the tailings. If there was anything in the mine worthwhile, with the aid of a 5 or 10 power magnifying glass, you should be able to spot a little gold (or whatever) in the discarded ore. Look for streaks of (usually) black mineralization in the quartz. Or, perhaps a small vein of iron pyrites in situ.
Use your glass to check the outer edge of the iron pyrites for very small globules of gold, against, but usually, not within the pyrites. It was not unusual for a small 1 or 2 man operation to only keep what they could see. Anything with gold that HAD to be milled to recover the gold, they discarded, rather that haul it for miles to a mill, when they would have to pay a percentage to have the gold extracted. It just wasn’t worth the time and effort 160 years ago.
If you have spotted a little gold in the tailings, it’s only natural to want to explore the mine itself, right?
This is where “Common Sense” should prevail!!
In the early days of Western mining, there were no regulations on safety. So, of ALL of the old mines that I’ve found, though some of them had rails for carts in them, NOT ONE OF THEM had any shoring! So, my question to myself was: “Self, do you think it would be safe to go in there”?? I’m not going to go into this very far, other than to say; I felt that since the mine has had no cave-ins in the last 150+ years, it probably wouldn’t have one during the short time I would be in it. You would have to be the judge of your own particular circumstances. Choose wisely. (lol)
Oh yeah, keep in mind the possibility of rattle snakes and or animals. And always be aware of the air within the tunnel. If you start feeling light-headed, or have difficulty breathing, get the hell out, then figure out what you would need to return and go in safely. Frankly, don’t be as “macho” as I was in my youth. Have a partner with you. If you have any doubts, one of you can tie a rope around your waist before you go in, and the other can stay outside the portal to monitor the rope. i.e.: One quick yank on the rope means; Get me out of here!!! (lol)
My lesson on prospecting is not complete, but, I know all of my friends have been waiting patiently, so I’ll post this “chapter” while I’m writing more of the guide.
Thanks for your patience!!
Eagle
or can it?
