The Defense Mine is a popular jeep, 4×4, rock crawler and hiking destination located 2 miles up Stone Canyon in the western slopes of Panamint Valley. Discovered in…
The Winkeye Mine peaked our interest after watching a YouTube and reading a blog post by Justin Ames aka The Velvet Rocket. One of Justin’s earlier explorations before…
The Burgess Mine, a gold mine, sits high atop the ridge of the Inyo Mountains at 9600′ just SE of New York Butte. I thought I had read…
The Mission Mine has become the old standby for every trip to Joshua Tree and the Old Dale Mining District. It is easy to get to with a…
When a mine has its own Trip Advisor and Facebook you know its a popular destination. So why is the Reward Mine aka Brown Monster Mine such a…
On a sunny spring morning way back in 2015 we set out for our second trip to the Allegheny district. This time we had the Morning Glory stamp…
One of my favorite over-landing destinations the Whiteside Mine is a great explore. A relatively easy but distant destination that has plenty to offer for the novice explorer.…
Poker Flat history begins with the gold rush when extreme quantities of gold were pulled from the district as much as $700,00 per month (period values). Major hydraulic…
Like many offroaders we had driven right past the Gold Standard Mine on previous trips in our rush up to the Brooklyn Mine. Just north of JTNP the…
The Yuba Gold Dredge had been on our to do list for several years. Finally on a hot June day in 2018 on our way up to explore…
The Mugwump Mine is a drift mine only yards outside the town of Forest City along Oregon Creek below American Flat. We visited the Mugwump on a rainy…
Masonic is a true ghost town just a few miles north of Bodie. Originally founded as three towns by the Free Masons “Upper Town, Middle Town, and Lower…
The Carlyle Mine is a fairly popular explorers destination. There is a lot to draw an expolorer there. First of all its fairly easy to get to with…
Goldome is one of the largest most modern milling operations we have visited. The tunnels have been sealed but the milling operation remains wide open for the random…
In May of 2017 on a 4×4 trip from Washington, CA to Alleghany we stopped along side Washington Road at Washington Creek to let the dog go pee. Within…
I have known about the Tuolumne Gold Dredge for years, driven past it, viewed the plaque on the side of the road and even caught a glimpse from…
Some of my favorite mines to explore are the one man operations. The Golden Egg Mine was bought in 1940 by German immigrant Karl Schapel who worked the…
Why another silver mine on this Gold site? Well, honestly I could not help myself. I stumbled upon Cerro Gordo on a California travel website that had mistakenly…
The Moser Mine or Moser Claims are a series of workings shown on USGS Topo only as prospects. In actuality there are extensive works including numerous adits, several…
Aurora Nevada is a fascinating ex-ghost town with almost nothing too see. How can there be an ex-ghost town? Well, that is the interesting part of Aurora. Once…
The Big Horn Mine is located in the southern part of Mojave National Preserve. Most noted for Hilltop House, a cabin built in the 30’s by mine owners…
This seven stamp mill is around the corner from Bodie on the east side of Bodie Bluff on Bodie Rd as it exits Bodie toward Aurora. The mill…
Not much history on the Ophir Mine is out there. It does appear on USGS Topo but that’s about it. The Ophir is best know by off roaders…
The Live Oak Mine is located up Keystone Canyon on the eastern side of the New York Mountains in Mojave National Preserve. We drove right up to the…
The North Fork Mine was worked from 1875 to the 1930’s with a 13 degree shaft 1000′ long and a crosscut 1000′ long and 3 levels of inclines…
Malakoff Diggins is California’s largest hydraulic gold mine. There are no shafts (except for massive drain tunnels) because the gold was dug up by using high pressure water…
The Plumas-Eureka State Park consist of the Plumas-Eureka (Mohawk) Stamp Mill, the museum was built in the old miners barracks, the Eureka Tunnel, nearby Jamisin City and mine, and the…
A mining settlement established in 1850. In 1852 a snow avalanche destroyed the camp and it was not resettled for several years. Today a few period buildings remain…
Clair Camp is a popular 4×4 destination located 5 miles east of Ballarat. The road up Pleasant Canyon is flanked by dense vegetation and a tight squeeze for…
The mighty Plumbago Mine (aka lower Plumbago) and Stamp Mill has a long and rich history. Millions of dollars of high grade have been pulled from small pockets…
A popular hiking destination located within Plumas-Eureka State Park. The Jamison was a top producer that once yielded a 52lb nugget. The mine site is also known as…
The Mexican Mine has been on our to do list for a while. It wasn’t until our third trip to the area we were able to find it.…
The Discovery Dondero Mine was submitted by Sean Berry-Kelly who also took the photos. Sean writes; “This is now an abandoned mine, down a 2 mile access road…
One of my all time favorites. The Lost Burro almost has it all. A well preserved cabin with bed, table and artifacts, many open underground shafts to explore,…
In the foothills above the affluent San Jose suburb of Almaden Valley lies dozens of mercury mines and the ruins from nearly 140 years of mining operations. The…
Bonnie Claire began it’s life as a mining camp named Thorpe’s Well in the 1880’s. It became a town in 1904. Later the Bonnie Clare and Bullfrog Mining Company purchased…
Cashier Mill is located in Death Valley National Park only a short distance east of Harrisburg, California. The Eureka Mine that fed the mill was opened in 1905…
I found this mine searching USGS Historic Topo maps near La Grange. The maps show two shafts only a few minutes north of La Grange. Mindat.org indicates a…
We have driven by and through Chinese Camp several times over the years on our travels up and down Highway 49 but never stopped. But now with Lake…
The Tarantula Mine can only be seen when Lake Don Pedro is at extremely low levels as it was when we visited in November 2014. Part of the…
The Argonaut is the site of the worst gold mining disaster in California History. On August 27th, 1922, 47 immigrant miners became trapped at the 4,650 foot level…
Located right off old Highway 49 is what used to be the North Star Mine (according to USGS Topo) now owned by Sutter Gold Mining Inc.. Sutter Gold…
The Keystone Mine was a significant contributor to gold production in the Mother Lode producing $24,000,000 in gold to a depth of 2680′ from 1851 until it’s close…
Its amazing that one of California’s most productive mines has faded into a barely visible steel structure among the trees and has even been used as a cell…
Opened as the Rancheria Mine in 1853 and renamed the South Mayflower Mine in 1893. In 1899 it became the Bunker Hill Consolidated Mine and operated until 1922…
Mining began in the 1850’s with an 8 stamp mill added in 1867. The mine reached a depth of 3030′ on incline and a drift connected to the…
I have never seen a headframe so twisted, mangled and distorted. I really wonder how this happened, to much load, wind, who knows? The claim is composed of…
Certainly one of my all time favorites. The giant stamp mill sits right next to a well maintained gravel road only a short distance from the highway. Virtually…
Not much is known about the Ryan Mine except it has a 400′ deep shaft and produced 1700 tons of ore in 1940. We were able to drive…
The Green Mine is located just east of Mi-Wuk Village. I found it on a USGS Historic Topo map showing a shaft and a structure, I also found…
The Dawn Mine Trail was a popular moderate 2.2 mile hike past Millard Falls up to Dawn Mine but the trail was closed and fenced by forest service due to a…
The El Doarado Mine is located at the northern edge of the Whiskytown National Recreation Area. The nps.gov site makes no mention of the mine so it is…
Lucky me! I was perusing local USGS Historic Topo’s and came across this awesome find. From Google Earth I could clearly see a mine shaft, a ball mill,…
There are hundreds of mines and several headframes in the gold rich hills east of Goldfield NV. Prominent are the Florence Mine, the Little Florence Mine, The Laguna…
There are hundreds of mines and several headframes in the gold rich hills east of Goldfield NV. Prominent are the Florence Mine, the Little Florence Mine, The Laguna…
Between Carson City and Las Vegas lies Goldfield, a boomtown that began in 1903 with the discovery of gold. Much of the town was destroyed by a fire…
Located only 1 mile north of Searchlight NV and only a few yards off Highway 95 the Southern Nevada Mine is in remarkable condition. The mill house still…
The Lucy Gray is a popular 4X4 destination. Several structures are still standing in the camp and many adits have been sealed with bat gates but doubtful all as…
The Noonday is one of three mines frequented in the Shoshone Mines group. Along with the War Eagle and the Columbia these mines are popular among underground enthusiast.…
The War Eagle is an extremely popular destination for underground adventurist, very little remains at the surface. Massive tailings are indicative of the extensive tunneling. The mine runs…
Not much info is out there on this mine other than production data from the late 1800’s, early 1900’s and a few pictures. The mine’s claim to fame…
Greenhorn Park has a ball mill; an arrastra, which is a primitive mill used to grind gold or silver ore; a stamp mill; a blacksmith shop; and a…