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 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…
Hite Cove (aka Hites Cove) is small mining camp tucked along the Merced River. John Hite discovered gold here in 1862 and ran the mine for 17 years.…
Found this one merely by topo. The adit is 1400 feet long with stopes, winzes and drifts galore. We didn’t enter as we were in no way prepared…
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…
I added the Hiller Tunnel as a mine to visit because the 600 ft long tunnel is about as authentic as it gets. Though the tunnel is not…
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.…
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…
William “Burro” H. Schmidt began gold mining in the area in 1906. Rather than haul his ore over the steep hill to the smelter in Mojave he decided…
The Old Dutch Cleanser Company obtained its pumice from this mine from 1923 to 1947. I know this is a gold mine site but I just could not resist…
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…
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…
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…
Located along the 1 mile El Cariso Nature trail is an abandoned mine with an unsealed entrance. A favorite spot among hikers and an easy hike. Access to…
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…
The Blue Light Mine has a fascinating yet grim history. Brothers Nicholas and Glen Anderson entered the mine in 2002 and never made it out. Notorius for low…
Bodie is the king of the ghost towns and also the most authentic mining town remaining in California. You wont find any hot dogs or souvenirs here (well,…
The “May Lundy Mine” is located at 11,000 ft on the east side of Mt. Scowden near the Tioga Crest. I doubt anyone has been up there for…
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…
The Big Bell Mine (Death Valley) is located in the Chloride Cliffs between Chloride City and the Keane Wonder Mine. Most certainly named after the Big Bell in…
The Keane Wonder Mine (Death Valley) was discovered by Jack Keane in the early 1900’s along the Chloride Cliffs below Chloride City. In 1906 investors made the mine…
The Wall Street two stamp mill is located in the Joshua Tree National Park. The dry desert air along with the corrugated roof and heavy timbers have kept…
Skidoo, located in Death Valley National Park was famous in the early 1900′s. Producing over 75,000 ounces of gold. But by 1917 the town was abandoned. The only…
This Southern California gold mine located in Joshua Tree National Park has been plugged with expanding foam then covered with dirt. But the original stamp mill exist in…
There were hundreds of “Eagle” mines in the West but this is the real deal. So close to the millions of residents of LA county but so remote…
Discovered in 1895 by Tom Vincent the Big Horn Mine was named after the sheep he was hunting. He sold the mine and it was worked for many…
The Castaic Mine is perhaps one of the most infamous LA area gold mines. It is here that legendary gold mine explorer Hugh Blanchard met his death. Property…
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…