The stamps at the Herman Mine still stand tall as of our visit in May 2016 despite several forest fires sweeping the steep ravine below Deadwood Ridge. There have been numerous internet post over the years serving as historical looks into the mills slow return to mother earth. Many have hiked down via many routes but we decided to drive it. The road via the Osborne Tunnel was doable but way too time consuming so we headed west on Deadwood to an easier route. You wont make it without a high clearance 4×4 capable of going over, under, and through large fallen trees and creaks. It took over 2 hours for us to traverse the old mining road down the ravine south of Deadwood Road. As we approached the ravine we hit a Y in the road. On our right was what appeared to be an old overgrown road blocked by a 10 stamp cam. On our left the road continued along the steep hillside to just above the mill. The short climb down to the stamps from the road was extremely steep, deep and dangerous but well worth it.
For now the Herman has escaped the posh museum life…
Over the years there have been several plans formulated to ‘rescue’ the remnants including a failed helicopter recovery. For now the Herman has escaped the posh museum life and sits in her natural glory untouched by vandals and thieves. At this point all of the timbers and structure have been burned away leaving 3 batteries of 5 stamps each standing and one 5 stamp battery tipped over towards the hillside. We found cams for 30 stamps but only saw batteries for 20. Perhaps some where sold or stolen. There is video on YouTube showing an open adit, boiler, compressor, and large tank but we rushed out and didn’t explore any of that :<.
From Mindat.org:
A former lode Au-Pb-Ag occurrence/mine located in sec. 21, T15N, R12E, MDM, 2.9 km (1.8 miles) NNW of Last Chance and 3.2 km (2.0 miles) WNW of Star Town (site), E of Deadwood Ridge. Mineralization is a vein deposit hosted in slate. The ore body strikes N10E and dips 67SE at a thickness of 3.05 meters. The vein is 3 to 10 feet thick. Workings include underground openings with a length of 411.48 meters and an overall depth of 137.16 meters and comprised of an inclined shaft and drift. Production data are found in: Waring, Clarence A. (1917) & Logan, Clarence August (1936). ORE AVG. 50 TONS/DAY IN 1915 .
Please comment below if you know more history on the Herman Mine or have been there.
2 Comments
If you would have continued down the road until it ended (100-200 yards), the compressor and boilers (3) would be on the right and the audit is on the left up the side creek. The tank is on top of the hill, as well as a HUGE quartz outcropping. We’ve been meaning on going back there since the fire but were turned away by downed trees (the first 10 or so were moved by us). The Y with the cam in it was the most recent attempt to move one of the stamps to Forestville (as is the road that you drove in on). They attempted to remove one of the stamp mills in 2012 (?) but go no further than getting the cam to the top of the first grade.
Glad to see that someone made it and the mills are still surviving, however our last visit (before the fire) still showed the wood supporting the stamp mills.
I just stumbled upon the Herman Mine page, much to my delight. My grandfather’s family owned this mine back in the mid 1930s. I have a bunch of old photos of what it looked like when it was up and running, including a great one of the stamps in operation.