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 for the still barely standing roadside stamp mill. If you blinked you would miss it.
Kanaka Creek
The Ophir lies on Kanaka Creek in good company with dozens of other mines. The old 5 stamp mill still stands but that is about it. When we went there was a semi modern truck body dumped near the stamps. We did not search for any of the many nearby shafts shown on the topo. The stamp mill is only feet from where the Plumbago Road bridge crosses Kanaka Creek near the intersection of Kanaka Creek Road and Plumbago Road. An old bridge still stands below the newer bridge. Plumbago Road was a great 4×4 jaunt out of North Bloomfield and Malakoff. The rough road conditions where a once in a lifetime terror for one of our passengers but any jeep nut would love it as much as we did.
We crossed the creek and climbed the hill to the entrance
We returned to the Allegheny District and this time we walked down the old mining road next to the creek. We saw an old compressor operation foundation and further down a boiler lying in the middle of the creek with a mine shaft on the other side. We crossed the creek and climbed the hill to the entrance only to find the opening was collapsed about 20 feet back.
