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 draw? Because you can actually dive into the mine and roam miles of underground tunnels from within the safety of your 4×4 vehicle. The drive-in-ability of the Reward Mine has made it the photo feature story of almost every 4×4 magazine, you-tuber and off-road blogger out there. With 82,900,000 search results on google you would think we could find some history or a map of the tunnel workings, but no, not a trace.
…at least 26 mapped adits …
The Mine is located east of the Manzanar Historical Monument a Japanese internment camp from WWII, a worthy stop. Also as you head east off 395 onto Manzanar Reward Road you cross the old Manzanar airport runway which was a blast for drone shots and drag races.
The Reward Mine is actually a complex of several claims of multiple decades all chasing the 4-12 ft thick Brown Monster vein for gold, silver, copper and lead. The complex consist of at least 26 mapped adits across 4 or more canyons. The majority of the adits are in Eclipse Canyon. This is the area of the Reward that is popular for hikers and adventurers due to the multiple tunnels, ore bins, aerial tram and other artifacts found high into the canyon.
…multiple tunnels, ore bins, aerial tram and other artifacts…
For our trip to the Reward we drove straight to the south side of the northern most canyon to the lowest adit of drive-in fame. We drove right past the artifact laden Eclipse Canyon in search of instant underground fun. We lined up for a photo at the now semi-famous tunnel and after careful measurement decided to pile in the back of the F250 known as Big Red and venture in. The adit has near hurricane force winds exhausting from it so we new air was good. We didn’t venture to far and turned Big Red around at a spot we new we could. We took lots of video but only a few pictures before we headed off to the nearby Whiteside Mine to camp for the night.
If you venture to the Reward or have more history or maps please comment below!