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. We parked and camped right at the portal atop the waste rock pile with an amazing view of the Sierra. We made our way in at dusk and were greeted by multiple bats advising our exit with near miss swoops. Further in we found multiple levels up and down as well as flooded lower openings. Adorning the wall were a deep water fish mural overhead and walls with carbide lamp writings from 1925 when the mine was at its heyday.
…carbide lamp writings from 1925…
We found the Whiteside thanks to a YouTube post from 2010 by ‘Exploring Abandoned Mines and Unusual Places‘. There is not much info available online but it appears to be on BLM land and consist of several thousand feet of underground workings on several levels, more than we cared to explore. The Whiteside Mine was primarily a silver producer at 14oz/ton with some gold production at 0.06 oz/ton.
