Exploring the Historic Seattle Cascade Mine 

That was 1300 feet of amazing! The barely visible portal, the salamander, the wooden ventilation “tube”, the rock formation that looked like abstract art, the dynamite in the drill holes at the face - all of it worth documenting as you did. Great job! The inclusion of the still photographs here and there was a nice touch, too. Well done, Graham!

All of your explorations are great, but the still shots you take are without peer!

I would guess the wheel shiv you showed with the phantom reading was used by the operator of the winch to tell him where his skip was in the shaft . It would remain stationary but roll on the hoist cable by friction . Some modern hoist use something similar as a safety device to warn of cable slippage.

That enterance has looked that way for 20 years. The lower is not connected to upper tunnel. You should have seen the upper tunnel is also interesting. Nicely done.

This, this is what I like...how brave you were to go inside that and document this, amazing camera work as well, thank you for this incredible video. I'm surprised it only has 15k views!

Love your videos! I'm a Washingtonian and loved exploring mines. I had a significant back injury that caused nerve damage to my right leg. But I'm sure I'll be able to explore again one day. Keep up the good work. And I really appreciate your gentle hand with the camera and verbal explanation. Thank you for bringing these mines to my armchair. Cheers!

your right that portal won't last thru a hard winter. Nice clean mine. Liked the rail bypass setup. It's funny how the quartz vein will just disappear. Nice documentation. Your still shots using the flash painting technique were spot on. A fathom is usually a measurement of water depth. It is usually 6'. Nice job. As always be safe

Awesome, thanks for sharing. I wouldn't have gotten past that portal, so you're a braver man than I!

What a great mine! Love the old wooden vent pipes, such a shame the portal is collapsing rapidly, could be fixed but I expect this is in such a remote location it's not going to be possible? The minerals are amazing down there, could spend hours looking at them. Love the photos, very well done!

Clearly the best pictures I've seen on mining sites, great job.

What an impressive video! Great lighting and slow camera pans. Your perseverance in documenting this soon to be inaccessible mine is greatly appreciated. Even the stills are beautiful. Thank you.

Great video. My daughter in law is a geologist. I sent this to her. Just to drive her nuts. That's my job. Great colors. The stills are a great idea. Thanks for keeping the camera at a slow pace. Some of the guys that do this type of exploring, pan so fast it makes you dizzy. Good job. You are lucky to be able to find a mine like this. Most every mine in my area has been sealed off.

Thanx Graham, props to you for having the juevos to bend, fold and gyrate yourself to get in the portal!

That's a Ford model A engine. The oil pan and the model plate are aftermarket. I know they used them for ski lifts way back when. Maybe converted for mines?

Man, so much good stuff at this one that it is hard to know where to begin... The view of the back side of that portal was awesome. The salamander was cool - it's always interesting (to me anyway) to see the life that exists inside of such a hostile environment. I know you have showed us some of that wooden ventilation pipe (is it a pipe or a tube or what?) before, but it is really cool to see that again. I have only ever seen that in your videos. It frequently seems like mines are abandoned very abruptly. I am often amazed by how much equipment and material (such as dynamite) is left behind. Doesn't it seem like it would be worth it for the miners to haul some of that out of there? Really interesting equipment outside, by the way. You say that the discovery adit is almost impossible to reach... Is it on the side of a cliff or something? Or in really thick brush? I didn't know that Washington ever produced silver or that King County had mines like this.

I very much enjoyed this video. You did a great job. Love your commentary and the data you flash on the screen. Please keep it up and keep safe. You have a new subscriber. Greetings from Nashville, Tennessee

Man, your videos are so great! I love the stills.

The mine workers were probably a tall crew that worked that mine didn't feel like bring bent over all day in that confined place so dug big enough so they could walk normal with no problem. Mine workers back then had no OSHA issues they dug they way the way the wanted to.

The upper adit looks to be way farther up the gulch, I've camped out at both upper and lower Coney camps even though I was alone it certainly didn't feel that way especially at night surrounded by relics of the past.

Thanx for another awesome documentation of a time when men were willing to work their asses off for a few bucks. Excellent!

Thanks for the explore! I really enjoyed the still pics in the video. Gives you a sense of the area. Nice shots. Please be safe.

Fathoms are still used on boats in the ocean to measure the depth of the water. I was a commercial salmon and albacore fisherman in the 70's and 80's. I think depth finders on smaller fresh water boats, like sport fishing boats, use feet.

Very cool, thanks for documenting and sharing these treasures of history!

super cool great job ,that was tuff to get inside and a long hike glad you went to that site before it was to late .

Just discovered your channel and subbed. Thanks for a great explore.

Used to live in Tacoma. Thanks for sharing this video. Living in Missouri now

thank you for the documentary. I always enjoy your videos

the engine is a old Ford Model A made them from 1928 thru 1931 fro cars but many millions more for farm and industrial use

That place looks like a terrible accident waiting to happen. Hint: Those miners did not put timbering all the way along because they thought that the granite was stable.

That section was tall, because of the angle of the sloped fault along the left side.

21:15 is basically the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. This is a damn cool mine and video man.

After watching a few of Your videos, I find them interesting, but I’ve had an interest in another mine here in Washington sense I was a young girl. Have You heard of the Holden village mine off of Lucerne point Lake Chelan? That would be an interesting mine to explore, I have a booklet on that mine that I think was drilled by Waite machinery back in the early 1900’s, Wes Prieb bought that mine for $1.00 after it closed and there are still 4 piles of tailings left from his old copper mine. It would be cool to see You explore that mine too!👍🏽😉

Danke für das hochladen sehr interessant

Hi. I stumbled upon your video and really liked it. I live in Black Diamond where there are all coal mines and I'm close to the old Royal Reward mercury mine. Where exactly is the mine in this video? You don't have to be exact, as you don't want to have everyone running up there and getting themselves hurt, but could you say the area that it's in? I know King County well so I would be able to find it and maybe get some pictures. Thanks.

I remember that Fire.. was clear down to Vancouver, WA

Do you carry a gas monitor? This drift looks to be single-entry with no functional natural ventilation; oxygen depletion and gases from decomposing timbers and sulfide minerals would be a major concern.

There's an old silver mine up near Fort Spokane. I could take you there.

Looks like a Jefferson’s salamander...

Some lovely shots you got there :)

Very good. Thank you

Your not terrified that those rocks could fall I'm anxious for you

I have been told that the "drain" on one side of the tracks is actually a piss drench for the miners to use

Thanks for posting!

I thought you where going to say, just inside the portal I found this collapse. Then you said that *was* the portal!

Love your videos man

In a bunch of these I'm just like "Dang...if only they could climb that ladder still..."

great video.. loved the stills subbed

Great vid. Also a fathom is used for measuring water deapth

At 23:30, I see another figure below...how many people did you take with you?

Too bad they're gonna seal it off. While they're at it, they should ban sky diving, skiing, car races, solo rock climbing, water skiing, football and baseball (a batter was killed by a pitch in 1920) In fact I heard driving a car might be dangerous. 🤔

There is an old mine up in newhalem wa i guess the story goes that the owner had a disagreement with the forestry on who was to maintain the access road so he parked all his equipment inside the mine and never mined it

I've been to the upper twice, a Bitch to find.

What were they mining there any ideas other then some cooper

Looks like evedence of bigfoot on trail up all them trees blocking u

I wish I could see what is in the last chance mine. In washougal washington area

I would love to go here but I'm having a hard time finding a GPS coordinates for it .any suggestions?

Have you seen any square set timbering?

Wonderful documentation of an incredible mine! As tentative as the adit is, I'd say you're likely to be the last person in there. Very entertaining....thanks!

Awesome in my state WA, smoke was bad

What a horrible place to die, not enough money for me to explore this hellhole.

Interesting

Just before the first freeze frame the rock in back looked like somebody standing their

Wow

You know, it's not that far fetched to reopen the adit, most of the mine just beyond the collapse looks solid.

1000 likes on the dot your welcome haha

BTW that's a Model A Ford engine and starter

The smoke is from us smoking weed in Canada

'Primitive' is a relative term... The timber ventilation tubing was cutting edge technology of the time. In the future people will look back on iPhones and laugh as they call them 'primitive'. It's just technology of the time.

You and your video's are going to get somebody killed one of these days. I have seen several of these type of video's. In almost all of them all you do is show how "cool it is to explore this mine shaft" which some are over 100 years old. However, almost never do you explain in this video, to people watching one of your videos. How dangerous it can be to go into one of these old mines. You never explain to people what they could run into and what steps need to be taken to protect themselves from the 2 things which could kill you before you hit the ground. Worse yet if you are seen going down and a person tries to rescue you without the proper protection they will wind up dead also. These minds are subject to collecting high concentrations of H2S, Hydrogen Sulfide or dead air, which is a space void of breathable oxygen. This is what a person could run into at any point while roaming around within one of these old mines. Then to top it off you have the possibility large drop off's people fall from and cave in's which could leave you trapped, injured or dead from falling debris. I don't want you to think exploring an abandon mind can't be done safely, however it requires knowing and using air sampling equipment to test the air quality within the mines to keep yourself safe. Another thing which is never mentioned is it is not uncommon to find wildlife living towards the front of the cave. This could be snakes, cougars, bears and other wildlife which would use the cave for cover or to hibernate in.

Model A Ford engine

Nice explore and great photography! They did remove a lot of material to get those nice high ceilings. The pyrite was cool to see too.