There is nothing better than someone who is very knowledgeable about the history and the machinery on the site... And the best part is, he sounded young-ish; thus I assume the younger generations are keeping the knowledge alive. Wonderful! Fantastic! Thanks to the owners for sharing with us all.
@@EliteAmmunition that has been done before with some success. Geevor museum in Cornwall UK was purchased shortly after it closed, and now provides jobs to some of the miners as guides and caretakers. The mill, compressors, headframe, and other ancillary structures on the site all date back to the mid century so they represent a very interesting and rare survival of older practices in the industry.
@@bulletz9280 Same in S Wales with The Big Pit Museum. They closed the coal mine and made it safe (safer?) for paying visitors. The region saw the wholesale closure of coal mines, coal processing plants and coal by-product processing plants. Nearly all those sites have now been converted into parks and wildlife reserves. I've no beef with the site conversions, those parks are beautiful restorations to what the valleys once were before minerals were discovered. In many places, the workers just downed tools, never to return. I worked in a laboratory where we were tasked with a range of tasks from pollution measurement, and coal analysis to a lot of other, less conventional stuff like determining the best angle for conveyor belts when lifting materials. We had a ton of kit in that lab, including a new high-pressure chromatograph/spectrophotometer. This was some seriously expensive kit and it was left to gather dust until the bulldozers flattened the buildings. I like to think someone got some use out of it. As for the rest, a few processing plants were just left to rot and plunder. One even caught fire and was left to burn out (crude benzol and derivatives.....God help the locals) Also lost, is the documentation and knowledge that likely ended up burned or in landfills. There were decades of knowledge and experience there.
I happen to be disabled and I love seeing what you find at the mines that you visit. Thanks again for the videos and the information you have given about them.
finallly, a mine worthy turning into a museum for the generations to come, this is really really rare find and worth preserving and teaching people about the past
That device between the boilers is a steam to water heat exchanger to produce hot water. The frame above it held the hot water tank. Looks like the Kewanee boiler was coal/pellet fired and the other boiler was oil or natural gas fired. Very cool to see them intact and unmolested as the gentleman stated. Justin you are 100% correct that these historical sites should ALL look like this. Thieves and vandals are among the lowest forms of life. The compressor room is amazing. I especially enjoyed seeing that Sullivan steam powered compressor. The hoist is something we don't often see intact too.
thats is cool and you forgot to mention the copper thieves as well .... on them old Governors they would use the term" Balls to the wall " when running at wide open ...so many cools things to see .....never seen so many drills in one spot ... we know that spot well ....and we did a video on the mill to the North of that spot ...yes you can separate fine Gold with static electricity and that would make sense how that machine was set up ...the Keene 140s Drywasher has the same thing incorporated into it to..... wow 7 ore cars ....that would have been amazing to see....pushed down the shaft ...what !!!! are they crazy . oh wait yeah you talked about that. Assuming you have more from this area....good job sonny Jim.
Most environmentalists consider this stuff to be a blight on the land. Various governmental units have removed all evidence of past mining. Very prevalent in CO. If the site hits the superfund list its as good as gone.
Fellow Coloradoan here, this here is exactly the problem. Anything that isn't already being preserved in a private or public museum is usually bulldozed, buried, and destroyed by the State or feds. I've seen a handful of attempts at historic preservation on some of their recent projects (e.g. Santiago Mill near Argentine Pass) but they've really stepped up the scorched-earth policy in the past 10-15 years. Unfortunately this has some justification. Many of these sites are not lost from public records and then further isolated by 10-15 mile overland hikes as seem to be the case with much of what TVR, A&FP, etc. are turning up. In some cases the mines are (were) 300-to-1000-foot deep sinkholes accessible 25 minutes out of Denver metro, and their leachate filters into the Front Range water supplies.
That was an awesome video here and I'm proud that you were very discreet of showing the location of it too cause of the damn thieves stealing the mines equipment and things that made it work back when it was still in operation too and now I'd love to see the actual workings of it too cause that's going to be an awesome explore for sure now proud to see you back at it after your recent family things that have happened with you now too
Hi Justin. Thanks for the video and thank you for what you said in your intro. I certainly agree with your thoughts on the vandals and thieves of history. Back home for me there are lots of old lumber camps hidden away in remote wilderness areas. An acquaintance of my mother's knows where many are. Being the owner of a logging company he has accumulated many old maps showing their locations but he does not tell many (or any in some cases) people where these camps are for fear of them being raided or destroyed.
Thanks again my friend your the best in the business much appreciation for sharing the tour and the knowledge keep them coming also can't wait to see more from your active mine 👍
THANK YOU for commenting about ARTIFACT THIEVES!! Otherwise, what an excellent mine! I loved the descriptions of everything, including the staff, medical issues, etc.
Beyond awesome! A great find that hopefully shall remain intact for many centuries to come. Another truly enjoyable mine video as well. Many thanks. LS
There is no way I could leave them to rust and corrode if I had any control of the site.... I'd have all the buildings,compressors, & equipment functional and maintain the mine shafts ,adits & drifts. I love old things
Thats a bunch of rock drills. Will just a minor amount of cleanup they probably still work. The pit at the end. Was that area cavern'ed out and it collapsed, or was that dug out? What happened there.
I was exploring Benson Mines with this chick, and I was shocked that she wanted to remove builder's plates from equipment. Her justification? That was was all going to be destroyed anyway. Not sure I agree with that.
You really should collect any mine related papers, and give them to the local historical society. They can filter what to keep. Or just digitize it all, and make it available to anyone that has interest. The daily working records is what is lost over time, as it gets thrown out or burned as noise.
sadly, i know what mine that is by seeing the ore bin. im not going to say any more though. thanks for showing what it looks like now though. nothing like the historic photos show
I want to explorer mines & I would be the type to loot to take something home as a souvenir. But watching all these exploration videos from multiple channels I see a very common hatred towards this & I start to understand how bland mine exploration would be if it's just completely looted.
It would be nice to be able to copy some of the documents before they go missing I have always liked going through old paper work the similarities and differences to today
@@TVRExploring When my Great Grandfather passed from illness, he left my Great Grandmother, my Grandfather and a daughter with a mental disability. He had to help support the family. His initial job was as a "breaker boy".
I go ballistic every time I drive by an ore car sitting in someone's front yard with an ore car used as a flower planter. You know they stole it from a mine.
I live close to the Dale Mining District. I can remember when people still lived in the district. Over the years pressure from JTNP and BLM forced the people out and BLM proceeded to burn all of the miners' cabins and head frames left standing. BLM removed equipment and vehicles left at the mine sites. JTNP has illegally expanded its boundaries and wants to include the Dale District so they can close it to all mining/ recreational use. Harry Truman signed an executive order in 1959 stating the significance of the Dale District and basically states hands off the Dale District. As the video states there are people that get some sort of pleasure out of destroying the sites or by taking artifacts. By the same token the government is as big or bigger offender as any individual.
Whats wrong with preserving history. If I found a tobacco tin. Hell ya I'm keeping it. If you found the best pair of Levi's would you Not grab them???? I will have to call bullshit if you say no.
No, I wouldn't. And, yes, I do know where an incredibly valuable pair of jeans is hidden away in a remote desert mine. Some things are more important than money.
@@TVRExploring I don't make money. I spend money to preserve history. If one has a piece of history it makes it easier to teach. Hands on is so much better than in a picture or a video...
@@TVRExploring Now please understand I am not here to down grade your ideas,oppion's. I am just here with mine. Is this not why we fight to be free in America.... Stay safe on your adventures....
This video brought back a flood of memories, with so many similarities to the historic Tintic Standard Mine in Utah. The mine was situated near an old ghost town called Dividend. The site had many old buildings, mostly constructed of wood, which dated back to the 1910's and 20's. They had filing cabinets, old assay reports, books on shelves, news papers, accounting ledgers and old furniture. There was a ball mill, ore cars still sitting on rails and ore bins everywhere. Then, in the late 1970's, the area was discovered by artifact hunters. It began with the ore cars, which began to disappear several at a time, then iron balls from the ball mill taken, and then the buildings were ransacked and eventually burnt to the ground by vandals. This site went unmolested for decades, and then in a matter of years, it was all gone. I would drive out there from time to time, and just get depressed, looking at what little was left. Is this your idea of preserving history?
Slim WantedMan Your mentality is very easily witnessed in the Ukraine right now as we speak as all those Russian soldiers who have come to liberate the people of Ukraine go out of their ways to kick in the doors of their apartments rob them blind you're the kind of person the world could do without!!! 😠
What a fascinating tour. Could you imagine the rush, seeing all that equipment in operation?! Wow!! Thanks, Justin! Oh, and a curse on all the relic hunters past, present and future..
I understand your sentiment, because these things should be for all to enjoy. Unfortunately, history has some even worse enemies than thieves who poach items for yard art, vandals, or the few super douche idiots who think everything is made to be shot full of holes or lit on fire. The BLM in my area made contracts in the late 2000's, paying scrappers to go in and clear out anything and everything made of metal from areas of Mormon Basin mining district. That is no surprise here though as they also disc/block/destroy/plant over a lot of old roads to make them go away, mow down and/or burn Juniper forests in eradication projects, and raise many of the abandoned buildings to eliminate human history so the land will fit wilderness criteria. They even had a BLM employee here (not sure if they still do) who's job is/was to hunt arrowheads, log the location where they were found, then dig a hole and bury them 10" deep in the ground. His salary was over 40k a year to do that. Thanks for capturing what you can while you can on video because nothing lasts forever.
Bravo Justin, this was a fantastic video and a much needed commentary on this issue. I am a mining historian and industrial archaeologist who has documented a lot of rapidly disappearing heritage in an attempt to actually understand mine sites down to the tiniest detail, specifically so that I can pass that understanding on to others. One big reason I watch your videos is because you are so sympathetic in your approach, and have a clear respect for the sites that comes across in the way you document everything. I 100% agree with you that artifact theft is a huge problem that is robbing us of not just the artifacts themselves but also the cultural heritage they provide. My work is made infinitely harder when I have to try to guess what piece of machinery used to be bolted to a concrete loading, because some scrappers took it years ago. If I can't glean that information from a site, then the public doesn't ever get to know about it, it's as simple as that. Not a lot of people seem to truly appreciate or care about how rapidly we're losing this information, but it's a precious resource. Preaching to the choir here, mines are so much more than just a hole in the ground, they're a timeline of technological development, they're part of the history of why people live where they do, they tell us much about the culture and attitudes of the time, they sometimes have surviving folk art, and in many cases they are the untold human story of the true unsung heroes of our world; the working class. The more we lose this stuff, the less our surroundings and historians are able to inform us of who we are, where we came from, and where we're going. A landscape absent of historical landmarks leaves us atomized and rudderless, because we lack that sense of a shared past. The ONLY person I've seen on youtube removing artifacts in an ethical manner is Brent Underwood of Cerro Gordo. His reverence and respect for the site, and his dedication to its history, should stand as a model for how these sites deserve to be handled. So big shoutout to Brent, I think if your viewers want to see it done right, which I'd bet they do, I'd highly recommend they go check out his channel "Ghost Town Living". When a historian such as myself sees someone like Brent trying to understand an entire site down to its most minute workings, we instantly recognize a legitimate fellow historian. To those of us who have that documentary mentality, everything is important, everything is an exciting find... unlike the magpie youtubers who will act unimpressed about an intact winze station "huh that's pretty neat" but get all animated over ore cart in good condition "wow guys look how perfect it is, and it still moves!", and you just know that cart will be leaving that mine site in the back of their pickup once the cameras are turned off. But in your videos I see the same dedication to every detail that Brent has in Cerro Gordo, trying to find a date stamp or a makers plate on everything, showing equipment from every angle, this is the kind of documentation that real historians want. I have a little chuckle every time I see you point out something seemingly mundane like a concrete drainage gutter, because I empathise with that and know that we're a pretty exclusive club that get excited about that kind of stuff. So in summary, huge kudos for calling this one out, your work in documenting stuff has even been valuable to my own research, so keep blazing that trail.
On the one hand, I agree with you 100%. On the other, I stand by my comment on a previous video. If the mine (like many you explore) is quite literally on the verge of collapse, or is slated for "closure".... Destruction...then I don't see a problem saving the history. Many of those mines, once fully collapsed or blasted shut, will be impossible to find again in a few decades. Nice, clean, dry mines like this one? They should have a guard or some type of security set up.
Let me add, my perspective is coming from historic industrial buildings and such. I've been involved in the demolition and clearing of a number OLD mills and other production plants. Some of the stuff in the textile mills in the south is from the 1800s.... Like the mines. The owners usually hire a scrapper to come and haul off the big stuff, but literal TONS of small artifacts are left for whoever manages to grab them before the buildings are torn down. Then, it's all track hoes and dozers.
Totally agree with You! Hate when people take stuff from mines or any abandoned place for that matter. I know of some big youtube names that steal stuff all the time and have even gone as far as chainsawing down timbers to steal stuff. Pretty sad! I love seeing the old equipment left at a mine site. Thanks for the tour and the awesome mine vids you make Justin!
Love this mine! Nice to see some of the machinery has survived. I remember my father always insisted leave it right there so the next person could see it! We visited a lot of mines in the sixties. So much had been scrapped out for ww2!
I love that you are bringing the theft issue into light as I've personally seen too many mines get destroyed over the years due to thieves. There will never be a new abandoned mine as most the current underground mining is done by giant corporations that will always reclaim the surface and seal the portals, so we have to work to preserve what we currently have.
This is a long overdue PSA. Mine sites are everyone history and its a travesty how many of them are stripped clean. Keep documenting these sites its the only record that may exist of them.
Great video!! That young man knows his compressor stuff! We used to have several fifties vintage recip co pressers where I work. His explanation was pretty much spot on. I would be interested to know what voltage that motor was as well. There’s a lot of us out here that love seeing that old equipment! It was bullet proof and worked when you needed it. It’s so good to see the appreciation for this stuff passed on to the younger crowd! It’s also interesting to see the injury safety related stuff! We take safety glasses for granted now, but it’s amazing that they tracked this stuff but took no actions to prevent them back then.
Another fantastic video and I also have to say well done to that man who was showing you around, he has fantastic knowledge and is extremely polite so well done to him too.
This is so cool! I could stay there for a week looking at everything. It brings back many memories. When I started working I found myself in a factory built in 1888. A lot of the old machinery was still there in use. I was there ten years until it closed. Lots of fond memories this video brought back. I can't thank you enough Justin!
This is amazing great work locating this location. I really despise thieves because nobody owes you anything and what gives you the right to take something that doesn't belong to you but anywho still a lot of amazing stuff great work again
When I am scrounging stuff at clearance sales, I'm most interested in the unidentified junk in the corner. Because every successful mystery solved is another chunk of useful knowledge I can pass on. If something looks as if it was ever used as a tool, I always want to know its context. This is how I save things from oblivion at deceased estates and when people move house. As for taking things, it's not always black and white, ESPECIALLY if you are not purely selfish. Sometimes things are better off in the hands of people who value them, rather than at the mercy of random idiots and vandals. Historic paperwork: certainly! would not hesitate to remove that AND see it got to a local historical society. Or at least inform people with known interest. Apart from vandalism, you have the ever present threat of wildfire that could reduce this entire place to a pile of unrecognisable scrap in an hour. And if you do have a collection of treasures: leave it to a historical association in your will.
That was a very interesting explore. I certainly agree with on people vandalizing and stealing things from mine sites in general. However, with the BLM and other authorities barring and back filling mine entrances, these artifacts are being lost for all time. There is a fairly high profile Mine Explorer here in BC that pulls artifacts out of very old difficult to access mines, restores them, and displays them in his museum. I have been there, and it is quite interesting to see them in working condition. So, I believe there are cases where it is reasonable. Your friend has a great knowledge of the old machinery, and it was quite interesting to listen to. I have worked on an Ingersoll Rand Compressor built in the sixties about twice the size of the ones you showed in the mine with a 4160 Volt 300 HP Synchronous Motor that was about 10 feet in diameter, and two cylinders that compressed in both directions. The Cylinders bores were big enough that you could crawl into them,. It was only 50 PSI, but at huge volume. This must be quite the mine if it has its own substation that I saw in the background at one point. It probably had a higher voltage transmission feed to it to meet the Electrical requirements. Thank you for the interesting and informative Videos.
Generally speaking, archaeologists only excavate as a last resort and excavation is a destructive process. You can only excavate a site once, and what is deemed unimportant today might be critical in the future, hence the reticence to excavate unless necessary.
Personally I prefer to see machinery preserved and running, not rusting away on some mountain top. Maybe this stuff will have value in the future and governmental units will preserve it in place. I assume it will mostly be gone by that time. CO. has done very little to preserve its mining past, mostly a few special preservation groups not really up to the task. The Mayflower Mill in Silverton operated as late as the 1990s and is a tourist stop. Its many miles long tram to the top of the mountain is disused.
I'm not sure you can say "steal" since the mine company left the items behind. The mine company apparently didn't see any value in taking the equipment to another mine or selling the equipment. Having said that I'm glad to see what kinds of equipment was used.
One precious mine, still mostly intact ... and far more "complete" than most mining museums full of "saved" artifacts. That's really sad when you think about it. Thanks for sharing this treasure! 🇨🇦
Good on you mate. There are several well known YT Ch that are basically thieves. The excuses are as you say, ridiculous. Theres one YT Ch where he not only loots and pillages for himself, but for friends back home because they might like it. I tried explaining that the only reason they were there was because none of those who went before him were like him, but he pretty much poked his tongue out at me and so so what.
As you've pointed out before, and historical evidence shows, a considerable number of old mines were completely stripped of anything that could be reused during the war effort in the 40s - or by owners trying to get the last little measure of profit. The mines that survived to this degree were those still in operation during the war. I really don't think the average amateur explorer has the ability to haul this big stuff away and it seems unfair to blame them for mines being empty.
The ongoing pillaging of these mines, the thievery of important _and_ mundane informative artifacts, just deeply depresses me. I'm grateful to mine explorers, like you, for documenting the lives of these mines, as well as the miners. I've learned so much from you. Thanks for preserving these important windows into our history.
@@KubotaManDan Dan, I can't tell you how happy it makes me that I find you on Justin's channel, as well as on any of the ROV dives. I get the feeling we are birds of a feather - learning is our greatest purpose. I am just as interested in the geology of mines as I am in the history of the miners themselves. And, on the livestreams (plus all the footage you kindly make available) I am just as interested in the land formations as I am in the biology. I'm willing to bet you feel the same way. I'm also willing to bet your scientific interests are not limited to these two fields... just as mine aren't. 😁👍
Hi Justin, I agree it is a shame that so much is taken for one reason or another, I think the only time I have kind of condoned it is when a channel has created a museum for those who are not fortunate enough to go into these old mines so they can learn about mining and what equipment was used in a mine. This is one awesome mine site, so much history just left behind and so much to tell us about what day to day accidents happened there and what the miners were paid. A very cool video, thank you for sharing, much love. xx ❤
Just to be pedantic… Your equating an abandoned mine with the remains of an ancient civilization or some other such archeological important find is a little silly. An abandoned post industrial Revolution mine site is not archeological significant in any way.. It might be cool, interesting or even valuable, but no one is going to “dig” it. We know the who how when and where. We know the players and the politics and the purposes. It’s really more of an example of pollution and industrial waste at this point and should have been cleaned up and carted off for recycling when the mine closed and the land remediated back to original as we would do today. Sure you could put some of it in a museum somewhere, or make the mine site itself an historical attraction… but if nobody’s doing that, then I would suggest it’s someone’s mess that should have been cleaned up.
Thank you for the Tour, and the video. I would love nothing more than to be a care taker to an old mine like that. That would be a wonderful job to have. Plus it may even have some fringe benefits of thumping some heads every now and then. Again, I appreciated the video thank you.
How many times have you trespassed on private property just cause there’s no signs! How many people put no trespassing signs in their front yard? How do you tell the difference between a trespasser and the thief?
I hate making a second comment, but I just finished reading the article about your experience there. I hope that you are able to do a second part. I hope no one takes anything out of it. I am amazed that a 14yr old boy was working the slusher. If I was only able to document everything that is there. I can see you taking use though there on a weekly show. Thanks again for the video and Thank you to the Owner who let you and your friend look around.
You would have thought the last operator would have at least taken the portable stuff like the drills with them. Maybe they are junk. I have always had the suspicion that this equipment is a tax write off and the operators sell it to the government. The stuff is just to expensive to abandon especially during the active mining era when it would have been in demand.
This was an amazing video, I truly get it why people need to leave stuff alone as seeing the almost complete workshops and blacksmith section is a great time travel back through history. Stripped and stolen places are so lifeless....
Great video. I like your tour guy. He makes is seem less mystical and more realistic. I wonder if the electro static machine was supposed to help remove metals like iron, or anything magnetic so they could be processed easier? I imagine it's like what happens if you run a magnet over your garage floor, you'll end up pulling debris out of places you didnt know about.
