I've been working an 1700/1800 era hydraulic mine site in Dahlonega, GA for the last 6 years. I'm highly impressed with your video and your interpretations / assumptions. Sounds logical to me. At first I was going to say that it was just a flume that was carrying the material to the process site, but that's how we do it now. With the amount of material that moves from a hydraulic mine, every single foot of that sluice would have a riffle of some type. Bare sluice is wasted material. I'm sure you're not a prospector because you sampled none of the material, on camera at least, but looking at the layers of river gravel almost gave me the sweats. Gold fever is real. AND I LOVE THAT YOU GOT A COMMENT FROM JEFF WILLIAMS!!!!
Thank you very much for the comment... Yes, I've had a hard time getting some people that left comments to understand that the way things are done now is not how they were done at hydraulic mines in the past. There were absolute torrents of water washing around these mines. As you indicated, it took huge sluice tunnels to be able to process the volume of water and material being washed down. No, I'm not a prospector. I find mining interesting, but the videos are to document the history. And I wish you the best at working your historic gold fields!
I must say, I really respect that you take extra precautions to preserve the sites you visit. You never take any artifacts (in fact, you rarely even pick up anything), you watch where you walk so as not to break fragile site materials, and you don't try to capitalize on the sometimes abundant minerals you encounter. Thank you for treating these historic sites with respect. Oh, and I am loving the drone footage lately! It really helps complete the picture.
Thank you for the comment. We actually get a lot of negative comments for NOT taking stuff, so it is nice to hear from someone that appreciates that. The drone is great for large sites like this one.
I love the faith in the belief that, all you appreciate that he doesn't do, is not just edited out. Lol. Not that I have suspicions, it's just the first thing that crossed my mind as I read your comment. I hadn't noticed, so, good catch, and, I too appreciate that he disturbs as little as he does. I'm a hands on kinda guy, I pick things up and examine them.
@@syndrome1965 Funny you should say that, but you are absolutely correct; this is an excellent example of a faith-based position. I do not have sufficient evidence to make the claim that I did; I just chose to believe it. Never thought I would say those words... LOL
love the drone shots and you do know there is still Gold in the old Auriferous Tertiary gravels in the hillside...would have brought a Gold pan in there to sample....wow love that you got the Old sluice box on film ....someone tore up the old box and bottom to check for Gold and run the material under it....imagine the Gold that Box has seen....gotta know where this Mine is at my friend...me and Slim love that fact that you explore everything no matter what....
Thank you. Haha, I'm glad you and Slim appreciate my suffering to reveal the full extent of these holes in the ground. The drone is great for capturing huge operations like this... And, yes, there is definitely still a lot of color in those hills! I have never seen the old sluice boxes still in place at any other hydraulic mine. It really shocked us to see those. This mine is on private property and I don't want to share the location publicly. However, the owner is very cool and I can connect you up with him. I'm sure he'd be happy to have you up there... Shoot me a private message. If you don't have my email address anymore, let me know.
That's a big operation ! We tend to think of digging holes with a pick and shovel when mining and forget about these types, thanks for the reminder ! Thanks for sharing and take care. 👍
That is absolutely true - especially taking into consideration the equipment they had available at the time... The hydraulic mines were very expensive to set up, but once operating, they could bring in a staggering amount of gold.
Its a shame that someone couldn't go in there and recover a decent length of that sluice, preserve it, and put it some museum to show people just how miners used to earn their living. That was impressive. Very very cool video. Fantastic way to start out the new year.
Thank you very much. Glad you liked this one... I have never seen historic sluices like that anywhere else. I've only read about them in old books. So, they are very rare and unique. It is indeed a shame that at least part of them can't be preserved. I do the best I can by documenting them.
Yeh Justin, I have heard you "go all the way"! Great exploration. I have heard of hydraulic mining before, but thanks for showing us the details of how it worked, I have learnt something new. 👍 That timber the sluice is constructed of must be pretty durable, like Cedar maybe, to survive being wet since at least 1884.
Ha! Glad I could teach you another aspect of mining history... The miners have told me that if wood is just damp that it rots away very quickly, but if it stays really wet, that it can last practically forever. Sometimes they'll set up sprinklers inside of the mines to keep the wood wet so that it doesn't rot. Since that creek is running through the drain tunnel, I believe that is what is preserving the wood so well.
So cool! I just boggle at the amount of work that these guys did back in the day, that first vert shaft was smooth from all the material going thru it's just mind boggling....
That was really fascinating! Takes some guts going that far in. And great that you showed those certain spots from below as well as above ground. Nice!!
Looks like the carpenters played a major role in building this mine. Slick, rotten wood and rusty nails are the obvious hazards. Another maximum effort with great results. The sluice with the juice! Thanks.
Another excellent video. It's great to see something unique like this very long sluice. They are usually not effective after several feet and need constant care to remove the debris, so I suspect this sluice was built in the drainage tunnel either to hide something like hydraulic mining or to permit mining year round. I came across a similar mine near Ox Bow Dam, south of Auburn, CA many years ago. Please make a special effort to have Jeff Williams contact the claim owner . . . Jeff will do a terrific job of covering the geology of the area and the reasons behind everything you filmed. You did a great job, as usual. P. S. You have some great followers with important information in their comments and post scripts. This video stimulated lots of good info. comments, certainly well worth the long read.
@@Porty1119 true, but at the same time that tunnel may be about 6+ feet tall. It was just the first thing that popped into my head. What ya really do is set up another sluice at the opening with an old school cable slusher/mucher (can't think of the name) anchor it to the wall and start draggin the material into the sluice.
In the end of the video the drill bit you found is most likely used in the making of the tunnel, they drilled holes, blasted out the Rock, and continue digging. Great work man happy New Years 🍻
Yes, I realized when I was editing the video that the drill bit was likely for the drain tunnel... I'm sure there is a ton of stuff buried under a thin layer of dirt around there. Thanks for the comment and a very Happy New Year's to you as well!
@@TVRExploring The drill bit was for a later model drill. The hole in it is where the water flowed out to cool the steel and for dust mitigation. Based on the evidence I would think that it was in operation long after the 1880's.
@@montananative2414 there's a good chance it was in production long after the 1880s. A lot of areas in California like this District could be worked for many years after the original findings. Hell they didn't discover Micron gold recovery until 1970s
Many of the original old homes here in Australia and New Zealand were built similarly to that steel hut, out of hammered flat, four gallon kerosine tins.
I have seen barns and garages here in the U.S. build in the 1920's and 30's made from oil tins. This type of building seems to stand up well to the test of time. Especially when compared to the ticky-tacky ones they build now that barely last 20 to 30 years.
Just to add. I'm currently working at Maralinga, an ex nuclear testing zone within Australia's secretive prohibited area. After watching your upload, I inspected the remaining buildings, especially the very early storage huts built to accommodate test equipment, and though the frames are made from reclaimed rail track, cladding is ex galvanised 200 litre (44 gallon) fuel drums, split horizontally and flattened using a bulldozer. Unlike todays fuel drums, these were manufactured from 3mm cold rolled steel, top, bottom and seam welded, roll band added top and bottom (to allow the drum to be rolled), galvanised and sold. All I saw were marked CDM...Commonwealth Drum Manufactors, a government operated manufactor of the era.👍👍
Nice one Andrew, thanks. Those galvanised drums with the roll bands are quite rare now, I do still occasionally see them on farms in the West Australian wheatbelt, where I live. Incidentally, many years ago I shore on Commonwealth Hills, which is partly on the Woomera Rocket Range, and at every collection of buildings, like at the shearing sheds, was a bombshelter built from large curved corrugated steel sheets and covered with earth. It wasn't made clear how warning would be got out there in order for workers to take the necessary cover in time to not be killed by a wayward rocket!
@@tutekohe1361 : Woomera is actually my home base. Born and bred, and returned to work there as a consultant Corrosion Engineer for commercial and non commercial interests after a long career in WA mines. The prohibited area is still riddled with bunkers, both abandoned and currently refurbished and used, along with extensive, highly restrictive and secretive, underground facilities that transverse deep throughtout the prohibited area. And the bunkers would offer little shelter to anyone due to both their questionable construction and the explosive capabilities of the tested rockets. And those galvanized drums with the roll bands ? I recently retreived a dozen empty undamaged drums from a fuel storage bunker I was charged with inspecting 600 kms west of Woomera. These are stamped CDM Adelaide 1928. Donated 6 to Woomera museum, 4 to my dad, as his transport company supplied fuel to Woomera in its prime, and 2 in my family room.👍👍
Glad you enjoyed this one... I wasn't sure if you guys would like it or not since it's a departure from our normal fare. We were shocked to find those sluices still inside and relatively intact.
I can almost guarantee that if you panned some of that rubble underneath the center of that old sluice you would find some gold. Those old sluices were never water tight all that gravel would be interesting to pan out as well. Nice find with the old sluices. Don't often see those and never inside a tunnel. Be safe guys
Yes, I'd imagine there is still some pretty good color in there... We were shocked to find those old sluices in there as we have never seen even a trace of them at any other hydraulic mines. The fortunate reason they are present in this mine is that it never experienced a big blowout that flushed out the tunnel.
Very cool and rare find. Thanks for sharing it with us! I've seen hydraulic monitors, destroyed mountains, and miles long flumes to get water to giant sluices. But never seen a sluice tunnel before. Would be interesting to at least take a small pan in there and run a few pans of that gravel on the sides, or a bit of that large cemented gravel chunk.
The sluice tunnels are pretty interesting to us. And we were shocked the find the huge sluices still relatively intact inside... I'm sure you'd get some good color from any panning in there.
Thank you very much. Yes, there was a thriving town next to this mine and supporting it at one time. Now there is just one resident left. Still, there is a cemetery and a fair number of buildings remaining...
Thank you for this amazing video of days gone by of our history, looks like you guys had a good time there , I would have enjoyed every minute of that . 🍃🌹
And a little further at 11:53 the sluice supports got all filled in and are currently acting as a functioning sluice. Got to be packed with shiny stuff.
great video! it appears to me that the lower portion of the system,was overwhelmed by the volume of auriferous material from the upper. all of that material in that tunnel would be carrying placer .
Thanks, Aaron! I'm not sure if there was a big blowout that brought all of that material into the tunnel or if it happened gradually, but, yes, you're absolutely right about the lower portion being overwhelmed by the upper. Still lots of placer in that area!
I wouldn't be a good gold miner because to me everything looks like a gold nugget. It's amazing how much work was done to create this drain tunnel. Amazing!
@@TVRExploring It was a disaster. As I understand it, silt was flowing into, and choking the S.F. Bay with mud. Authorities weren't so much interested in saving the Sierra foothills from looking like the moon, but protecting the bay (and commerce) from biblical levels of siltation. Had the hydraulic miners done something to reduce the siltation levels upstream, it likely would have taken *years* longer before any action was taken against their destructive practices. ... Thanks for a great video! It's incredible to see this *rare* detail.
Thank you. The biggest impact was on the rivers in the Central Valley. Steam ships used to be able to travel all of the way up to Marysville, but became blocked when the rivers silted up. That silt also caused massive floods when the rivers rose in the spring, devastating towns and farms. The farmers were actually the impetus for the legislation banning hydraulic mining.
@@TVRExploring You're welcome! That makes perfect sense. I didn't have a precise memory of the details, but having the heavier particles settle out farther upstream is logical. Snap! Suddenly, the mining dredges, such as used around Oroville, make *perfect* sense. I had never connected the dots of where all *that* material had come from. It's also stunning they could reclaim enough tailings to build a massive dam the size of Oroville, yet only touch a fraction of what washed downstream. It's no understatement to say they washed mountains away.
Judging by the round nails in the sluice remnants there must've been some more recent post-hydraulic era refitting. It would've been surprising had the bottom of the sluice been left behind by miners; standard practice was, and still is, to collect up any wood, moss, carpets, etc., to be burned so any residual gold can be collected from the the ash.
hydraulic mining method was still done until the late 30s and possibly early 40s prior to ww 2.(research joubert mine, sierra county) mining with the use of water to erode gravel to recover gold was outlawed, the use of modern excavation equipment of the day such as steam powered draglines and much more , allowed continuous mining activity right up until the War. so the sluicing continued, just the method changed. gravels would no longer be washed, but scraped to the shafts that fed the sluices,whose gravel waste would be pushed, hoisted, flumed and spead out as fill dirt to reclaim otherwise devastated watershed. (Goodyear's bar, CA)
@John Ratko I noticed the occasional round nail as well in the sluice... I’ve researched it to be sure and this mine does indeed date to before 1884. However, rumor has it that several hydraulic mines in the area continued to operate at night for many years after the ban went into effect (inspectors came by in the day and it’s a remote area anyway). Now, I’m sure miners would NEVER have done anything so serious as breaking the law in order to obtain large amounts of gold, but there are eyewitness statements to that taking place.
most Operations were aware of the impact of unchecked or prolonged introduction of intentionally eroded waste and would erect debris dams to catch and contain auriferous material from overwhelming valley watersheds and through there creation opened new ground for modern technology of the era to eclipse the previous efforts with the use of the bucket line dredge.
I'm thinking that tunnel and pond you found was a system to recycle their water to power the monitors as well. Awesome discovery. Thank you and Mr. McBride for sharing these historic sites with us.
I just came across part 6 of your gold mine and was amazed that someone is taking the time and money to mine the way our great grand fathers did back in the day. Thanks for sharing and please keep them coming. I'm subscribing. Kind of surprised it took youtube so long to show me your videos.
One of your best videos in a while. I like your explorations outside of mines, lots of interesting and varied things to see. When I was a young boy (around 1967) my parents would take me camping out to old mines (not going inside). Lots of good stuff to see back then. I have pictures of me next to huge stamp mills and other things. I wonder if that stuff is still there. I knew about hydraulic mines, but never heard of drainage tunnels with sluice boxes in them. Is this common or rare. Could the tunnel have originally been an adit that was later converted into a drainage tunnel? About how long was the sluice box in that tunnel? Being pre 1884, how did they get all those big rocks into those large piles? Your writing skills, as evidenced by your description of this video, are very good. You should write a book on mining.
Thank you very much. I wasn't sure if you guys would like this one or not since it is a departure from the normal adits... All of the hydraulic mines that I have visited or know about utilized the drainage tunnels (that's about a dozen or so). Therefore, my impression is that that was the norm. I don't believe the tunnel was originally an adit because it was run entirely through bedrock. Miners chasing placer, would've tunneled in right where the ancient river bed met the bedrock since that is the sweet spot for gold. If you check out my video on the Calhoun Mine (which is one of my favorites) you can clearly see that line in many places. Sometimes the miners missed the ancient river channels completely. I'll be posting a video before too much longer of a mine where they drifted all over the place, but never found the channel. I'd estimate the series of sluices in this tunnel was about 1,000 feet long. I can't remember the name right now, but the miners used a device of rope and wood that was able to move the big rocks with the aid of pulleys.
I'm trying get my head round the layout there. What was the advantage of cutting a tunnel for the sluices instead of having them on the surface and saving a ton of work? Thanks for the vid as always.
I don't know what the advantages were, but every hydraulic mine I have seen has a tunnel setup like this. So, there must be a practical explanation for it.
@@TVRExploring knee jerk thought: Gravity, The monitors used uphill pooled water gravity fed down the pipes to concentrate and aim that power. I saw some black and white photos of those things in action, incredible.. I believe some gem mining is currently performed this way in some parts of the world. thanks for sharing
THANK YOU! Never would have braved getting up into this myself - facinating!!! I live up here - you can't find these very often and they are usually blocked off or on private property and not available to wander around - wonderful!
Did you pan? Do you ever pan? I don't know but looks like there is plenty of gold for the pickens.. Great video. You are an incredible explorer than you! You have huge balls to climb in the spots you do!
Really enjoyed this video! I think it is the best mine exploration one I've seen so far. Thanks for showing both the above ground & surrounding area as well as the length of your journey inside.
Wow that sluice tunnel is long. It's amazing to see and just as amazing that so much of the wood is left in there. I love your videos because they preserve history that is being lost to time and weather. Keep up the great work. I really love your descriptions that you write. You put a lot of information in them. Thanks!
Thank you for the great comment... A lot of people have complained that we didn't mine or sample the gravel inside of the sluice tunnel. However, as you understand, we're there for the history, not to mine it. I'm glad you're able to appreciate the historical significance of these rapidly disappearing sites. Haha, and I also appreciate you mentioning that you read the descriptions! I can tell from the questions I receive that not a lot of people do.
@@TVRExploring On another note. It must have been very labor intensive to clean out that sluice. I am amazed at how hard the miners must have worked back in the old days. Just creating that long wash tunnel is a feat in itself. Just amazing!
Fascinating the lenghts that man will go to for gold. Just think of the money and labor invested in the middle of no where. Fascinating what greed will do/can accomplish.
@@TVRExploring There was suffering in the getting, but if there was no demand for the gold, or rather, if gold didn't have such unique properties that created demand, there would not have been the investment into creating the operations for eventual profit. Greed? I'd define it more as uncontrolled Capitalism without a conscience (the destroyed mountains, run-off clogging rivers and eliminating boats, causing flooding elsewhere, safety hazards, etc.)
Re-watching this video because I was exploring a hydraulic pit and found a similar sluice made me think of your video - this one is really preserved reason why is probably because it was all suspended in time with that muck !
TVR Exploring yea. I thought it was neat. I didn’t think that it would be something common to see. I knew hydraulic mining was banned quite a while ago. Really wasn’t sure of the history tho.
OK RU-vid,i watched it!! is your Ai happy? yea i liked it to,but the Ai already knew that. Worse than a car salesman pushing a car i NEED to buy. Thanks TVR Exploring good stuff
Another great video. That was pretty cool. I had heard about the hydraulic mines but never knew about the discharge tunnel & wow those piles were really large.
Man if I owned that land then I would clear that tunnel the heck out. Not even for possible gold, more so just to see how all the water flows unimpeded.
@@vilemsustik3042 it's not exactly history if it's all rotting away. All I'd be doing is moving out all the loads of minerals and sediments, it's just one long tunnel is all.
Very cool video! Here in Prescott Valley, Arizona; we have a damned up stream called Lynx Creek built in the 1920s to support hydraulic mining on the creek downstream of the damn. The large-diameter pipes remain and there is a cool observation deck to watch water spill over the damn; very impressive following a storm.
At the end of the adit, where the plug stopped your progress, the force of the water washing those rocks down must have been tremendous. I suspect before all those rocks came down to effectively plug things up, that was the point of the water interring, that washed that huge at least one ton rock down the sluice. I also understand why someone made an attempt to process what was left in those gravels. Referring to the modern plastic piping at the opening. Fantastic!
okay I get how they washed the finer small stuff down hill into the tunnel. How in the hell did they stack boulders that high in piles on the side of the hill ?
@@TVRExploring a "stone derrick " (many) would be what the old timers used. first attached to strategically located tree's and advanced as work progressed and later replaced by purpose built, highly mobile (for the day) designs cast in early foundries, who would later become some of the biggest product empires....... American hoist and derrik CO. who pioneered the way material is transferred, later became Terrex and who bought bucyrus shovel company. and Caterpillar and so on.
The time and effort must have been something. The size of the tunnel alone must have been a few years in the making and then hauling all the planking and supports from ? to the mine and living up there for long periods of time through all the winters and summers. The size of those boulders must require a team effort to move, not just digging them out, but carrying them to the tailing's outside. Thanks for the video and the time you guys put into it.
Those big rocks inside the water tunnel there could be removed; one could pull those out of there and sell them, as people could place those in their front yards landscaping.
Haha, I was editing a video just now and there was a mosquito that flew by the microphone on the video. I swatted around my ear before I realized that it had happened months ago. So, I can fully relate.
Thank you for a fine look at history. It's easy to see why hydraulic mining was outlawed - too much dross, too mush destruction and disruption of the natural environment. But the guys who carved out those tunnels and shafts were real workers, nothing kept them from getting the hills honeycombed. I could not do it - too tall, a touch of claustrophobia, and fear of lo-tech causing collapses. Could they not revive one or more of these mines being more mindful of disposing the rock and rebuilding the mountains? Great comments, too, thanks to the people in the know. But I got turned off when the comments turned to maga & wall. Doesn't everyone know T never wanted a wall? The word 'wall' was the comic book shorthand his advisors came up with so he had a response to questions about immigration, his understanding was too shallow to remember a whole briefing, so they taught him to say "wall" over and over. yep, he never wanted a wall, true story, and today 1-24-2019 he shut down the paychecks of good people including his own supporters due to his inability to comprehend complex issues. Sad day for America, with a sexist dunce in the WH, but I can't blame anyone for voting against war-lover Hillary.
wow. that's an amazing sluice box. i can't believe you didn't test any of the gravels. i would like too see what kinda gold thats inside that tunnel after concentrating for over 100years. very interesting mine.👍
Great video. You are very articulate and explain things well. Imagine the history in that mine. Tyvm for posting this and going all the way back. Again great job. Well done
Pretty cool that even though dry rot and wood fungus have taken hold, the old cabin hasn’t been flattened by snow load! Equally impressive is it’s not full of shotgun holes! Well cemented gravels, one near Deadwood (above Foresthill ) is almost pure white fine gravel, gorgeous stuff.
How's the water? You said you felt hot & it felt humid. Slippery as well, but how was the water? Swimming? I thought I saw some sapphire colors in the rocks, was I right? This is awesome! WAY to go guys! Too cool!
At 11:45, you should have brought a gold pan and checked out those riffles! With that water flowing like that for 150ish years, there's bound to be some good stuff in there!!!
