Well, just inside the portal there is a Y split. A tunnel goes that way and curves off to the right,
and this tunnel might be a dead end. Let’s check this out first!
Yes, this is a dead end. It looks like this might have been a supply storage area.
Now it's just a pack rat's nest.
So let's take the other branch.
Okay, this is the other branch.
Wow! Look at how different this mine is with all these fault planes, these smooth surfaces.
I feel a breeze coming through here, so
there's really good air flow. There might be a connection to an upper level.
The tunnel just keeps going straight there.
And we have a split.
That turns to the left. Let’s go straight ahead
even though there's an arrow there that says go that way.
We’ll come back and take that branch on the way out.
Here is some timbering. There’s old-school timbering with the tree trunks
and then regular timbers with the cut boards.
They were digging something out there. That was a pocket of something.
Here is some collapse.
This might be a dead end up here.
I don't feel any airflow, and my voice got muffled there for a second.
Yes, that's a dead end. Let’s take that branch.
So we just came from that way. Here’s the branch with the arrow pointing to the left.
All this stacked rock is a wall of gobbing. The miners would stack the rocks in the mine like this
in areas they weren't using anymore because it was easier than taking them all outside.
We see that a lot in mines. Sometimes there are tunnels behind gobbing that the miners were
done working in and had no use for anymore. The miners just walled them off with the rocks, so
there could be workings behind here such as another tunnel going for 100 feet or more.
You would have to remove all that gobbing, and that would be a major job.
So it looks like this turns to the left and it might stop.
Well, it keeps going! It’s kind of winding around here.
No bats in this mine.
Yes, I feel some airflow again. I think we're back in the main tunnel.
Okay, there's something up here — a headframe maybe or a shaft or something
where this pink ribbon is.
Somebody has drawn a down arrow there and right there, so something goes down here.
Oh yes!
We have an inclined shaft here.
There’s the bottom. I don't know if there's a tunnel down there. There is one section
of ladder but it's way down there. This shaft is darn near vertical! Probably 80 degrees or so of
an incline. It looks like this tunnel…. See that pink ribbon? It’s blowing in a breeze. See that?
There is definite airflow here. This right here might be a vertical shaft that
goes up higher. That’s where the air is coming from. Yes, I can feel it.
Here is some gobbing — stacked rock. Let me peek up there and see if i can see anything.
That goes up on an incline. There are a bunch of timbers, and I can see daylight
when I take my light away. I can see a little sliver of daylight up there. This
looks like it probably wasn't really a shaft but more like a stope that
broke through to the surface. When that happens, they call that kind of a stope an open stope. That
is what is causing all this air flow. It’s blowing right now and seems to come and go.
So this mine is well-ventilated. Look at all those timbers right there where my light is!
That might be a workers’ platform or something. I don't know. I’m not going to climb up in there. It
just goes to the outside, and I don't need to see everything.
We just came from down there and up this rubble pile, so let's head back and
take that other branching tunnel that we didn't take. I think it wasn’t
too far inside the entrance. Wow! Can you hear that wind?
It’s really blowing strong and then it will stop.
The wind kind of comes and goes. They say these mines do breathe, you know, depending on the
season and the outside temperature and things like that. They causes a gradient, I guess.
The wind seems to have picked up here, and it's not stopping all of a sudden. It’s still blowing,
so that's kind of strange. These mines do breathe, I guess. Strong airflow is always a good sign that
means the mine is well-ventilated. Let’s head back and take that other tunnel that we skipped.
We’re heading back out. I think there's one more branch we have to take, so let's go find it!
Check out these big slabs in the tunnel wall! See that right there?And right here?
Massive slabs, and they're gray. Everything else is brown but that might just be dust.
I have seen this kind of rock here in other mines. This is really crumbly, I think.
Yes, see how it's kind of crumbly? I’ve seen this in other mines. That’s why this collapsed
here. And here my voice is kind of muffled here as I'm standing in this arch of crumbly rock
that's really soft. It’s amazing how my voice changes right here. I don't know if the camera
is picking that up or not, but I bet as soon as I pass out from this section and head over here
you'll hear reverberation in my voice. Probably right through here. Yes, this sounds a little
more solid but not much because there's still more of that rock here. It's in bands.
I think we….
We already checked that out. There is a tunnel up here that we didn't take.
I think there was!
No, I guess not. There is the entrance. I pointed this out on the way in. These are fault lines
right here. The flat surfaces are contact zones. The same thing is on this side, too. Pretty cool!
Lots of really interesting geology in some of these mines, that's for sure!
And there's the exit!