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My name is Brian Weed and I'm
an underground explorer.
I wanted to write a book.
I wanted to share with people the history of Juneau, what's still here.
What's off the trails. Juneau is here because of mining. Juneau's not here
because of fishing. It's not here because of timber. Juneau was definitely here because of
gold mining. This was an exploratory tunnel
dug in the 1930s. They were looking for good ore, but never found it.
So they dug 4,000 feet and nothing.
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I went in my first mine tunnel when I was 12 years. My father used
to work on Douglas island for department of transportation.
And when I was about 12 years old he would make me
go to work with him in the summer time. Little did he know
the second largest mine in the world, the Treadwell mine, is located on
Douglas island about a half mile away from where he worked.
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I think I had a lighter and maybe a 25-lumen flashlight.
And I remember just creeping in, very slowly
because I had heard all these stories about pits in mines, you see all these movies
where people fall. And so I moved very slow all the way to the
back of the mine tunnel, which was just a dumb idea but when you're 12 you don't know any better.
So with all mine tunnels, one of the most dangerous things are
the first 30 feet, that gets the most weathering. So when it freezes,
when it cools, gets warm, hot, you have all the rock that's flexing
the water is flowing through these rocks. It's the most dangerous part. So when people tell me, they're like
oh I just peaked in the entrance, I'm like congratulations you were in the most dangerous spot.
I treat mine tunnel exploration as an extreme sport.
It's not for everyone. You shouldn't do it unless you've gone through some sort of training.
Gloves. Helmet. Lights. Um, I've got multiple lights.
Here in Juneau, there's really no recovery. If something super bad
were to happen in a mine tunnel...I'm probably the one who's gonna be able to help you get out.
Laughter.
We have our hardcore group for Juneau's hidden history.
As our group grew and grew and grew, we came to the
realization that, hey not everybody should go underground,
not everybody should go in the ice caves.
Not everybody can hike 7 miles.
We were hiking with Jason.
Jason's excellent with water. I have Greg
Ray. Joe McCabe, helped create the Juneau's hidden history
group. Amy, she works for the coast guard, along with our
friend Jerry. Jerry's our safety officer. And then we have my wife Marida.
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The most valuable thing that I've found is friendship.
We trust each other. We're a family.
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It's really neat to be in a place where you can say maybe a dozen people
have ever been there.
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When you're ten miles out in the wilderness, you've just bushwhacked through
blueberry bushes, devil's club, alders and swamp
to come across this little mine tunnel that was created by somebody
moving up from California trying to strike it rich during the Alaska gold rush
and then you get to go inside and see the tools they left behind
see the candles.
You guys ready?
So we're right here
at the California gold standard claims.
The California gold standard mine, the vein was found in the early
1900s.
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It was later purchased by Percy Pond, the famous photographer
here in Southeast Alaska. The California Gold standard mine
was definitely a hard find. It took three or four really good days
of exploring the hillside to try to find that mine.
You can see the rock is the same angle here. The tunnel entrance is
the same shape, you still have the same rocks there. I'm pretty sure that might even
be the same tree.
It was just really unique coming
around the corner and coming up a gully and seeing a mine tunnel
with a wheelbarrow sitting right in front of the mine tunnel.
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Um we're standing at the old cabin site.
We're here standing pretty much at this corner
here of the cabin.
The crew here are standing in the cabin ruins.
It's almost like modern archeology.
You get to see the past, even though it's only about 100 years ago.
I want people to see
what these miners went through, what their lives were like. What tools
they left behind.
Juneau was definitely here because of the thought and
dreams of these small miners trying to strike it rich.
Unfortunately, half the time it was con artists.
supposedly finding a little bit of gold and then selling
the idea and the small mine to east coast investors.
who also wanted to get rich.
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The Tungass national forest eats metal really quick.
It turns things into rust which then turns into dust.
Forest service land, as much as Alaska sees it as,
it's public land, it's our land. So part of owning
said land and being it public land, we need to protect it and
save our history.
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