powder box

[travish]

In the last trip I got a full dynamite box out of the mine. It is in great shape and I would like to keep it that way. I was wondering about applying a lacquer or some similar protection to it, but don't want to ruin it. Any suggestions on the best way to keep the box in the shape it is in now?

[Dino]

Hopefully it isn't full of dynamite. If it was me, I wouldn't do anything to it other than a light dusting and storage in a cool, dry location, out of direct sunlight. If you get a chance post a picture. It would be cool to see.

[travish]

Not full of dynamite. I actually only have the 4 sides.

[Kiel]

Keep it dry , it has made it 50 plus years in a mine, your house will be fine

[Joanne]

Ditto on not "preserving" it! Leaving any antique or artifact intact will preserve its value.

Joanne

[Therrin]

Good to hear you've got one too!

I pulled one out of a mine a few months back, strapped it up and hung it from me to go back up 765'. It's all-4-sides-intact, as well as the bottom, logos still readable and all.
It was a pain to bring back out though, I've got it in a rubbermaid tub in my garage. I'm very happy with it, would love to display it somehow.

We should post up pictures! =D

[Joanne]

Good to hear you've got one too!

I pulled one out of a mine a few months back, strapped it up and hung it from me to go back up 765'. It's all-4-sides-intact, as well as the bottom, logos still readable and all.
It was a pain to bring back out though, I've got it in a rubbermaid tub in my garage. I'm very happy with it, would love to display it somehow.

We should post up pictures! =D

Sweet! So far I've only found bits and pieces of boxes, but I'm hoping to find an intact one at some point in my mine explorations. I've found a cardboard box, but it's not the same....

You want to tell us about the 765' drop? I'm assuming that it wasn't a single drop... You aren't pulling around a trailer with a 1,000 foot spool of rope are you?

Joanne

[one_bad_rover]

Take it for what its worth but I wash all of mine down with dish soap and warm water. Gets all the crap off, the lettering is usually more visible and brighter and the contaminants (ie, hanta virus and such) are removed. Let it air dry out and you are good to go. The difference between a right out of the mine box and a cleaned up one is amazing.

[josh bernhard]

Corey, what you just wrote would cause an archaeologist to roll over in his grave!

[Therrin]

You want to tell us about the 765' drop? I'm assuming that it wasn't a single drop... You aren't pulling around a trailer with a 1,000 foot spool of rope are you?

It was long. 'nuff said.

LOL okay okay. No it wasn't a single drop. 150' incline to 160ish ' vertical, to ... 180' vertical to 30' vertical, down through a cave-sized stope which is an incline distance of maybe 100' or so. And I'm obviously forgetting something cuz that doesn't all add up to 765'. I've only done it twice, and I think each time it took the 4 of us about 5 or 6 hrs to get all the way down. (mutters about slow people ). That's to the "765 level", then there's another, what, 200' incline or so to the bottom?

So you're already tired, then you've got this big box to carry, along with ropes on the way back up. And some of the squeezes you go through, are about 1" wider than the box in a dozen places. So it's slow, and tedious, and you don't wanna bash it to pieces before you get out. Especially since it was dangling a few feet below my boots on the ascents. I stowed 2 coils of rope inside it along the way.
When I take it out and look at it, it was totally worth it though.

I actually do have right around a thousand feet of rope.
200', 200', 200', 100', 100', 60', 60', 50', 30'. Something like that. I rarely take them ALL on a trip, but when I do I have to make sure there's 4 or 6 people along just to carry them all

Here's a pic of it where it was sitting, before I snagged it. I'll put up some other views of it later. There's a big logo on one side.

(some of you MAY recognize it. I was tired of looking at my cardboard ones at home. I'm almost not sure if I should have left it, since it's unlikely anyone else would take it. But there are others in the same mine, on the same level.)

[Joanne]

Aaaahhh, that makes sense then. I know that there are cavers that do some AMAZING drops, but most of the mine folks (with the exception of those with trailer mounted winches.....) don't do drops like that. I'm only on my first 200' length of PMI pit rope. Knowing how I tend to "collect" stuff, I would be surprised if there isn't more in my future.

Nice box by the way!

Joanne

[Therrin]

Well, there's no reason you couldn't connect a few ropes together. You have to know how to pass the tied sections on both descent and ascent, but people should be learning that stuff anyway. That's valuable skills!

I did that up at Panamint City. The Wyoming adits are just south of the ore mill, way up on the mountain. Inside the upper adit you go down and around the corner and there's a shaft that drops off in the floor.

Ended up going down 200' to start. Passed no drifts, and there was pitch black below. Tossed a few stones, listened... connected the next 200' line to the first, then kept going down to the bottom. It was like, 380ft or so, single drop.
(there's a great story associated with that, but I'll paste it in another time)

Same thing at Bonanza King. There's a huge shaft that drops exactly vertical downward, down inside the mine, which also appears to connect to the surface. No timbering visible in it, but it's probably 12' x 10' or so. Big! At least several hundreds of feet deep. Cept theres nothing to anchor to, so you'd have to attatch an anchor one or two hundred feet back in the drift somewhere, run an anchor rope all the way over to the shaft, and then drop the shaft on more rope.
And in another spot in the mine there's another vertical which is a much smaller opening, and partially covered. But I dropped down it about 180'. No timbering, but there's about 3 drift levels I passed and explored on the way, and it just keeps going too. Can't wait to bottom out on that one.
But you gotta hike the side of the mountain to get to the entrance, then go down several levels and several hundred feet just to get to those openings. Not really the kinda thing you'd wanna tote around a 600' spool for. Too heavy/bulky to do it that way.
(unless, I suppose, you had two people carry it in... sounds awkward though)

[Mike369]

I have also pulled a box out of a mine. I tried carrying he box complete but it was kind of a pain. The bottom of the box was already partially broken so I separated the bottom. I then took the box apart so that it was flat and fit in my backpack. It was much easier to manage that way and when I got home I used a rubber mallet to gently put the box back together. It didn't seem to hurt the box in anyway and it looks good. If I were to do it again I would take the box apart right off the back and put it in my backpack. Plus I think it would be safer for the box and myself. Just putting in my 2 cents.

[one_bad_rover]

Josh, your being too harsh..
Archeologists clear dust and debris all day. Its not the dirt that makes it old, its the condition under the dirt.
Dish soap (dawn etc..) is about the most gentle cleanser you can get.
Now when I run old bottles thorugh the dishwasher... that might do a little more damage.
So I see your a Sego expert?? Weve been working a deal to buy the Desert Moon Hotel down there, going to try to breathe a little life into the area.
Any info you want to share would be appreciated!

[josh bernhard]

Hi Corey, sorry if I offended, I meant it as a joke. I know the dirt has no importance, but the water/dishsoap combination is not a recommended practice...simply because of the fact that you are getting it wet.

Bottles...I don't think the dishwasher would hurt them either... I wash all of mine unless there is a bit of label still attached...

Off topic, I know, but the Desert Moon Hotel is owned by the Rogers family, I can't remember the name of the fellow who owns it, but I do know his brother AJ who holds the only job available in the town (UDOT foreman). The hotel has been in their family since it was built by Clarence Rogers in 1928 and they want to keep it. You'd have a better chance purchasing the cafe on the corner of Thompson Canyon Road and Highway 6/50. Thompson gets a lot of traffic from professional and amatuer photographers, and the #1 comment that I hear about the place is that they regret the day the cafe closed. Their hamburgers were pretty famous.