ophir hill mine

[Jeff]

Jeff - Thanks, do you have the coordinates or the approximate location of these mines in the mercur area that could be explored?

I don't have the coordinates to the mines in the Mercur area i know where they are from exploring the area for years. I also am not sure of their current claim status. As Fred and Kiel have stated it takes a good map and a ton of research to find any location however i also understand how time consuming it can be as well. I would start at the five mile pass area and look for locations from there north to Stockton on the West side of the Oquirrh Mountains. I bought the book Some Dreams Die by George Thompson and started exactly where i previously suggested. I know we only have one meetup posted for now but i will try to put more together and i would attend the meetups. It is a good place to get a lot of information fast.

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[Brahmabull1018]

No offense, but I have spent as much as 10-20 hours researching an area online and in old books and surveys before I went to an area. If it was easy everybody would do it. I think you would be surprised how many mines are still open if you just looked around, watch for the tailings piles, even if they are gated, there is usually something interesting to look at. I would recommend looking at this book list. I have most of them in hard copy. Some are cheap and can be found on amazon, others cost almost 200 bucks for me, but they are 700 pages. There are free online versions of some also

Kiel - No offense taken, I get what you are saying. The land areas are so huge and it is very time consuming to go out there but I hear that is much of the fun. I am a rookie at this so I am just trying to find some open mines that are interesting. You might have to give me a kick in the pants to get me in the right direction! Thanks for the advice and the book list, I will definately look at them.

Jeff - That is great advice I will go poke around that area. Do you usually park somewhere and hike around or take an atv in and get deep up there on the dirt roads?

[Joanne]

Kiel - No offense taken, I get what you are saying. The land areas are so huge and it is very time consuming to go out there but I hear that is much of the fun. I am a rookie at this so I am just trying to find some open mines that are interesting. You might have to give me a kick in the pants to get me in the right direction! Thanks for the advice and the book list, I will definately look at them.

Jeff - That is great advice I will go poke around that area. Do you usually park somewhere and hike around or take an atv in and get deep up there on the dirt roads?

If you haven't already done so you might want to dug back in the old posts and find the mine database. It's a good starting point.


* Note: I think I got a little carried away with this, but it might be useful to new explorers who are just getting started out.

As a rookie, you may not be aware of the current state of the mine exploring community. Of course I am not speaking for the community, just sharing my personal perception of it.

In recent years there has been a huge push by the various government mine safety agencies, as well as some "green" groups to remediate mines that are on public property. These agencies have such a large number of mines to choose from and limited financial resources to achieve their goal, one way that they determine which mines to close is to read forums like this one then target the mines we visit for closure. As a community we have also found that some of the sites that we like to visit get vandalized once they become well known. Again, some folks read this list looking for places to "go have fun". Even in the short time that I've been involved in mine exploring I have seen the community become much less trusting of new people. It's not that they don't welcome new people, but they want to get a feel for who they are welcoming into the community in order to protect the remaining mines.

I have always been a proponent of open information and discussion, but I too have started to limit what I post for the world to see. I will continue to post pictures, but will be much less likely to tell the mine name or location in the open forum. Concealing mine names and locations is becoming more common throughout the community. There is no secret cartel in the background controlling the information, but rather as we get to know the other explorers we are more willing to share our information.

So is it a Catch-22 for new explorers? Can't get experience without knowing the mines, can't know the mines without experience? Well, not exactly. While I can't give you a fool-proof way to become part of the mine exploring community, I can share my personal experience.

First, I spent time on this site and others reading about mine exploring. I bought a DeLorme Atlas & Gazetteer for Nevada and started looking for mines in my area. Once I had a basic understanding of necessary equipment, techniques, and some idea of where I was going, I grabbed a friend and headed out into the desert to see what I could find. I have to admit that my first explorations were less than epic. What I didn’t realize at the time was that I wasn’t ready for a truly epic mine. Heck, I didn’t even have a helmet or decent headlamp. Like many adventure sports, mine exploring has a learning curve. Novice rock climbers aren’t ready for Half Dome and novice mountaineers aren’t ready for Everest.

Once back home, I posted up some pictures and narrative of my “adventures”. The members here on MU were always encouraging. (Of course I don’t know if they were quietly laughing at me, or simply smiling and thinking back on their days as a complete novice.) It wasn’t long before I connected with another novice local explorer and together we started developing our rope skills and expanding our exploring skills. Again, more photos and more stories. It wasn’t long before there was a group trip where some of the forum members were going to attend. I went and started to meet folks face to face. They were able to gauge my interest and skill level. In time there were more trips, more adventures, and more time chatting on the forum. Ultimately I organized a few of my own trips and invited some of the exploring community along. I made a few online friends over in England and ended up taking a 10 day mine exploring trip there with my dear friend Speedy Caver and our friend Llion. What an amazing adventure! (If you want a preview of what I will be posting, click on this link http://www.mine-explorer.co.uk/mines...oesor_3308.pdf or Google: Croesor Rhosydd Through Trip)

Some people call it paying dues, others call it learning the ropes. I call it getting to know people and them to know you. Stay involved, stay positive, and things will happen naturally.

Joanne

[fredmcain]

These agencies have such a large number of mines to choose from and limited financial resources to achieve their goal, one way that they determine which mines to close is to read forums like this one then target the mines we visit for closure.
Joanne

Joanne,

Another sad thing is that there are also some unscrupulous people who find out about neat mines then go there and vandalize or steal things. I'm not saying anybody on this group would do that, no, no, no. But unfortunately, it has probably led to further distrust as you say.

When I was a kid there were no groups like Mojave Underground, no Internet and no online forums or discussions. I found mines by using U.S. Geological Survey topo maps. This really works. They probably show 95% or better of all mines, indicate whether they are adits, shafts, pits or prospects and also indicate the official names of many mines. They are perhaps a little bit salty but they are beautiful documents. Not something to just use for a day or two and then dispose of.

If I were still in the West today, I'd still use this same method. An added bonus is that these maps also indicate the kind of terrain you're dealing with and where the roads and jeep trails are. I think if someone were to start out looking for mines, this is the place to start.

Like that one guy says with a big mine website, after you find them, "Don't take anything but pictures".

And I would strongly recommend do NOT enter the mine UNLESS you are with a professional group like the MU.

Regards,
Fred M. Cain

[Kiel]

Nice post Joanne

[Brahmabull1018]

If you haven't already done so you might want to dug back in the old posts and find the mine database. It's a good starting point.


* Note: I think I got a little carried away with this, but it might be useful to new explorers who are just getting started out.

As a rookie, you may not be aware of the current state of the mine exploring community. Of course I am not speaking for the community, just sharing my personal perception of it.

In recent years there has been a huge push by the various government mine safety agencies, as well as some "green" groups to remediate mines that are on public property. These agencies have such a large number of mines to choose from and limited financial resources to achieve their goal, one way that they determine which mines to close is to read forums like this one then target the mines we visit for closure. As a community we have also found that some of the sites that we like to visit get vandalized once they become well known. Again, some folks read this list looking for places to "go have fun". Even in the short time that I've been involved in mine exploring I have seen the community become much less trusting of new people. It's not that they don't welcome new people, but they want to get a feel for who they are welcoming into the community in order to protect the remaining mines.

I have always been a proponent of open information and discussion, but I too have started to limit what I post for the world to see. I will continue to post pictures, but will be much less likely to tell the mine name or location in the open forum. Concealing mine names and locations is becoming more common throughout the community. There is no secret cartel in the background controlling the information, but rather as we get to know the other explorers we are more willing to share our information.

So is it a Catch-22 for new explorers? Can't get experience without knowing the mines, can't know the mines without experience? Well, not exactly. While I can't give you a fool-proof way to become part of the mine exploring community, I can share my personal experience.

First, I spent time on this site and others reading about mine exploring. I bought a DeLorme Atlas & Gazetteer for Nevada and started looking for mines in my area. Once I had a basic understanding of necessary equipment, techniques, and some idea of where I was going, I grabbed a friend and headed out into the desert to see what I could find. I have to admit that my first explorations were less than epic. What I didn’t realize at the time was that I wasn’t ready for a truly epic mine. Heck, I didn’t even have a helmet or decent headlamp. Like many adventure sports, mine exploring has a learning curve. Novice rock climbers aren’t ready for Half Dome and novice mountaineers aren’t ready for Everest.

Once back home, I posted up some pictures and narrative of my “adventures”. The members here on MU were always encouraging. (Of course I don’t know if they were quietly laughing at me, or simply smiling and thinking back on their days as a complete novice.) It wasn’t long before I connected with another novice local explorer and together we started developing our rope skills and expanding our exploring skills. Again, more photos and more stories. It wasn’t long before there was a group trip where some of the forum members were going to attend. I went and started to meet folks face to face. They were able to gauge my interest and skill level. In time there were more trips, more adventures, and more time chatting on the forum. Ultimately I organized a few of my own trips and invited some of the exploring community along. I made a few online friends over in England and ended up taking a 10 day mine exploring trip there with my dear friend Speedy Caver and our friend Llion. What an amazing adventure! (If you want a preview of what I will be posting, click on this link http://www.mine-explorer.co.uk/mines...oesor_3308.pdf or Google: Croesor Rhosydd Through Trip)

Some people call it paying dues, others call it learning the ropes. I call it getting to know people and them to know you. Stay involved, stay positive, and things will happen naturally.

Joanne

Joanne - Great post, and it makes sense. I am just trying to get as much information as possible and you guys have all had great suggestions. I was so excited to see there were others who liked finding mines and exploring them if they are safe. I remember very clearly going into mines with my father when I was younger before they started gating them off. We never went in the mines very far and it was never dangerous, it was fun even as a kid. I noticed throughout the years that mines were being gated, I assumed by the land owners. Now I see it was the state, and I have seen on their site their plans to close another several hundred mines in 2013. This is very disturbing to me because they are history. Ghost town structures don't last forever. Mines last alot longer if they aren't tampered with and many are safe. Part of the history is the mine itself, not just the equipment used in mining the the mine shaft - that is the real history. I don't know why they waste so much time and money stopping people from going in them by choice, it doesn't make sense to me. I want to find as many mines as possible and explore some of the remaining open ones that are safe - if there are even any left. So this has been a great place to start. If anybody on here knows of a mine that isn't gated I would love to meet up and go in with somebody with more experience then myself. I look forward to meeting up with some of you at some point and we can get to know each other end explore some mines!

[fredmcain]

Also I have always wanted to get into the Ophir Hill mine, but it is obviously gated off. Does anybody know how one would go about getting access to that mine and any surrounding mines that are gated, or does a gate mean permanent closure? Pardon my ignorance here, again I am new to this but have been in several mines and caves in the area (a few years back). Any help and suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

Well, I don't know much about Ophir Hill but perhaps I can reiterate here what I have read in other threads on this site. The Ophir Hill Mine is owned by a family, I think they are called the Aults. You can only get into the mine if they give you permission. If you ask them really, really nice, they might take you in there a short ways but I don't know that. I don't know the people.

I have wondered what their long-term intentions are to do with the mine. Perhaps they might one day have it reopened by a mining company or perhaps they might be willing to sell it but again, I don't know for sure.

It probably wouldn't hurt to try and find them and write them a letter. Even if they don't let you in the mine, they might be willing to give you some interesting information about the mine. Couldn't hurt to try. Never underestimate the power of a well-written letter.

Regards,
Fred M. Cain