Bullion Mine, Southern Nevada

[Dawn_CL]

Hi again Joanne,

May i ask how you was able to post those pictures on here? I cant find anything on here that allows me adding the pictures of my bucket...and ive got really good ones.

Also wanted to mention that the mine where the adit only goes in for a few feet with the shaft that goes down 20 ft in the pictures you posted is similiar to how my mine is.

My mine has a short adit that runs in the side of a mountain for about 20 feet and the shaft is inside that adit (well actually its a winze since its inside), we have it dug to about 35 feet now with the tunnel running to the north about 20 feet. Is about all that my mine amounts to unfortunately. Nothing at all major about it like all these bigger mines i hear about.

I DO have 2 other mines out there on the same claim though and one is a small surface mine that was once part of my main mine. It was a placer mine. The other mine is a bit of a larger mine that i havent done anything with yet as its a real pain to get to and fix up in order to mine. The ladders are no longer there and the hoisting platform is no longer there over the hole so id have to build all that in order to do anything with it. When trying to see the bottom i could just barely see a tunnel entrance down there but that was about it as the edges of the hole had dropped down into the mine.My husband really doesnt want to mess with it so we probably will never bother with it anytime soon. The surface mine we screw around with from time to time but usually when the waeather is a bit cooler. Wed die out there working that one during the summer here.

I havent decided on that other mine that i have to dig out yet, still deciding on that one and it all depends on how i feel when i go to tackle it (im not getting any younger). I HAVE decided, hoever, that i might just dig a hole down in there just big enough to fit my body through (attached to a lifeline of course, just in case anything happens) so i can check it out and see if i really want the mine or not, then if i do then i will probably get my help (my husbands 2 nephews) to dig it out since they are much younger. LOL

Edited: i figured out how to add pictures now so heres the pictures of my homemade bucket. Nothing fancy but it works but yet what ever is fancy in a mine? LOL
The add image to post thing i keep getting a 'cannot find server' on so as soon as that gets back online or fixed then i will post my sinking bucket pictures.


Dawn

[Joanne]

Dawn,

I run a couple of websites so I upload my photos to one of the servers and display it from there.

If you use an online photo album like photobucket, flicker, or picasa you should be able to post photos from there. Once the photo is uploaded to the online album, right click on the photo and select Properties. A pop-up box will give you information including the file name for the photo. It will start with http:// and end with .jpg Select that file name, use C to copy the file name, then paste that in your post using the [img] tag.

If that doesn't work for you, email me the photos. I'll upload them to a server and e-mail you back a link to include in your posting.

Joanne

Hi again Joanne,

May i ask how you was able to post those pictures on here? I cant find anything on here that allows me adding the pictures of my bucket...and ive got really good ones.

Also wanted to mention that the mine where the adit only goes in for a few feet with the shaft that goes down 20 ft in the pictures you posted is similiar to how my mine is.

My mine has a short adit that runs in the side of a mountain for about 20 feet and the shaft is inside that adit (well actually its a winze since its inside), we have it dug to about 35 feet now with the tunnel running to the north about 20 feet. Is about all that my mine amounts to unfortunately. Nothing at all major about it like all these bigger mines i hear about.

I DO have 2 other mines out there on the same claim though and one is a small surface mine that was once part of my main mine. It was a placer mine. The other mine is a bit of a larger mine that i havent done anything with yet as its a real pain to get to and fix up in order to mine. My husband really doesnt want to mess with it so we probably will never bother with it anytime soon. The surface mine we screw around with from time to time but usually when the waeather is a bit cooler. Wed die out there working that one during the summer here.

I havent decided on that other mine that i have to dig out yet, still deciding on that one and it all depends on how i feel when i go to tackle it (im not getting any younger). I HAVE decided, hoever, that i might just dig a hole down in there just big enough to fit my body through (attached to a lifeline of course, just in case anything happens) so i can check it out and see if i really want the mine or not, then if i do then i will probably get my help (my husbands 2 nephews) to dig it out since they are much younger. LOL

Edited: i figured out how to add pictures now so heres the pictures of my homemade bucket. Nothing fancy but it works but yet what ever is fancy in a mine? LOL
The add image to post thing i keep getting a 'cannot find sever' on so as soon as that gets back online or fixed then i will post my sinking bucket pictures.


Dawn

[Dawn_CL]

Hi Joanne,

I dont use any of that stuff so i guess my best bet would be just sending them to you if thats ok.

I am also a member on Abandonedmines.net so i can post them there if needed. I have ALOT of pictures of a couple of my mines (plus a few other mines out near my mines) posted over there but the problem is is they made it where you must be a member in order to see pictures on there but yet ive had non-members telling me they can still see pictures even though thier not members so that might be worth a try. Heres the link for my posts (and pictures) there just in case you can see the pictures. If not, i have alot of good info over there that i was discussing with some other members. All my posts are under my username Dawn_C there.

Heres the link: http://forums.abandonedmines.net/viewtopic.php?t=681

I checked out that trailer you built and i must say thats a very good job. Thats exactly what id like to have to set out at my mines except made for 2 people. That way we could just camp out there and reduce all the travel time with gas prices of nowadays.

Dawn

[Joanne]

Hi Joanne,

I dont use any of that stuff so i guess my best bet would be just sending them to you if thats ok.

I am also a member on Abandonedmines.net so i can post them there if needed. I have ALOT of pictures of a couple of my mines (plus a few other mines out near my mines) posted over there but the problem is is they made it where you must be a member in order to see pictures on there but yet ive had non-members telling me they can still see pictures even though thier not members so that might be worth a try. Heres the link for my posts (and pictures) there just in case you can see the pictures. If not, i have alot of good info over there that i was discussing with some other members. All my posts are under my username Dawn_C there.

Heres the link: http://forums.abandonedmines.net/viewtopic.php?t=681

I checked out that trailer you built and i must say thats a very good job. Thats exactly what id like to have to set out at my mines except made for 2 people. That way we could just camp out there and reduce all the travel time with gas prices of nowadays.

Dawn

I wasn't able to see any of the photos on the other forum. Maybe I'll sign up over there and see if I can view the photos. I'll also PM you my e-mail address so you can send me the photos.

Oh yeah, my little trailer actually has a queen size mattress in it. I've slept 2 in there quite a few times and there's plenty of room. I really like having a galley to cook in and not have a lot of "set up" when I get to my campsite.

Joanne

[Dawn_CL]

Hi Joanne,

The pictures are on thier way. I thank you so much for helping me on this.

Dawn



Thanks to Joanne and her help with me on this i am able to post my bucket pictures.

Many thanks to you for helping me on this Joanne.

[Dawn_CL]

Hi again Joanne,

I just finished up another project i was working on little by little and thats a very small flat belly mine car i found down in one of my mines when i first got it. Actually it was down in the one we dont have plans of working right away. Surprise surprise on what one could find in those 'hard to get down into' type of mines, huh?

Anyways, this flat car, i was told, was a utility or tool car (or thats what it was made for) and is only around 3 feet long from wooden bumper to wooden bumper, about 16 inches wide and about 6 inches tall with 4 1/2 inch railroad type wheels on it. The track this would have run on couldntve been no wider than a 14 guage as the wheels are only a bit over a foot across (inside lip of wheel to inside lip of wheel). It was a VERY interesting find. My only concern was how it got down there because i absolutely seen no signs at all of any trackage in there for this to be used on. My only thought would be is possibly they used this just on the ground with no rails. Either that or someone gracious dropped it down in there but yet that would seem very very unlikely due to the age of this car.
Anyways, i fixed it up and completely redid it by sanding it and painting it the original color it was (machinery yellow was traced around on it) and i took off the wheels, cleaned them up, regreased them and now the car looks and works super. I did do a very small modification to the car, however, which was only bolting a couple of wooden straps lengthwise the top of the car in order for my sinking bucket to ride on as im working in my mine picking up the rock after we drilled it or blasted it or whatever. With that done i am able to pull the sinking bucket around in the mine instead of having to carry it. This way i can just pull the car with the sinking bucket on it full of rock, out to the hoisting hook that hangs down in the mine, hook the bucket up and hoisting the bucket to the surface. Then after dumping, lowering the bucket back down as i center it on the car, unhook it, then off on my way to load with more rock or whatever. LOL
I havent put this car to use yet as i have yet to build my tracks down there for it (which will be wood since those can be removed easily if needed) but im hoping i can pretty soon, maybe within the new year.
Also, i built an ore bin as an attachment to the flat car for use just in case we decide to do more work in my surface mine. It would be more than sufficient up there rather than in my underground mines. I fixed it where the ore bin is removeable so i can still use the car for hauling the sinking bucket. LOL
I made the ore car to where it dumps over the end or over the side and it attaches to the car by use of heavy duty locking pins (the type that has the round lock rings on them) and that runs through heavy duty tubes like is used on those sliding door locks, the pin types. The way i made the ore bin to tip over is by using 2 small platforms held together with heavy duty hinges and the very bottom platform is attached to the wooden slats on the car itself by use of the locking pins.

Both of these attachments it gives me the ability to use it in any of my mines, whether it be the surface one or the underground ones, and all onpy by adding or removing the ore bin attachment or to carry the sinking bucket.

With all of this said, could i send you the pictures of this latest project so i can post them on here? I think if i counted correctly, from what the car originally looked like until i finished, theres about 8 pictures.

Thanks, Dawn

[Mark1955]

Would love to see it! There are many a mine where the tracks have been taken up and there is barely a clue that tracks were ever there. The rails and ties may have been moved to another nearby mine...

Mark

[Joanne]

Hi Dawn,

It sounds like you have been busy! Your mine car sounds like just what you need to help you in your mines. You've used a lot of creativity to make it versatile too. A Swiss Army car if you will. In the mines that I've been in so far, there have only been a few pieces of track and those are always in hard to reach locations. I figure that either it was stripped out when the mine closed down, or it has been stripped in subsequent years.

I'll be glad to upload the photos for you, but first I'd like you to take a look at a photo hosting service we are now using on my cooking forum. There is a website named www.tinypic.com that is geared specifically to people wanting to post photos on discussion forums and blogging websites. It's FREE, super simple to use, and run by the same folks that run Photobucket. The neat part of the website is that it will automatically resize the photo and then provide you with the [img] link you need to add to your posting.


Here is a Photo Posting Tutorial that I wrote that shows how to use this service, then post the photo on the forum. Give it a try!


If this doesn't work for you, just e-mail me the photos and I'll upload them to my server.

Joanne

[Dawn_CL]

Hi Joanne,

Thanks so much. I will give it a try. Who knows? I may like it better than photobucket or whatnot.

Dawn

[Dawn_CL]

Hi Joanne,

I was finally able to join up with tinypic and upload my pix. It was very easy to use so i think ill stick with that since its a very good place to store all my pictures of my mines (from when i first got it until now) as a secondary backup.

Anyways, ill start with the mine car project pictures first then i think i will run pictures of the improvements weve made at the mines since i got it back in Jan of 09. That will be a bit later though since im usually out at my mine in between good weather spells here unless things change drastically.

Heres how the mine car i found in my mine looked when i first pulled it up out of there...






and heres the finished car but in plain state without bucket and ore car attachments...



this shows the pull ropes i put on so i can pull this through the mine...




and these are with the ore bucket mounted on the car. This is the same bucket i made thats shown in my last posting...





and these are showing the ore bin attachment on same mine car....





this last image of this posting set shows the size reference of the car in reference of the bucket...




Later on as i get the time i will start posting a bunch of pictures of my mines and some of the work ive done on them(with a bit of help). This will include down the shaft and the hoistwork we installed in my mine(the one im working currently).

Dawn

[Joanne]

Dawn,

You did a real nice job on your "Swiss Army" mine cart! It's neat that you can set it up for different ways to meet your needs. It makes sense to have a tool that will perform multiple tasks. I'll bet it makes things easier for you in your mine.

I'm glad to see that you got TinyPic to work. It will make it easy for you to post all the pictures you want now.

Joanne

[Joanne]

Today I decided to make a second try on the Bullion Mine. Truck problems didn't allow me to make the hike up to the mine last time I was out, but no problems this time. I have my new helmet and headlamp so I'm anxious to see how well they work.

Pictures at the top of this thread give you an idea of how high up the mountain this mine sits, but it's even higher when you are hiking up the side of a steep mountain! At first I wasn't sure I'd make it all the way up, but once I got into my rhythm I did OK.

There are two areas that were mined on the side of the ridge. One area across from the ore chute and a bit lower on the ridge. These are the first adits you come to when hiking up. The adits are on a couple of different levels but all are interconnected in the stopes. These are lode mines so the mine is like a large version of Swiss cheese with large, open stopes interconnected by short passages. I was solo this trip so I didn't venture too far into the mine. A quick survey told me that I would need ropes to explore this mine with any level of safety.






A storm is moving into the area so we have an overcast sky. It was fun to do a silhouette of the ore chute.




Here's a shot across the ridge at the first two adits.




Here are some shots of the ore hopper. It appears like the ore was loaded into carts and pushed over to the top tramway station.








This is the top tramway station. It's perched right on the edge of a large drop-off. It's hard to convey in pictures just how steep the whole ridge is. The entire operation is just perched on the side of the ridge face.






I believe that this concrete pad held the winch. It's right behind (and a bit higher) than the ore hopper. Right under it is the mine adit with an inclined shaft. Most likely they used a large pulley attached to the ore hopper framework to route the cable from the winch down into the incline.



This looks like the winch brake.




The center opening is the inclined shaft. It's a bit strange though because they undercut the track with large stopes. From what I could see the undercuts were 15 to 20 feet deep and connected to lower levels. I wasn't going to risk a fall so I headed back out.





This adit is below the upper level, but back to the Swiss cheese analogy, the stopes are all interconnected. This is another area that would require ropes since there are drop-offs everywhere.








Back down safe and sound.




Later in the day I found out that this is a patented mine site but had the No Trespassing signs torn down some time ago. I'm glad that I didn't have any problems...

Joanne

[Dawn_CL]

Hi Joanne,

It was a really fun project and im hoping to find more around here pretty soon. I havent used this in the mine im working right now because of the very short length of tunnel down there that im working on. After it gets long enough to run my track then i will be using that. Im wanting to run wooden track down there since thats very easy to pull back up if it ever needs to be or if i stop tunnelling in that particular area then i can use the wood for other things. The bucket on it is what ill be using for in that mine.

The ore bin i want to use up at my surface mine once i start working it again since its open and theres a good dumping area up there. I worked it to some extent last year during the summer but it just got way too hot for us out there with picks and shovels but now its a bit too cold to work up there so i guess ill be working that one in spells.

My other mine which i found the mine car laying in i doubt if i ever will work that one since its a bit of a pain to get anything up to (toolwise) and the collar is a bit too far gone to actually work it and be safe so i just went up and put a fence around it with "Danger - Open Mine Shaft' signs because where this hole is located people would fall right in there if they didnt know exactly where it was when thier out there on quads or walking because its that hard to see until you are right up on it and by that time its too late. My husband and his nephews (the ones that help me with my mines) said they didnt want to mess with that one so i decided that we wouldnt, at least for now. I have not been down in that mine yet but i was able to just see the bottom and the tunnelling down in there by tieing myself off to the big rocks around there. Not able to get a vehicle up there due to the rocky and steep grade of the old pipeline road that goes near the mine so i had nothing else to tie off to except one of the boulders. Once i finally got to see down in there and seen that mine car laying down there i was able to just rope it up out of there. It took several tries to get the hook in a place in order to lift it up out of there but we finally got it. One of these days ill get me an extension ladder. LOL

I also have a bit more information about that other mine that needed to be dug out. I found out from a few locals that the main tunnel in that mine was covered with dirt and stuff because of several cave-ins in there so it is VERY unsafe to enter and i decided not to even bother claiming that one since i think i have enough mines to play with already. Just would take way too much work that could be put into my other mines. The only way down there by bypassing the cave-in would be from that shaft thats 30 ft away BUT when i was out there about a week ago i was able to inch my way closer to look down that shaft and seen it looked ALOT deeper than just 40 feet. With how the walls looked on the way down i dont think i would want to tempt going down in there by that shaft.

There is another mine not far from that one (maybe only 1000 ft) that isnt deep at all and it has tunnels running in both directions that can be seen easily. Id estimate this one to be around 15 ft deep and all that one would take is a ladder to get down in there. The walls of that shaft looked ok to chance and the safety of the tunnelling looked to be safe from what i could see of it. Only problem with that one is theres a fence around it but its wasnt put there by the BLM or by the Mine Inspector since thier fences and signage are all alike and very distinguishable here so i think it was fenced by a prior claim owner but the mine is no longer claimed. Id like to make a trip in that one and see if theres any goodies in there to get. LOL

On past that mine maybe about 300 ft is another mine shaft but i cant see the bottom of that one as its fenced too but not by BLM but more than likely by a prior claimant but its not claimed now either so am not really sure whether i want to risk that one.

Up above where my mines are to the southeast is another mine that has a claim on it. That one is not fenced and u can just barely see the bottom of it if you risk getting close enough to the edge. When i looked down there this past summer i noticed what looked like either the wheel of a mine car sticking up out of the dirt and rock that fell down in there through the years OR a sheave wheel they had there for the headframe but there is no indication of a headframe ever being there so im thinking more on the lines is it could be an old mine car down there with just a wheel showing up out of the debris. After looking closely, i could see timbering of tunnelling down in there which makes me think even more it must be an old mine car. I wont chance taking that up out of there though out of respect of the guys claim, the same kind of respect id want for my claim.

I have been pulling a fairly good amount of microscopic stuff out of the mine im working now(which is the one in my avatar) but still havent hit the 'big strike' as of yet. With so much gold bearing minerals in there and since the particular area is known for placer i think i have a very good chance.

What used to be a major mine about a mile id say out past my mine and out past the mine i mentioned a few minutes ago i have heard is around 300 ft deep with several small stations in there. The local geologist from the BLM here told me that and said that once at the bottom it only drifted to the north about 20 or so feet and that he went down there to sample for assays back in the 80s before it was claimed back a couple years ago. The guy that has that mine also has the one i mentioned a few minutes ago. He has both of these mines on his claim. I was reading some history about this 300 ft mine and it had in the local paper back when it was operating (a bit over 100 yrs ago) that a "5 foot vein of rich milling ore was struck at a depth of 93 feet" so im hoping i have that same luck in at least one of my mines. Anyways, it also read in that article that they had to stop working the mine because of not having some sort of resources they needed to get the ore out. I forget now what it was they needed but i THINK it had something to do with not having water availability and something about the wrong type of hoist. Will have to hunt up the article again on that to be sure. Only thing that concerns me on that is being that mine made it to nearly 300 feet then that ore was removed out of there somehow, if not by the original miners then by someone later on. When i went out there to see the mine, it might have been too dangerous to go down into now due to the claim owners neglect as three of the ladders nearest the collar of the mine was totally rotten and just hanging there while the ladder at the collar was rotted and lying on the ground next to the mine. The rest of the ladders as far as i could see down in there looked to be not as sturdy as well but they were there and wasnt rotted. I could only see about 50 or 60 feet because of how the shaft inclined sharply to the north and then jetted straight down again...i think. I wouldnt have tempted going down in this one either since i dont do the rappelling thing.

Thats all i have for now. Will be adding my pictures of different stuff out there including all 3 of my mines as well as the other mines here fairly shortly. I have like 70 or 80 pictures id like to share.

Thanks again for filling me in on tinypic as i like it really well.

Dawn

[Dawn_CL]

You know they are supposed to keep some kind of signage around those patented or claimed mines, Joanne. Even if they may be torn down or whatnot.
The signs i have around my claims im periodically checking and have needed to either re-post or replace some due to high winds blowing them off the posts (i use staples). I have even had to re-post my location markers (the paper you have recorded by the BLM and the County the claim is in) a couple of times because of how the claim laws are set up.
Im not sure if theres a penalty for not having proper markings and signage on patents (most likely not since its considered privately owned land now) but on claims, if theres nothing properly posted and if you can prove that (by taking pictures or whatnot around the claim) or if the owner shows neglect then USUALLY the BLM will void the claim since they are required to put in a certain amount of work or improvements on the claim per year. At least thats what i was told by the local geologist here at the local BLM office.
I asked so many questions that i believe they got tired of seeing me but i wanted everything perfect as much as i could get it before i put in my claims. I am, in alot of cases, a perfectionist.

I REALLY REALLY need to get up some dividends to get out there to Nevada to those mines. LOL.
At the moment we are up to our ears in medical bills because of my husband recently having a heart attack and me also getting sick.

Dawn

[Dawn_CL]

Looks as though they did some really lousy trackwork in that mine. Either that or it was just hurriedly done.


Dawn