The Snake Mine

[Joanne]

I was recently out exploring in the Tonopah area and found a shaft that I wanted to check out. I set up an anchor, tied a knot in the end of my 200 foot rope, and dropped into the darkness. Little did I know what I was going to find when I got to the bottom.

The collar was tidy but the timbering ended about ten feet below the edge. There isn't much spoil in the area so I'm not hopeful that it's very large.



Looks reasonably deep base on the scientifically accurate method of dropping a rock and see how long it takes to get to the bottom.



I'm ready to head down. My friend Kelly is going to stay topside until I see if there is anything worth exploring.



Two important things in this photo:
First, the rope ended about three feet above the floor
Second, there is a snake on the old dish washer and another just a bit lower to the left.



Everywhere I looked there was another snake. Some were alive and others were dead. I don't know what kind they were but I decided I didn't want to take any chances that they were rattle snakes. It was cold enough that they were sluggish but still...


Count the snakes! I've been in gold mines. Tungsten mines. Zinc and lead mines. I have NEVER been in a snake mine before.



I never been happier to be out of a mine!


Turns out the mine was about 150' deep. If it would have been any deeper I would not have been able to get off the rope. Going down isn't too bad, but climbing out is a bit of work. No ladders. No steps. Just a free climb up the rope.

Still, it was fun to get out and do some exploring. Next time I'll skip the snakes.

Joanne

[Rubyredvet]

Any idea how the snakes got in there and where they were gettin food and water? Any other openings to the mine?

[Joanne]

Any idea how the snakes got in there and where they were gettin food and water? Any other openings to the mine?

There were no other openings into the mine that I could see. I would guess that they had fallen down into the mine since the sides were completely vertical. I don't know how they would have survived for any period of time. Considering that there were a number of dead ones, maybe there wasn't food or water for them.

Joanne

[Dawn_CL]

Those look like King snakes. King snakes look nearly identical to rattlers except king snakes have the tails come to a long point at the end. They bite but are not poisonous. I take them out of my mine quite often as they go in there after water.