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The MMT recently returned from Virginia City, NV with high hopes to extract rare and incredible ore cars from the most well known western mining town in the US. Stuart had been in contact with several property owners down there, most of whom claimed there was amazing access to the mines. The risks and expenses were high, but the reward was well worth it. Miah, Jeff, and Derek led the expedition a day ahead to scout out the area and meet with a few land owners. They ventured to several mines, hobnobbed at the local bars, and found a cozy lodge for all of us to stay in. The next day, Shawn and I, followed by Stuart and Crystal, began our 11 hour journey to western Nevada. Along the way, we received a phone call with some upsetting news.
Jeremiah phoned us with a synopsis of their activities from the following day. They found that many of the 'wide open mines' of Virginia City had been collapsed - mostly naturally. We had originally feared a state sponsored reclamation program may have closed the mines. The only activity the State of Nevada had in the closures of the mines were simple barbed wired fence and the all-to-common "Stay Out, Stay Alive" moniker we've grown to love (for their obvious pointing-out of mine locations). No, it seemed that the geology of the Black Rock Desert area was more of a soft mining district. Instead of the limestone and granite that will hold a mine open for centuries, we were met with a hardened conglomerate - unstable and easily decayed. The chances of bad gas was also high due to the massive square-set stoping method that became popular in VC. But high hopes pushed us forward as we were determined to get underground.
Our first locations with the New Yorker mine, just south of Gold Hill, NV. The New Yorker was a massive shaft that dropped over 3000' and was wide enough to hold 3 skip cars, and then some. The steel headframe sat atop a cement collar, and begged to be rigged one last time. After some heavy rigging, Stuart ventured down first. With our MSA Orion Multi-Gas meter dangling 15' below him, he was slowly lowered deep into the unknown. About 150' down, the walls were met by an underground river that turned to waterfalls, raining pristine down upon him. At 200', he was met by a massive void in the earth, large enough to fit an entire football field. Around this time, Stu felt he had run into bad gas, and wished to be pulled back up. When he arrived, we found him drenched in water, but perfectly ok. The gas meter registered no bad air, it was a false alarm. I harnessed up and decided to see the area for myself, and was met with the same awe that Stuart found. The void was incredible - but I wanted to go further. The gas meter still showed perfect air. I ventured down another 100', but sadly was met by a straw timbered shaft that was impassible. Air at the bottom here was also perfect. I rode the cable back to the top, dried off, and we decided to head to our next venture.
The second stop along our way was the Washoe Club (Millionaire's Club) - one of the most haunted buildings in the US. A few friendly locals (owners) at the club told us they would turn their heads away and let us in if we helped the club out a bit - so we did and ventured upstairs. The building was old, never remodeled. It was amazing to see the 1800's construction in it's almost original form. Interestingly, chairs were arranged in different rooms in circles, quite a strange site.
Our third stop was the Crown Point Mine, located just south of the Gold Hill Hotel. The Crown Point is a 45deg decline that ventured into the heart of the Comstock Lode. It's land owner claimed he had once video's 15-20 ore cars inside the mine with a camera he dropped in about 20 years ago. The support structures around the mine, including and incredible headframe and hoist house, stood tall and told a story regarding the size of the mine. The overall condition of the entrance was promising. Stu, Crystal, Miah, and Shawn harnessed up and rigged into a solid beam and dropped down inside the mine. Around 150-200' in, they were met by the first collapse. After some digging around, they were able to open it up a bit and venture deeper. After steadily descending deeper into the earth, they were met by a solid plug - likely stacked rock and wood sitting on an incline car. While discussing frustrations and options for digging the plug open, Crystal got bored and started poking around, and discovered another passage that continued deeper. As the four valiant explorers continued onward, they were met by and incredible ore car, which begged them to remove it. Jeremiah looked at the construction of the car and it's immaculate quality, and found that it rolled with easy, and functioned like new. But sadness struck with the realization that the car could not be removed via the path they took to get to the cars locations. So accepting a loss, they continued onward. After inspecting bottles, can, and other artifacts, Shawn discovered a shaft that he believed to go topside. They got on radios and told us to start looking for a shaft on the surface. It was a long day, so we decided to call it quits for the day and begin again in the morning.
The next day, we awoke to snow covering everything. About a foot of snow. To cover extra ground, we split into two teams. With frustration, team A headed back underground (Stu, Crystal, Shawn, Miah) while team B (Derek, Jeff, Myself) went to locate the shaft and rig up the hoist. After about an hour, we located the shaft and was able to communicate with Team A underground. The shaft was in extremely poor condition - the cribbing had fallen in and straw timbered the shaft, and the collar was sloughing in. But with hopes high, and much safety gear, we were able to successfully rig up the hoist after about 3 hours hard work. We all met back together and began work on the collar and the sides of the shaft. Jeremiah spent most of the time down in the hole, screwing loose boards and tossing as much as he could to the side. After about 7' down into the waste pile in the shaft, he radioed up to pull him out and talk. It seemed that the waste pile continued further onward, and that all hope for opening up the shaft was lost. Stuart, in a maddened rage
, decided to go down and work on it himself. We lowered him down, and he spent another hour working in the hole. To our surprise, he radioed up proclaiming he'd found a hole and that he could see down the shaft. Excitedly, he began clearing up a few more things while we discussed our options on the surface. We determined to drop the cable down the hole and see if anybody could see it on the 300' level. After what we determined to be 300' Stu and Shawn went back down underground to the car to see if they could see the cable. And to our dismay, they saw nothing. So we decided to pull the cable back up and try again. As we began pulling, however, the cable became lodged in an unknown location and could not be moved. Before trying anything else, Miah frogged out of the shaft and Stu and Shawn came topside again. We throttled the hoist up and opened the hydraulics, straining everything the system had. The estimated 10,000+ lbs of pressure could not budge the catch, so we accepted our losses, cut the cable, and cleaned things up. We returned back to our lodging, frustrated, and drove home with heavy hearts.
Jeremiah phoned us with a synopsis of their activities from the following day. They found that many of the 'wide open mines' of Virginia City had been collapsed - mostly naturally. We had originally feared a state sponsored reclamation program may have closed the mines. The only activity the State of Nevada had in the closures of the mines were simple barbed wired fence and the all-to-common "Stay Out, Stay Alive" moniker we've grown to love (for their obvious pointing-out of mine locations). No, it seemed that the geology of the Black Rock Desert area was more of a soft mining district. Instead of the limestone and granite that will hold a mine open for centuries, we were met with a hardened conglomerate - unstable and easily decayed. The chances of bad gas was also high due to the massive square-set stoping method that became popular in VC. But high hopes pushed us forward as we were determined to get underground.
Our first locations with the New Yorker mine, just south of Gold Hill, NV. The New Yorker was a massive shaft that dropped over 3000' and was wide enough to hold 3 skip cars, and then some. The steel headframe sat atop a cement collar, and begged to be rigged one last time. After some heavy rigging, Stuart ventured down first. With our MSA Orion Multi-Gas meter dangling 15' below him, he was slowly lowered deep into the unknown. About 150' down, the walls were met by an underground river that turned to waterfalls, raining pristine down upon him. At 200', he was met by a massive void in the earth, large enough to fit an entire football field. Around this time, Stu felt he had run into bad gas, and wished to be pulled back up. When he arrived, we found him drenched in water, but perfectly ok. The gas meter registered no bad air, it was a false alarm. I harnessed up and decided to see the area for myself, and was met with the same awe that Stuart found. The void was incredible - but I wanted to go further. The gas meter still showed perfect air. I ventured down another 100', but sadly was met by a straw timbered shaft that was impassible. Air at the bottom here was also perfect. I rode the cable back to the top, dried off, and we decided to head to our next venture.
The second stop along our way was the Washoe Club (Millionaire's Club) - one of the most haunted buildings in the US. A few friendly locals (owners) at the club told us they would turn their heads away and let us in if we helped the club out a bit - so we did and ventured upstairs. The building was old, never remodeled. It was amazing to see the 1800's construction in it's almost original form. Interestingly, chairs were arranged in different rooms in circles, quite a strange site.
Our third stop was the Crown Point Mine, located just south of the Gold Hill Hotel. The Crown Point is a 45deg decline that ventured into the heart of the Comstock Lode. It's land owner claimed he had once video's 15-20 ore cars inside the mine with a camera he dropped in about 20 years ago. The support structures around the mine, including and incredible headframe and hoist house, stood tall and told a story regarding the size of the mine. The overall condition of the entrance was promising. Stu, Crystal, Miah, and Shawn harnessed up and rigged into a solid beam and dropped down inside the mine. Around 150-200' in, they were met by the first collapse. After some digging around, they were able to open it up a bit and venture deeper. After steadily descending deeper into the earth, they were met by a solid plug - likely stacked rock and wood sitting on an incline car. While discussing frustrations and options for digging the plug open, Crystal got bored and started poking around, and discovered another passage that continued deeper. As the four valiant explorers continued onward, they were met by and incredible ore car, which begged them to remove it. Jeremiah looked at the construction of the car and it's immaculate quality, and found that it rolled with easy, and functioned like new. But sadness struck with the realization that the car could not be removed via the path they took to get to the cars locations. So accepting a loss, they continued onward. After inspecting bottles, can, and other artifacts, Shawn discovered a shaft that he believed to go topside. They got on radios and told us to start looking for a shaft on the surface. It was a long day, so we decided to call it quits for the day and begin again in the morning.
The next day, we awoke to snow covering everything. About a foot of snow. To cover extra ground, we split into two teams. With frustration, team A headed back underground (Stu, Crystal, Shawn, Miah) while team B (Derek, Jeff, Myself) went to locate the shaft and rig up the hoist. After about an hour, we located the shaft and was able to communicate with Team A underground. The shaft was in extremely poor condition - the cribbing had fallen in and straw timbered the shaft, and the collar was sloughing in. But with hopes high, and much safety gear, we were able to successfully rig up the hoist after about 3 hours hard work. We all met back together and began work on the collar and the sides of the shaft. Jeremiah spent most of the time down in the hole, screwing loose boards and tossing as much as he could to the side. After about 7' down into the waste pile in the shaft, he radioed up to pull him out and talk. It seemed that the waste pile continued further onward, and that all hope for opening up the shaft was lost. Stuart, in a maddened rage
, decided to go down and work on it himself. We lowered him down, and he spent another hour working in the hole. To our surprise, he radioed up proclaiming he'd found a hole and that he could see down the shaft. Excitedly, he began clearing up a few more things while we discussed our options on the surface. We determined to drop the cable down the hole and see if anybody could see it on the 300' level. After what we determined to be 300' Stu and Shawn went back down underground to the car to see if they could see the cable. And to our dismay, they saw nothing. So we decided to pull the cable back up and try again. As we began pulling, however, the cable became lodged in an unknown location and could not be moved. Before trying anything else, Miah frogged out of the shaft and Stu and Shawn came topside again. We throttled the hoist up and opened the hydraulics, straining everything the system had. The estimated 10,000+ lbs of pressure could not budge the catch, so we accepted our losses, cut the cable, and cleaned things up. We returned back to our lodging, frustrated, and drove home with heavy hearts. 
I think there are a lot of us sitting in front of our computers right now who are green with envy. Thank you for sharing your experience with us through video and photos. 
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