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Just returned for my second trip to Mary Ellen Gulch today. The road to the mine was as hard as ever, in particular the shortcut road between the Globe and the Yankee (Kurt, you know the one.) This time around, Jared and I came prepared with muck boots and our (now) standard arsenal of exploration gear. We first hit up the Live Yankee mine. The water was about 2 feet deep and frigid cold. Inside, we found an incredible electric motor and compressor station. Everything is covered in rust, but inside the panels of the compressor shows near perfect components. Strangely, old miners clothing wrapped a lot of the equipment. About 40' into the mine, there is a very large backfill that I suspect one could climb through if he were daring enough, but I suspect there would only be a lot of deep water on the other side.
After poking around a bit more on the Live Yankee level, we took the old Nissan for the ride of it's life as we attempted to drive the shortcut between the Yankee and the Globe mine. Large boulders, mud, and heavy washouts stopped me about 50' from the Globe road. I decided that after sliding into a large boulder and putting a large and unsightly dent into the side of my truck, we'd just hoof it the rest of the way. The Globe mine offered better exploration this time around. We explored for about 45 minutes before covering all the tunnels. We found a unique form of explosive, a large plastic tube filled with a grey clay like material unlike any explosives I've ever seen. Think about a 2' long ground sausage package with giant warning labels all over it and you'll have an idea of what we were looking at. The mine was also wet, with its deepest point being about 2' deep. The mine stayed at the same elevation for most of the workings, with the exception of a few chases and a couple rabbit holes which were too small for Jared or I to fit into. Also interesting to point out were roof bolts at the end of one of the drifts, something you only see in modern mines. Does anybody know the last time somebody worked on the mine? My best guesstimate would put it in the early 80's judging by the explosives and the roof bolts.
Mary Ellen Gulch is a fun area and I'm looking forward to bringing everyone back in September for one of our Meetups!
After poking around a bit more on the Live Yankee level, we took the old Nissan for the ride of it's life as we attempted to drive the shortcut between the Yankee and the Globe mine. Large boulders, mud, and heavy washouts stopped me about 50' from the Globe road. I decided that after sliding into a large boulder and putting a large and unsightly dent into the side of my truck, we'd just hoof it the rest of the way. The Globe mine offered better exploration this time around. We explored for about 45 minutes before covering all the tunnels. We found a unique form of explosive, a large plastic tube filled with a grey clay like material unlike any explosives I've ever seen. Think about a 2' long ground sausage package with giant warning labels all over it and you'll have an idea of what we were looking at. The mine was also wet, with its deepest point being about 2' deep. The mine stayed at the same elevation for most of the workings, with the exception of a few chases and a couple rabbit holes which were too small for Jared or I to fit into. Also interesting to point out were roof bolts at the end of one of the drifts, something you only see in modern mines. Does anybody know the last time somebody worked on the mine? My best guesstimate would put it in the early 80's judging by the explosives and the roof bolts.
Mary Ellen Gulch is a fun area and I'm looking forward to bringing everyone back in September for one of our Meetups!
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