Reaves Gold Mine

Vein mining was first conducted here prior to the Civil War by M. F. Stephenson. Several tunnels from 20 to 100 feet long were driven into the hillside, along with several shafts. In 1898, R. K. Reaves sunk a shaft 57 feet deep and cut a drift to the gold vein. All of the tunnels and shafts were inaccessible by 1909. The site looked promising on LIDAR, so I was able to map it beforehand to find my way around, but as I feared from the old reports, all of the tunnels and shafts are long caved in. Worse, the area is a mess to walk through, with deadfall everywhere, and lots of new growth from the tree canopy being opened up. It was difficult to get meaningful photographs of the operation's remains.

The first old mine pit I encountered was fairly shallow It was close to the old road and had been used as a rubbish dump at one time.

Heading up slope, I started seeing caved-in pits with regularity.

It's hard to tell in the photo, but this pit was over 12 feet deep.

This hole appears to be a slumped adit mouth, at the end of a cut into the slope. It may have been the most promising potential find of the day, as I poked a stick down the small hole and it went in for a ways.

Looking down into a collapsed shaft situated directly above the location where the adit in the previous photo was headed. This deadfall is typical of the mess all through this area.

Rock on one of the mining waste piles

Collapsed mine pit

Trench leading into a small pit

Mine cut into the slope, leading to another collapsed tunnel-adit beyond the large fallen trees.

Another collapsed shaft, this one directly above the cut in the previous photo. With more of the ever-present deadfall mess!

More barely accessible pits...

Another pit

Another trench cut into the slope

And one more collapsed shaft above the previous cut...

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