Mining Activity

1 - Early February 2026: As documented in my previous album... Following my late January exploration looking for old homesites where I found an old moonshine still, I returned and found the remains of a second still. As mentioned in that album, on my second visit I also located some mining prospects pits, and ended the afternoon with the discovery of a tunnel / adit!

My first stop was to check out a LIDAR indication that I had noticed along the FS road into the area. It appeared to be an old mining prospect pit. About 16 feet diameter, 8 feet deep.

Hiking down into the area where I had found the first still, I climbed a ridge to examine another LIDAR indication. It, too, was an old prospect pit.

Nearby was a shallower pit, hard to see in the photo.

A few old trench cuts also ran along the ridge, probably also remains of the mine prospecting.

After discovering and exploring the old still remains (covered in my earlier album), I continued on, mostly hoping to find an old homesite. But I had marked another LIDAR indication, which looked like it could be a more significant mine prospect than the pits I had already seen. Climbing along the slope of a ridge near the end of a long cove, I discovered another pit, which upon closer examination, was actually the upper end of a trench cut. At the rim of the hole was a large tree, snapped off at the base.

From a different angle, one can see the tree trunk which has fallen down directly over the trench.

That tree fell directly onto another that was growing out of the waste pile at the bottom of the trench, knocking it over also.

From the other side of the upper trench - the snapped-off tree...

The dirt around the trench was littered with mica.

More mica sheets

More mica sheets in the waste pile. I could find no solid documentation of this mine. Even with all the mica laying around, I'm wondering if this was a Sillimanite prospect from the WW II period. Several reports document that the government was looking for that mineral in this area to support the war effort. And the Sillimanite here is associated with mica schist and pegmatites.

Waste pile at lower end of the trench

Glancing down to the side from the waste pile, I saw another trench, with a hole at the head!

In the second trench, looking up at the hole. Could this be an adit?

From the opposite side of the trench, another look at the hole

Not expecting to find any underground works today, I hadn't brought any lighting, tripod, or other gear with me. So all I could do was reach down the hole as far as I could and snap a couple of shots!
Early February 2026: Tens days later, I returned with Sheldon, this time bringing along proper lighting and photo equipment for exploring a tunnel / adit.

We stopped at the ridge prospect pit that I'd found on my previous visit. I wanted to get a photo with Sheldon for scale.

As a young sapling, this tree had a woody vine climb and encircle it. As the tree grew, the tough vine constricted the trunk, giving it this spiral shape.

Arriving at the mine / prospect, this is the upper part of the first trench, with the snapped-off tree

Me, holding some mica plates, sitting in the hole from the uprooted tree in the lower waste pile. Photo by Sheldon

Time to explore this hole! After checking to make sure there was no bear making its winter home inside, I slipped down into the adit entrance. I could barely fit, so went down unencumbered, and then Sheldon handed me my pack and gear. Photo by Sheldon

Heading into the adit

Further along...

Sheldon reached down the entrance hole and took this pic of me photographing part way down the adit.

End of the line... Unfortunately this adit wasn't much more than 50 feet deep.

Heading back...

Getting close to the entrance

Looking back...

Just about back, I'd left my pack at the bottom of the initial drop. Sheldon's legs are visible outside the tunnel.

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