On Thursday morning we hiked up the two mile trail to an old gold mine now abandoned. The scenery on the trail up to the mine was similar to that pictured on the Old Red River Pass page with dark green fir and scattered patches of golden aspen. The late September temperature was fine, rapidly warming from its below freezing morning low two hours earlier. The hike involved about 1,000 feet increase in altitude. I took these pictures around the old mine site.
| Jack and Lucy Ann rest on a bench in front of the old bunk house at the main headquarters area. I understand this mine has not been worked since the 1950's. Apparently it had been productive at various times since its discovery during the 19th century. I was surprised it had not been worked in the 1970's when the price of gold skyrocketed to over $3,000 an ounce. | '
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Additional accommodations on the other side of the camp. |
| This is a point at which the vein of gold bearing rock outcropped. It might have been the original discovery point. The ore was removed from this site many years before. During operations the vein was followed through the mountain and the ore removed. | '
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I think this is the top of the mine shaft leading into the mine passages inside the mountain. |
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Dynamite was stored in the semi-underground "Powder House" shown in this picture. It was used to blast passage through the mountain core following the vein of productive ore. |
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The ore was brought from the mine a few hundred feet away where the large stone chunks were crushed by this machine. The process involved several dozen steel cylinders oscillating up and pounding down into the ore. In other words on the down stroke the rods pushed into the ore with force great enough to break them into pieces. The crushed ore was hauled by wagon or truck to a mill where a chemical extraction process was completed. |
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