Channel Title: Western Mine Detective Channel Description: On this channel, we uncover the secrets of the West's long abandoned mines and ghost towns. We go further than most, whether it's embarking on several day backpacking trips or driving miles on rutted dirt roads. My goal is to explore these sites and document them in order to preserve their legacy and the history behind them. Tune in on Mondays at 2:30 PM PST to learn about mining history and see rare footage that would otherwise be lost to time. Be aware, some sites I either change the name or completely omit the name in order to prevent further damage. These sites are sacred to me and many others, if you want to see these places please do the proper research and searching just like I had to. These videos are intended for entertainment purposes only. *Warning* I DO NOT endorse entering abandoned mines and structures. Hazards include but are not limited to: bad air, drop-offs, unstable dynamite, rotting timbers, animals and collapse. Tag along and enjoy the show! <video> Unexpected Open Stope Leads to a 3 Level Lead/Copper Mine Description: This mine site was my second choice due to my first spot having the road closed going up to it. Got some pretty sick drone shots of this mine and I was quite surprised seeing that it was an open stope instead of the typical vertical/inclined shafts and adits that I'm used to seeing. This three level mine had some decent artifacts and features, hope you guys enjoy this one! </video> <video> Rugged and Overgrown Hike to this 1800's Ghost Town (Part 2) Description: Hey guys! In this second part of this series I check out several of the surrounding cabins at this ghost town as well as the original mill building foundations and massive brick smokestack which towers above the town site! I also hiked 1k feet above the town to check out two mine sites which had all sorts of cool equipment and machinery including a portable air compressor, blower and motor and even some ore cars! This was definitely a really special explore and hope you guys enjoy this one.. </video> <video> Exploring a Sketchy Death Valley Talc Mine Description: Due to me being away for a bit, I had to use some of my old footage to compensate.. this video was taken way back in Nov 2022. At the time it was pretty cold and I wanted to warm up with a good ol mine explore. This talc and soapstone mine is quite unique in that many of its original artifacts are in place including a drill, Ingersoll Rand tugger and even two rolling timber cars! This was also a pretty sketchy mine considering mining talc creates unstable ground, hence all the timbering and shoring they put up. Even then it's not enough to save some portions of the mine. Hope you guys enjoy! </video> <video> Exploring the Tramview Mine and Cabin Description: Despite being sick and my voice sounding pretty raspy, I still decided to record a video of this explore. And by all means I'm glad I did! This was a really cool trip and definitely plan to return for a round 2 to check out the upper levels of this mine. Lots of interesting features at this mine including a railed trestle, aerial tram with intact towers, and miner's cabin. I explored the lower workings of this mine and it proved quite extensive. Hope you guys enjoy! </video> <video> A Particularly Remote Hike to the Buckthorn Mine and Cabin Description: To reach this mine and cabin, I hiked a total of around 18 miles roundtrip. In my opinion the trek and slog to this site was well worth the effort! I seen some really cool artifacts inside the mine including multiple motor oil cans, dynamite boxes, grease cans, bottles and outside there was even an engine and hoist setup fully intact. It's pretty rare to see a mine with all the working parts still in place, hell even the rail is usually stripped out especially right inside the portal. I spent the night inside the cabin so I could explore most of the mine workings but even then I still didn't get to see everything. Definitely warrants a part 2 and I'd like to restore the cabin to some length, sad to see it in such a state of deterioration. Hope y'all enjoy this one. </video> <video> Equipment Galore at this Gold Mine and Mill Description: This was a quick and sweet explore of this 1800's gold mine and the mill which was worked intermittently up until the 1980's. There is an inclined shaft which goes down about 40 feet before the shaft is flooded, while the mill included some pretty sweet equipment and machinery such as a Dodge Rock Breaker, huge ball mill, shaker tables, large chemical vats and much more! Hope y'all enjoy this one. </video> <video> Exploring an Extensive 1880's Silver Mine Description: On this explore my buddy Nick @northpeakadventures and I explored this late 1800's silver mine which is still packed with quite a few awesome artifacts including 1800's pieces of newspaper, dynamite box pieces, square nails and much more. We didn't get to explore all of this one on this trip so will have to return to this one and finish it up. Hope you guys enjoy! </video> <video> Walking the Plank on Water Flume Description: Walking this water flume/conduit, the wooden planks were super sketchy and rotted out. I heard rattlers regularly get stuck in the flume as they can't find a way out. Didn't see any on this trip.. </video> <video> Investigating a 1960's Train Derailment and Sketchy Tunnel #7 Description: This was more of a spontaneous hike and explore and I left with not too much sunlight to spare. On this trip I was hiking along the Impossible Railroad and checked out the site of a 1964 train derailment as well as the burnt out Tunnel 7 which is pretty close by. The hike down to the Coors crate and yellow boxcar was very rocky and steep but really cool to see as not many have gotten the chance to see it up close. Going deep into the collapsing Tunnel #7 was sketchy to say the least. Hope you guys enjoy this one! </video> <video> Rugged and Overgrown Hike to this 1800's Ghost Town (Part 1) Description: I've had this hike on my bucket list for about 5 years and finally pulled the trigger and decided to make the trip up here! I embarked on this 3 day backpacking trip equipped with all the essentials, freeze dried food, enough water to sustain me at least 2 days as there is substantial spring water on site, many layers of clothes and extra pairs of socks as the hike requires traversing the creek itself. On the way up, this close to 7 mile hike took me 6 and a half hours, with a good bit of routefinding especially in the overgrown sections along the creek. Seen many interesting things along the hike including a few long abandoned vehicles, amazing and luscious waterfalls and closer to the town many remnants of stone structures! Hope you guys enjoy this one and stick around for Part 2! </video> <video> Discovering Large Veins of Silver Bearing Galena in this Remote Mine Description: On this second day of exploring several remote mine sites and cabins, I offroaded up to this particular mine which is quite extensive and had many cool features and artifacts. There were several winzes and manways to check out, old oil cans, antifreeze, lube compound, fuse spools and boxes among many other relics. In the upper levels I came upon one of the nicest veins of galena, or silver/lead ore which was almost an electric blue color. I'm sure these specimens were very high grade in silver. Lots to see in this one, hope you guys enjoy! </video> <video> Quartz Crystals and Mycelium Galore: The TinTic Mine Description: Let's go a little bit off script, shall we? For this explore since I literally almost lost my voice from being sick, my buddy Daniel became WMD for the day. I think he did an amazing job narrating and showing all the mine had to offer, what do you guys think? And we had such a blast scrounging around looking for clear quartz crystals in the muck. Huge thanks to my buddies for making this explore so fun: to Daniel, other Daniel, Marcus, Owen, Nick, Johnny and Ivy. This was a fun ass trip. Hope you guys enjoy! </video> <video> Finding A Railroad Worker's Camp and Native Pictographs! Description: This was quite the offroading and hiking trip, my main goal for the day was to find a Native shelter/cave that I heard about and wanted to figure out its whereabouts. Along the way I so happened to stumble upon one of the largest can/bottle dumps I've ever come across, along with one of the dug out rock lined shelters that the railroad workers used to reside in back in the 1910's and 20's. I was so close to giving up the search until I happened across a group of morteros or grinding stones, with the cave situated right behind them! In the cave there's still remnants of thousand year old pictographs depicting scenes I could not speak on. Hope y'all enjoy! </video> <video> Sunset from an Aircraft Carrier #sunset #navy #shorts Description: </video> <video> Remote Miner’s Cabins in a Joshua Tree Wonderland Description: First offroad trip in my "new" Tacoma and she did great! Checked out a couple miner's cabins and a few of the mines associated with the site. Enjoy! </video>

Description

On this channel, we uncover the secrets of the West's long abandoned mines and ghost towns. We go further than most, whether it's embarking on several day backpacking trips or driving miles on rutted dirt roads. My goal is to explore these sites and document them in order to preserve their legacy and the history behind them. Tune in on Mondays at 2:30 PM PST to learn about mining history and see rare footage that would otherwise be lost to time.

Be aware, some sites I either change the name or completely omit the name in order to prevent further damage. These sites are sacred to me and many others, if you want to see these places please do the proper research and searching just like I had to. These videos are intended for entertainment purposes only.

*Warning*
I DO NOT endorse entering abandoned mines and structures. Hazards include but are not limited to: bad air, drop-offs, unstable dynamite, rotting timbers, animals and collapse.

Tag along and enjoy the show!

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