Ghost town or old mining town trails?

[scott.475]

Are there any ghost town or old mine town type trails around that anyone knows about? You know, a trail that might be moderately hard, but is mostly for sight-seeing, etc. I used to go through a lot of ghost towns when I lived in Colorado, and I don't expect as many out here, but there must be some. I did the Liberty run several years ago, don't remember a whole lot about it, but I remember it being kind of like what I'm talking about.

[NWToy]

Not to many around here, up past Lake CleElum and Salmon LaSac there is Vans Epps Pass with ends at an old mining camp and there are a few other little spur roads that lead to old mines but nothing that challenging trailwise

[BadSeed]

hop on the ferry and come over to the island(vancouver island B.C), there's some old ghost towns and mining towns here.

[WATRD]

Scott, find yourself a well detailed topo map of the Mt. Baker area and look at all the mines listed on there. The older maps are better and will list more of the mines off the beaten track.

When I was first starting out in the off road game, in Bellingham in the early 80's, we used to make a list of several mines in the same area, then go seek out what remained of the trails up to them.

Some of them were impassable, but many of them still had trails that could be picked out with a few educated guesses. There are literally hundreds of abandoned mines and what remains of their encampments up there, even today.

A fun place for you to start would be the "Silvertip" gold mine. That was one of the more difficult ones to find, from just a spot on the map, but one of the most rewarding. The buildings were almost completely intact and much of the mining equipment was still in the mine, including a huge compressor they brought up in pieces on the backs of mules, air hammers, dynamite crates, etc.

[scott.475]

Great idea Rob, thanks.

[WATRD]

My pleasure. And, by the way, if you venture up to any mines in the Mt. Baker area, look for a plastic jug, just inside the entrance to to the mine itself. Inside will be as much history as I could find about each mine and a guestbook. An early version of Geo Caching if you will :) I used to maintain the guest registers on a rotating basis, so they got looked at every five years or so, but I have been kind of lax during the past decade. Oh well, it's not like they were ever in any danger of filling up ;) There's at least a dozen mines I tagged that way... Perhaps once the snow clears, I will go and "rediscover" them again this summer :)

[pokey]

Originally posted by WATRD
My pleasure. And, by the way, if you venture up to any mines in the Mt. Baker area, look for a plastic jug, just inside the entrance to to the mine itself. Inside will be as much history as I could find about each mine and a guestbook. An early version of Geo Caching if you will :) I used to maintain the guest registers on a rotating basis, so they got looked at every five years or so, but I have been kind of lax during the past decade. Oh well, it's not like they were ever in any danger of filling up ;) There's at least a dozen mines I tagged that way... Perhaps once the snow clears, I will go and "rediscover" them again this summer :)

Rob, Please oh please let me tag along:bounce1: This is one of the main reasons I bought a 4x4 for in the first place 25 years ago and I still love to go rockhounding and mine searching just cant seem to find others who enjoy both sports/ hobbys:( jim

[WATRD]

Sure thing. If I get something going for this summer, I will post and see if I can find a few people who are looking for a day of dead ends and turning around ;)

I started wheeling in search of views and that is still my number one reason for going out. Along the way I have enjoyed some mines, some gold panning, what ever happens to present itself :) I wheel for the sake of wheeling, but its nice to have a destination/activity for the day as well sometimes :)

[NWToy]

I would most definitely be interested, used to do the same thing down in So Cal and in the Sierras.

[EvilToyMaker]

We too, enjoy seeing a part of our history around here and have stumbled across one or two, here and there. Sure would be nice to have information passed along from others about places such as said topic. :bounce1:

[WATRD]

I recently got word of a few abandoned mines in the Carbonado area that I am thinking of taking a look at when the snow clears. From what I understand, the wheeling is nothing to write home about, but they do require a 4x4 to get to them, so that's something...

[NWToy]

Just exploring new areas and seeing the history is fun enough in itself

[scott.475]

Originally posted by NWToy
Just exploring new areas and seeing the history is fun enough in itself

Exactly. We all can go ;wheeling all over the place, but it is what you said that I was really looking for in this post. Perfect.

Rob, you know your getting old when you track time in decades!

[WATRD]

Originally posted by scott.475
Rob, you know your getting old when you track time in decades!

Doh! I thought about that after I posted it and hoped no one would notice... I am dating myself...

[Scooter]

:cool: I'd be up fpr a minning trip also..keep us posted:bounce2:

[Comet]

I would love to join as well. I've lived here all my life and used to hike to mines as a kid and really wanted to wheel to some, but know nothing about where to find them.

[notstock]

I have done a little research on this subject myself. Here are some interesting links I have found.

Old Mineral surveys & plat maps, shows the location of old mines - http://landprx.pdxproxy.blm.gov/Online-Records.asp
Drill down on the map & open some of the mineral survey files. There are old mine survey maps including latitude and longitude.
You need Adobe Acrobat for this one & a fast connection.

Names of mines and minerals associated with them -
http://www.mineralcouncil.org/index.htm
go to other resources, locality database

Huge database -
http://www.mindat.org/loc-17476.html

That is all

:)

[notstock]

I spaced, we have been using a gps & laptop with a mapping program that shows where you are on a topo map (within ~50 feet or so) to find physical locations.

[magicbrains]

I would be interested in some minesite exploration as well. Here is a ghosttowns link, few are 4wd required and several I know of are not listed but it was the best I could find.

http://www.ghosttowns.com/

[pokey]

Dont forget for your own safety that many mining claims are still in force and miners tend to be a parinoid lot. So always watch for no trespassing signs and be on the lookout for hermit types living in who knows what type of dwelling. I say this from experiance. Once while doing some rockhounding in northeren Idaho we ran across this fella living in a 16 ' trailer buried under a slash pile (I kid you not) anyway this fella was activly mining a quartz claim and still believed they had value for radios (ww II stuff) since a local rock shop about 40 miles away was buying material from him for collecters. Long story anyway a 12 gauge looks REAL big 2"inches from your nose. oh yea and there wasnt a road or vehicle withen 5 miles of this guy.
I wont even get into safty of mines except if it has wood timbers holding it up its not safe ( thats why they put the timbers up ) and by now most are rotten. and oh yea bring dry clothes the waters cold and can be VERY deep.

[WATRD]

Agreed on all accounts.

And I will add that you need to careful poking your nose up some of the stub roads as well. We were out wandering one afternoon, mapping possiblities for the next weekend and wandered up a stub road. About a mile off the beaten path, we encountered a group of heavily armed men. We came around a bend and there they were ahead of us. They started shouting and waving their guns and we popped it in reverse and stomped on the the throttle. It's the only time I have ever wheeled, at speed, in reverse.

I don't know to this day, whether we tripped across a grow, a still or a meeting of some militia group, but it was spooky :(

As far as the mines go, some are relatively safe to enter for a ways, others are in immediate danger of falling down around you. Enter at your own risk. In a side tunnel of one of them, we found a box of very old, very sweaty dynamite and quietly retraced our footsteps the hell out of there!

[Jeepasaurusrex]

While out hunting around Nighthawk (north-central eastern WA) I came across several abandoned mines. There was also lots of abandoned roads that would be a nice challange to wheel. The are doesnt have alot of trees, and you can wheel almost anywhere. :redneck:

[Zorm]

mines and ghost towns, heck yes, Keep me posted.

[briejer]

I spent quite a bit of time checking out old mines. The highest concentration of safe ones to go in are around Sultan Basin,Silvercreek,Index,Miller river and Money creek. My ex and I spent two summers checking them out, some small some HUGE. Sunset is huge, Buckeye still has dynamite in it,King and Kinney mines have quite a bit of equiptment in them, I found a hugedrill machine in Coney Basin mine. I believe it was Sunset that has a 3 story building still standing in it. Then there as 4-5 in the Retier area I'm familiar with, Coperbelle being the largest. Lake Serene has 2-3 and don't forget the ones on the way to Lake Issabelle 3 there for sure.the end of Miller River trail I found 5 up there. If any of you are interested I has a really good book on most of these, with maps and warnings. The biggest danger is'nt cave ins,it's lack of oxygen so be full of care!!!

[Crusty Jeep]

Originally posted by briejer
If any of you are interested I has a really good book on most of these, with maps and warnings.:eek:
I'm interested. Anything in digital format you can email? I'd love to see those maps. Hey, if you have GPS coords maybe PM a few of the good ones?

[briejer]

Originally posted by CrustyJeep
:eek:
I'm interested. Anything in digital format you can email? I'd love to see those maps. Hey, if you have GPS coords maybe PM a few of the good ones?

The book is published by Oso Publishing It is titled "Discovering Washingtons Historic Mines". There is a group called "Northwest Underground Explorations" They wrote the book. Sorry just a book, nothing to Email, and no GPS. Just get out in the woods , the hills up there are littered with mines.

[NWToy]

Sounds like this spring or summer we need to get together, compare notes and do some exploring and in the mean time do some research

[Jeepasaurusrex]

I remember when I was a kid, a friend of ours owned a mine up out of Monte Cristo. You were able to drive in there at that time. We used to hike up to the mine, drop our big stuff off, then continue up the valley over a saddle, and drop into 2 lakes that were full of trout. I cant remember the name of his mine, but his name was Chuck (Charles) Larson. Not sure if it would be listed in any books or not. He passed away about 15yrs ago.

[notstock]

Sounds like you hiked up to Twin Lakes.

[Jeepasaurusrex]

Thats the name of it.. Been a long time.

[MogCrazy]

Damn I was just looking at that www.ghosttowns.com website the other night thinking of a few good trails to pioneer this summer. Definately count me in and keep me posted:bounce1:

[zukione]

:cool: I am down so be sure to get in touch with me thanx abunch sounds like a blast :cool:

[Willis]

Originally posted by briejer
The book is published by Oso Publishing It is titled "Discovering Washingtons Historic Mines". There is a group called "Northwest Underground Explorations" They wrote the book. Sorry just a book, nothing to Email, and no GPS. Just get out in the woods , the hills up there are littered with mines.

I just looked up this book at amazon.com, it's $185. Is there a price published on the cover at all, or is this the real price?

*edit* I just realized that is the used price. They don't stock it new, so maybe it's out of circulation and someone thinks their copy is gold? New, it's $24.95

[pokey]

I bought a copy a couple of years ago at the Washington state history museum in Tacoma for about $25.00 dont know if they still stock it but you could call.

[briejer]

Originally posted by Willis
I just looked up this book at amazon.com, it's $185. Is there a price published on the cover at all, or is this the real price?

*edit* I just realized that is the used price. They don't stock it new, so maybe it's out of circulation and someone thinks their copy is gold? New, it's $24.95

If you can't find one, and you can't live without one, come down to Puyallup and grab mine, then go to Kinkos.

[Ben W]

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/results.asp?WRD=Discovering+Washingtons+HIstoric+m ines&userid=2ZYLYA6TZB&cds2Pid=946

[sc044]

Yeep, I would be down to go for sure this summer if it is on a weekend, my brother would probably go..Both zuki's..

Later, Scott

[WATRD]

This thread got me to looking back through some of my old mine archives, then someone PM'd me looking for more details, so I thought I would go ahead and post one of the topo's.

This is the location of of the "Silvertip" Gold Mine, which I mentioned earlier, was one of the most rewarding ones to find, once we figured how to get to it.

http://www.watrd.com/work/silvertip.jpg

And here's the recollection of a guy who remembers when it was still active. http://www.mountbakerclub.org/memoriesa.htm Although he only mentions it in passing.