Weekend Roundup: Updated
For a Sunday drive I headed up into the foothill gold Country and Empire Mine SP in Grass Valley, in operation for about a century with a yield of 5.8 million ounces of gold from 367 miles of tunnels to many thousands of feet deep.
The Rowe headframe from a later side shaft, there is stiil alot of gold in this hill, estimates are at only 20% recovered but hard rock mining is expensive, difficult and not profitable at this time.
Another reason to visit this historic site this time of year
The office, click the pick to enlarge and read the signs
Offices and mine rescue headquarters
Part of the huge heirloom rose gardens and mine superintendant's house, the grounds are beautiful and a popular spot for weddings and other events.
Reflection pool
A medium sized stamp mill used to crush the ore and then the gold is recovered with a mercury and cyanide chemical process, every camp had one of some size, the main ones here were massive.
The main Empire shaft extending nearly a mile down some 4700 feet
Your ride to work, a dozen miners would crouch on the sled for the ride in and out which could take awhile to reach the depths.
What they were digging for, gold, some examples of rich ore
A very rich piece, this is vein gold, placer gold is what the nuggets found in streams are called, the result of erosion of a vein.A couple must reads from The American Thinker , James Arlandsen on why the Muslims hate the Jews and Christions, because Mohammed did, and Ray Robison on the growing divisions in Islamist extremism. This is one of my favorite sites as a webzine/blog, always informative on a wide range of issues.
Plus, do not miss Dr. Spencer's series at HotAir on the Qu'ran, The Opening.
The comments are worth reading as well.
Update: John Wayne's "Chisolm"is on, the perfect movie for tonight, for the Goat at least.
3 comments:
ah nice post my friend..now wheres my gold huh?..lol :)
These pictures sure do bring back memories. I grew up around gold mines. Lot's of them! My father worked gold mines until I was about 15 when he went into construction as a master welder. At 14 I gave guided tours through a gold mine in Virginia City during summer vacation. Well, actually the mine itself was in Silver City, a couple miles south of Virginia City. Silver City hasn't actually been a town for many, many years, but it's still called that. As a kid I also panned for gold a lot. Didn't have much luck though. :(
I enjoyed the pics. Thanks. :)
I have not been to the Virginia City area other than passing through. If the fish ain't biting break out the pan and hope to find a nugget, lol.
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