The Mine

A short distance up the mountain that rises one thousand feet behind the ranch buildings, there is a mine dump. I don't know the total history of the mine that created the huge discharge of dirt and rock but I can relate some of what I was told from family members.

Sometime around 1930 there was another push to find gold. With the economy depressed people looked for any money where it could be found. In my wanderings over the years I have stumbled upon many test holes. Sometimes not much more than depressions in the earth but if you really looked there is usually some evidence that the dirt and rock were deliberately piled, usually on one side. I don't know why one place would look better than another. Eventually, a mine was started.

The description I was given of the mine may lead one to believe it wasn't much of a mine. I think that almost any sized mine would have been a pretty good undertaking when being bug by hand. This one went into the side of the mountain about seventy-five, ending in a pit ten to twelve feet deep. A short distance in there was an alcove dug out for tools and supplies.

For all their efforts there wasn't much gold to be found. Below the mine a ways there were a roughly constructed set of buildings. My dad's family lived there when they became a little over extended on their livestock. I was told that because of the cool temperature of the mine the milk and cream were stored inside. This wasn't just a few steps, more like a fifteen minute climb to the mine with however much you could carry.

By the time I arrived on the scene, 34 years ago, mother nature had begun to reclaim her own. Part of the entrance had caved in. Not a very inviting place to go into. Standing in front you could feel the cool, damp air rising from within. Over the years it would change from time to time. One time it would be collapsed in completely and the next time there would be more caved in to reveal an opening to the abyss.

Several years ago a cousin and some of his friends were here for an end of summer camping trip before going back to school. A few days after they went home I received a call from a state mine inspector. It seems there was enough of an opening that all five of the lads thought it a good idea to go in. I was a little upset but they lived. That was the good news. They also found something in the alcove that they took back to town, and school. The TV news report didn't name names, they just said that the dynamite the boys had came from a ranch in this area. It was dated 1935. The only thing that saved their lives was the fact that the temperature and humidity remained pretty constant so it was stable. Then I was real upset. I had no idea they were even up there. It could have been very, very bad.

Everything turned out well. The inspector looked at the ever so small opening the kids climbed through and just shook his head. He suggested I seal the opening. Time has done that for me again...so far.