Old Mine Tour: The Old Mine

The old mine is the remains of a mining claim worked during the early 1900s.

NPS Photo

Quick Facts

Location:

Old Mine Trail

Amenities

1 listed

Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits

The most extensive mining operation in the Carbon River Area was conducted by the Washington Mining and Milling Company which had between thirty to thirty-eight claims. Most of the claims were filed in 1906, with the company’s peak activity in 1908-1909. However, the locations of many of these claims are not well known and it is believed that some were excuses to get access to illegal timber, instead of being used for mining.

Between 1910-1912, the Government Land Office directed adverse proceedings against twenty-four of the mining claims for lack of assessment work or filed charges of abandonment against the other remaining mining claims owned by the Washington Mining and Milling Company. As a result, the company began relinquished the claims. While some mines did have activity, by at least 1913, all company operations had ceased or been declared invalid for lack of assessment.

The “Old Mine” here is believed to be one of the mines operated by the Washington Mining and Milling Company. A local visitor told Ranger Aubrey Haines in 1950 of working in a nearby mine over 40 years before belonging to the Washington Mining and Milling Company. The company was engaged in taking out a white ore which was found in a clay strata which hardened rapidly on exposure to the air. A notable feature of the mine was an incline railway which was used to lower ore from the mine to the river bottom or possibly a road three hundred feet below. Ranger Haines went out and located the remains of the mine 1951. At the time, the ranger found the remains of a shake building with a cast iron stone and other equipment near the mine entrance. The mine tunnel was six feet by six feet neatly cut into gray crystalline rock. About fifty feet inside the tunnel it took a turn to the right. The ore tracks were still in place. Today the mine entrance remains remarkedly similar to this description from the 1950s, though the entrance has been blocked off for safety (do not attempt to enter the mine further than the closure).