If you're a history buff, you might want to read about the history of the mine HERE that CountryBoy and I toured last Saturday. It has a colorful history that I found interesting even though I'm not a history buff. But, for the sake of the majority of my readers, I'll spare you the details on this post if you're only interested in the photos!
I discovered the mine tour online while looking for some local sightseeing possibilities. It looked interesting so we decided to check it out.
Can I just say, what a great place for the entire family to visit!
We started out in a little museum where our guide shared a bit of the mine's history with us. He was an excellent story teller and kept your attention, making sure to include even the children when he spoke.
We even got to see a clip from the movie '3000 Miles to Graceland' that was filmed here. The scene we saw involved this gas pump...
A plane was also blown up in the film and here are the remnants of that...
Pretty cool, huh?!
After hearing some history, seeing some old photos and antiquities from the town and mine we headed across to the street to the mine entrance.
The entrance is underneath the brown metal roof in the above photo.
Ready to go in?
The shaft was pretty tall but anyone over 6'4" would have to be careful and walk bent over.
Can you see the candle and candle holder sticking in the wall just above the lantern?
That was how the mine was originally lit and all the light that the workers had to work by.
Our guide lit a candle and then turned the lantern lights out. When the guide asked for a volunteer to blow the candle out when asked CountryBoy jumped at the chance! Boy, did it get dark in there!
Here's a few more shots from inside the mine. (I'll spare you the story of the bird cage.)
It was very cool in there (literally and physically) and was quite a successful mine in its day.
There are still about 2 million dollars worth of gold and silver in there but it would cost double that to actually mine it so there it will stay.
The current owners of the mine and several surrounding acres of property have been preserving old, original buildings and adding new ones. Like this really cool looking barn filled to the brim with antiques...
You could look around in there all day long and still not see all the stuff in there...
Here's a cropped image of the same photo...
See what I mean?
I love old trucks and CountryBoy is a fan of Dodge trucks in particular. Here's an old Dodge...
I also love old electrical and phone insulators...
Back home, these glass phone insulators cost a fortune at antique stores and even flea markets. Here, they're all over the place...
As I mentioned before, we thoroughly enjoyed visiting the mine and visiting a little piece of history.
From there, we headed about five miles down to the Colorado River. The ore from the mine was taken down to the river via donkey. Can you imagine going five miles by way of a donkey carrying or pulling a heavy load? Whew!
I'll share the beautiful Colorado River photos in another post.
I hope you enjoyed our little sightseeing excursion. If you're ever in the Las Vegas area I would encourage you to add this to your list of things to see and do. Nevada's more than just lots of lights and gambling!
Till next time,
5 comments:
Thanks for the tour. I love old pickups too.
leaving the plane there from the movie was interesting. yeah, the canaries did not have a good job...
Fantastic photos ! Thanks for taking us there it was awesome ! Have a great day !
Thanks for sparing the birdcage story...it kind of ties to the old addage about firefighters calling deputies "green canaries"...I'll have to fill you in on that one sometime! haha The colors in your photos are gorgeous, by the way. :)
This is the kind of sightseeing I love to do! What an awesome find. Your photos and description made me want to book a flight. That old blue desk in the store is pretty sweet. And the blown up plane from the movie...wow.
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