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Post by vegasjames on Jan 13, 2019 1:20:56 GMT -5
Was out looking for the source on a small agate I had found on one of my trips to Reno with Jax. Ran across a couple of mines up a wash we drove up. The first looks like a slate mine.
Slightly further up ran across this old coal mine. Never knew we had coal in Nevada. Did some research on it and turned out to be a high quality clean coal but as with many mines here the mines closed down after the railroad pulled out making transport too costly.
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Post by aDave on Jan 13, 2019 1:27:40 GMT -5
As desolate as that is, it's beautiful in its own right. Very neat to see.
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Post by rockpickerforever on Jan 13, 2019 1:47:56 GMT -5
Beautiful location, great pix. The lighting in the seventh one is terrific. And, as always, Jax is awesome!
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Post by rockjunquie on Jan 13, 2019 9:27:41 GMT -5
Great pictures, as always. These are places I'll never see, so thanks. I love seeing them, too, because I love to pick out Jax. She is such a ham. I think there was only one picture without her.
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Post by rockpickerforever on Jan 13, 2019 9:43:15 GMT -5
rockjunquie , you noticed that too, huh? Lol. I had to look through all the photos and "Find Jax" as well. She is so photogenic.
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Jan 13, 2019 9:54:27 GMT -5
Great pictures and I always look for Jax, too. I'm always saying in my head, "Jax, don't go to close to that hole!" Like she doesn't already know that.
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Post by fernwood on Jan 13, 2019 10:23:23 GMT -5
Wonderful things to explore with Jax. Thanks for sharing the photos. I too, will probably never see a mine like this in person, so thanks for taking me along on the trip.
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victor1941
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since November 2011
Posts: 1,978
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Post by victor1941 on Jan 13, 2019 11:17:56 GMT -5
Super clear and great pictures as always. I enjoy the pictures because of the picturesque places that you visit and in this case pictures that record the effort of early prospectors and miners to find valuable resources. Even though you should"t go into the tunnels I still would like to know what the insides look like.
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RWA3006
Cave Dweller
Member since March 2009
Posts: 4,175
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Post by RWA3006 on Jan 13, 2019 14:18:31 GMT -5
I really enjoyed your pics. I never really thought of Nevada as coal country. What probably shut the mine down was when the rail road went from coal fired locomotives to diesel.
As you travel the I-80 route through Southern Wyoming you can observe how the rail road parallels the highway. Major towns along the route had water and coal resources to service the steam locomotives. When the trains converted to diesel these towns took a hit to their economy. I've found many old coal mines in these areas.
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Post by vegasjames on Jan 13, 2019 20:30:05 GMT -5
Great pictures and I always look for Jax, too. I'm always saying in my head, "Jax, don't go to close to that hole!" Like she doesn't already know that. When I first got her she had a little fear of heights. We had made a trip to Elgin and I was bringing down over 100 pounds of calcite . We had a real steep slope to go down with a dry waterfall at the bottom and lots of loose rock. As I headed down I kept calling her to follow me and she was just sitting up on a boulder whimpering. So I had to get off to the side of the waterfall to drop the pack then climb back up and carry her down. Ever since that day she will not let me help her going up and down the mountains.
I have to watch her closely around mines though because she loves going in to the mines and exploring them and she has gotten way too close for comfort to some vertical shafts. I am always nervous to yell at her when she does that because I don't want to spook her or draw her attention away.
A funny story. The club took a trip up to some mines several hours North of here. It was a hot day up there and there was a mine that was blowing out cold air. Well Jax sneaked off in to the mine as was apparently a ways back in the pitch black of the mine. Some of the club members ha gone in to check out the mine. One of the members was back where Jax was and could not see her. He said all he could hear was her breathing. I think he had to change his shorts after that.
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Post by vegasjames on Jan 13, 2019 20:47:47 GMT -5
Super clear and great pictures as always. I enjoy the pictures because of the picturesque places that you visit and in this case pictures that record the effort of early prospectors and miners to find valuable resources. Even though you should"t go into the tunnels I still would like to know what the insides look like. I did not go in to this mine in part because I do not collect coal, and it did not look stable and it was just Jax and I. I do have some pics from the inside of some other mines though.
Copper mine:
From this mine:
Another copper mine:
Another copper and turquoise mine:
From this mine:
I have some other pics from inside of some of the mines. I have to find them.
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Post by vegasjames on Jan 13, 2019 20:56:01 GMT -5
I really enjoyed your pics. I never really thought of Nevada as coal country. What probably shut the mine down was when the rail road went from coal fired locomotives to diesel. As you travel the I-80 route through Southern Wyoming you can observe how the rail road parallels the highway. Major towns along the route had water and coal resources to service the steam locomotives. When the trains converted to diesel these towns took a hit to their economy. I've found many old coal mines in these areas. Most my family are Nevada natives and none of us knew we had coal here. Found a good article of the coal deposits though:
In the map you can see where the railroad used to run. I don't know why they stopped and pulled up all the track but this was the nail in the coffin for a number of Nevada mines. For instance one mine I know of was opened in the late 1800s and operated until 1979. When the railroad pulled out they had to truck their ore to Las Vegas, which eventually became too costly and they could not compete with foreign imports with the added cost and so they finally shut down.
There used to be another small railroad out by Goodsprings, Nevada. You can see where the track use to run but all the track has been pulled up.
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mossyrockhound
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since January 2011
Posts: 1,278
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Post by mossyrockhound on Jan 13, 2019 22:30:24 GMT -5
Thanks for posting this James! It looks like you've got a real "rockhound" with Jax. Very cool pictures of both the mines and your finds.
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Post by MsAli on Jan 13, 2019 22:30:44 GMT -5
The snake would of made me change my pants Do ya'll have cats there? I'm pretty sure there isnt bears ?
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quartz
Cave Dweller
breakin' rocks in the hot sun
Member since February 2010
Posts: 3,340
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Post by quartz on Jan 14, 2019 0:37:21 GMT -5
Thanks for the trip coverage and all the nice pics. Interesting places and great finds.
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Post by vegasjames on Jan 14, 2019 1:37:10 GMT -5
The snake would of made me change my pants Do ya'll have cats there? I'm pretty sure there isnt bears ? The snake is just a Great Basin gopher snake. Large constrictor, but not poisonous. The unnerving part was when that started hissing. We were in the pitch black of the back of the mine and all of a sudden it sounded like a very loud gas leak. When I looked around I found the snake. Even Jax froze when that started hissing. I made her wait by the mine entrance after that while I picked up the stones.
We do have mountain lions and they occasionally come down in to town.
Bears are an issue in Northern Nevada along with skunks and porcupines.
When I was a kid I was up in Valley of Fire at Mouse's Tank with the Scouts. I had climbed up a cliff and was checking things out when a bunch of the Scouts below were running down the Canyon yelling "bear, bear". If there was one I did not see it so I don't know what they saw. Valley of Fire is about 40 miles North of here.
My biggest concern with Jax is coyotes. There have been a lot of dogs snatched from yards and from what I heard one of the local dog parks here by coyotes. Sometimes one will draw the dog out to a waiting pack. So when I walk Jax she wears a reflective vest so cars can see her but I walk her without a leash because I am training her to not chase cats or dogs she sees on our walks and making sure she will come to me when I call her even if she is chasing something. I have had a couple of neighbors get upset because she is not a leash but training her for safety is more important than a couple of grumpy neighbors. And she is protective but not vicious.
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Post by rockjunquie on Jan 14, 2019 8:38:56 GMT -5
James, how old is Jax? She has to be getting up there.
I used to do a lot of fishing in Florida. I had a fishing dog. She would sit patiently with me for my pole to dip. Then she would get all excited and run down to the shore to see what I pulled up. If it was small, sometimes I would throw it to her instead of throwing it back. She would play with it and then devour it. She was about the size of Jax. A golden lab mix. I loved that dog.
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victor1941
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since November 2011
Posts: 1,978
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Post by victor1941 on Jan 14, 2019 14:20:31 GMT -5
Thanks for the mine pictures. Do you own any of the mines and if you do how do you remove the material without fractures?
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Post by MsAli on Jan 14, 2019 14:33:36 GMT -5
The snake would of made me change my pants Do ya'll have cats there? I'm pretty sure there isnt bears ? The snake is just a Great Basin gopher snake. Large constrictor, but not poisonous. The unnerving part was when that started hissing. We were in the pitch black of the back of the mine and all of a sudden it sounded like a very loud gas leak. When I looked around I found the snake. Even Jax froze when that started hissing. I made her wait by the mine entrance after that while I picked up the stones.
We do have mountain lions and they occasionally come down in to town.
Bears are an issue in Northern Nevada along with skunks and porcupines.
When I was a kid I was up in Valley of Fire at Mouse's Tank with the Scouts. I had climbed up a cliff and was checking things out when a bunch of the Scouts below were running down the Canyon yelling "bear, bear". If there was one I did not see it so I don't know what they saw. Valley of Fire is about 40 miles North of here.
My biggest concern with Jax is coyotes. There have been a lot of dogs snatched from yards and from what I heard one of the local dog parks here by coyotes. Sometimes one will draw the dog out to a waiting pack. So when I walk Jax she wears a reflective vest so cars can see her but I walk her without a leash because I am training her to not chase cats or dogs she sees on our walks and making sure she will come to me when I call her even if she is chasing something. I have had a couple of neighbors get upset because she is not a leash but training her for safety is more important than a couple of grumpy neighbors. And she is protective but not vicious.
Ive known wolves to do that, but Yotes are rarely in packs, usually pairs and prefer to hunt solo. They will kill smaller dogs and ive watched them "play" with domestic dogs usually not with good outcomes True story- my wolf Cuyuna liked to "lure" dogs into the yard. Most of the time they were males and I watched her decapitate a shi tzu one day (the neighbor never knew what happened to his dog) *never could figure out why she did that. Training a dog to down on command even if running (chasing) is critical or a recall command Ive seen too many dogs get into situations that could of been avoided with good training
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Post by parfive on Jan 14, 2019 15:41:03 GMT -5
This wolf’s a persistent bugger.
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