Abandoned Ontario Gold Mine
May 30, 2006 by rockwatching
Originally uploaded by Mic2006.
This is Grant Rose, a retired uranium miner and my wild and crazy guide. We spent the day exploring the forested hillside of what was once the Eldorado gold field. Some 80 pits pock the forest. It is a cedar tangle that is so thick that at times it is almost impenetrable.
In the photo Grant squats beside the entrance to a shaft. At the bottom of this hole he found an old carbide light and by the ochre-stained strata above and various other clues I had begun to suspect that this was the famed “Richardson Mine”. While searching for copper an old prospector had the earth cave in beneath him and he toppled into a small cavern. It’s walls were rimmed with gold sheets and the coarse, black, sand on the floor was peppered with nuggets. One such lump was as big as a butternut. The gold yield, in total, was over 3000 ounces.
This fantastic find generated a gold rush. Hundreds of adventurers flocked here from as far away as the Klondike. Today the bush just north of Madoc is a fascinating living museum. Its exhibits can be discovered by the explorer, seen for the first time since they were forgotten over 100 years ago. There are abandoned adits like these, deep moss lined shafts and an old building that is collapsing into rubble. It is even possible to pan a fine flour gold from the local rivers and it is whispered amongst the panning community that there is better to be had if you know where to look.
SEE OTHER ROCKHOUNDING RELATED POSTS (see archives in the sidebar to the right);
- ONTARIO FLUOROSPAR MINES - A ROCKHOUND PARADISE (MAY 16TH)
- CRAIGMONT CORUNDUM MINE - ONTARIO SAPPHIRES IN THE ROUGH (MAY 13TH)
So you go down holes in the ground with crazy looking hillibillies? Now that’s extreme!
Now Now Mr. Angry, calm yourself, youre liable to have an embolism. By the way, I enjoyed reading your site last night. It seems angry people put out some good stuff. I read a blog by “The Angry Canadian” last month and it was also a work of substance. Mick
You see, angry colonials! It’s being a far flung outposts of the british empire that does it to us.
I have daily bouts of blind rage myself, great angry picture of yourself on your blog, you look quite psychotic. Mick
I love this website. I’m 21 and used to be an avid explorer of this type of thing. I love nature in general. When i turned 18 I got really sick and haven’t been able to do much but lay in bed. Your site reminds me of the wonderful times I had in the wilderness and wets my appetite for exploration of caverns and caves and mine shafts in general. Thanks so much for sharing this stuff with me and everyone else. It’s very interesting. Bravo!
Tom “G.J” Grossman-Wall
Good site!!!
Found this site interesting, My father was a gold miner that worked underground mines as blasting engineer, Hienz was what most people called him, He worked in Ontario,Northern Quebec and in Northern Saskatchewan. He told me that some area were a fire has burned under the moss where two bed rock splits,One may fall and never return. However there will be gold in the cracks. Better to let the forest fire clear the area which be easier to find veins.