Let me take you to a defunct gold mine - I doubt you'll regret the visit. Dial-up caution

[Mira]

Crappy first shot, sorry, try to read it anyway. I would have taken a better one had I known I would be so enchanted with the place, don't let it deter you, it gets better.


You will see the leavings of this gold mine, untouched by cleanup, untouched by care.
Imagine yourself walking with me, finding such a visual treasure trove.






One walks around at one's own risk.
I found this place at the side of the road, and they have T-shirts and an entry fee.
Then they paint a few rocks with gold paint, to help you find your way and say
"Follow the (stationary) gold rocks".




The damn place blew my mind.






Don't ask me what we are looking at. There was no guide.
Walking in and out of buildings, finding feasts for my eyes










If you had a camera hanging around your neck, and found such a place, what would you have done?






Coming to the end with a few photos of the living quarters- there was also a hanging tree where workers who stole gold were hanged, but I posted that already.

[Tindalos]

1. Wow!

Thanks for the tour, Mira. That is an amazing place. It's hard to believe all that stuff is still there, like the people just walked out.

If you had a camera hanging around your neck, and found such a place, what would you have done?
I would have photographed every square inch of the place, and then some. Your pictures are making me want to travel and see these places for myself.

[tekisui]

2. One thing that makes these so haunting,

is that whoever discovered the place and made the signs seemingly re-abandoned it. It is almost as if that place is destined to be forgotten and never to be disturbed. Thanks for posting.

[Celebration]

3. The place looks really interesting

And I love the pictures. I assume there are barriers keeping visitors from wandering into the places that are about to cave in? I am wondering about that old car/truck? Maybe wasn't abandoned until about sixty or seventy years ago or so?

This sure doesn't look in any way restored. Kinda cool, but it might last longer with a little attention. Of course that dry desert air probably preserves it.

[Mira]

4. There were no restrictions - you could go anywhere, do anything if you had

the physical ability and the guts to ferret out. The proprietor in the front entrance shack had a cat with 9 kittens just staggeringly learning to walk, was interested in nothing else. He took the entrance fee and posed us for a photo under an entrance arch of logs.

This person, me, who loves to go back in time to see things without the benefit of having been sanitized, and who has rusty metal stuff all over her property for the sake of its beauty, went back to see him. I wanted to know if he had a brochure on the place, and if not, could we collaborate because I knew I had the pictures to make one. But in spite of yelling and waiting and searching, when I got back from my adventure he was not to be found.
And I could have gotten lost in old mine shafts and areas I did not show, there are neither provisions nor care about customers who could go missing.

I was disappointed in how Photobucket uploaded these, maybe the volume......
:)
They are more beautiful than they show to be.

Anyway, I posted less than a fourth of what I have, chose them for flowing along a story as well as nice photography.

It was (is) a place I will never forget.

[Celebration]

5. Good gosh

Amazing. You don't come across unsanitized places like that very often. They are to be cherished. The old truck though--that is something. Every piece of rusty metal has a story.

Ahem-- don't think I would have gotten lost in mine shafts as I never would have gotten out of sight of daylight!!

Still, I would rather that this be somewhat more preserved for posterity.

Thanks so much for sharing.