Now that John is home safe and sound and I’m feeling 99% back to normal, I’m ready for some real jeeping. To get us warmed up, we head out to the Fortuna Mine.
This is a fairly easy trail with a couple of “fun” spots. A good warmup trail to test our off-road driving skills.
The trail might be easy, but what is up with these signs all along the road?
As we get closer to the mining area, we do see a lot of what appear to be holes in the mountain sides. Okay, so there is some concern, especially if you are one of those people who have no sense of personal safety and like to crawl into holes in the ground.
Anyhow, as we are approaching the Fortuna Mine there is a road off to the left with sign indicating a site we might want to see. OKay!
Basically, it is the most complete structure left from the mining camp. It was a water reservoir measuring 30’ x 45’ and was said to hold a million gallons of water. Really? It provided water for the camp, and fire fighting.
The road to the structure is steep but from the top, it doesn’t look like much.
Until you watch someone coming up the road, like Andy and Candy.
We had to climb to the actual reservoir. Jeeps can get you lots of places, but sometimes you just have to hike. Andy? Candy? Is that you way up there?
Looking at the structure, we decide that unless there is a lot of fallen rock and dirt, there is no way this held a million gallons of water. Maybe they measured differently back then.
On to the “accidental” mine.
The deepest shaft was about 1000 feet. Yep, there is a big whole in the ground.
Remnants of the mining operation can be found lying around the site, like this cable used for hauling the ore out of the mine.
I’m finding this whole thing a little underwhelming as a site-seeing spot. The story about it is interesting though, so it was worth the drive.
John wants to do some rockhounding while we are here, and we stroll out into the desert.
Spring is coming soon, and the early blooming cacti and plants are starting to show their colors, like this Octillo cactus. It is hard to see from this picture but the flowers on the ends of the stems are red.
And check out these beautiful blooms! They seem to glow against the backdrop of the desert.
Oh dear. The men have wandered off somewhere. Well, at least Candy and I think they did. Apparently, they knew right where we were. How do they do that?
As we are heading back to the Jeeps, we notice a structure in the distance. What a surprise! This isn’t listed in the Off Road Guide. It is what is left of the Stamp Mill.
They are mining for gold. How do you get gold out of ore? You pulverize the ore into powder and use sluices to sift out the gold. For that, you need a stamp mill.
The Stamp Mill was powered by and engine that required five wood-burning boilers. So that’s what all the gray stuff is that doesn’t look like the surrounding terrain. Ironwood Ash from the Stamp Mill.
Now that we’ve seen the mine, its time to make out way back to camp. Hmm, I wonder where we will eat tonight?
