Empire Mine State Park

One of our reasons for this particular venture in northern California is to see the Empire Mine. According to the California State Parks website, this is the site of one of the oldest, deepest, and richest gold mines in California. In operation for more than 100 years, the mine extracted 5.8 million ounces of gold before it closed in 1956. The park contains many of the mine’s buildings, the owner’s home and restored gardens, as well as the entrance to 367 miles of abandoned and flooded mine shafts.

Above is a gas pump that remains from the era of operation in the last century. I always find it a little unexpected to see a "modern" thing in what my brains associates with and "old" time. The trucks and gas pumps in Bodie were also like this. But, as you will see, there are many of these kinds of "cross over" items to be seen. 

One of the central pieces of equipment in mine is the machine that breaks up the rock so the small bits of ore can be found and extracted, the stamp mill. These machines were running 24/7 for decades here. The noise must have been more than a little annoying to those in the neighborhood. As you can see below, these involved a series of cam operated vertical shafts that pounded the rocks as they were fed through on a conveyor.

All this equipment was maintained on site. This is part of one of the large workshops where that happened.

And then we come to the mine itself. This part of the entrance looks pretty innocent. Just an entryway and some stairs.

And at the bottom of these stairs is the beginning of the mine shaft. Men and stone were winched in and out of here. The size of this mine is truly staggering. This portion alone was over 800 feet long. 

Below is a blacksmith shop with rows of forges where the pieces to repair the machines are made.