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mayqueen517The other day, I went out to a local attraction. It's called Reed Gold Mine, and it's a pretty cool place, actually. It's a historical landmark, and has the real distinction of being the first documented discovery of gold in the United States!
The Guest center, lol
There's a few of these ore carts littered around the property, for display and whatever. But they are authentic, I do believe.
Enginnneee. Heeee!
I knew I'd never remember the description of what this next thing was, because LOL bad memorrryy.
I don't know why I love this thing so much, but it looked so lovely and interesting.
Couple of pumps and the like to help keep the mining areas cleared.
A close-up of one.
One of the little exhibits. The thought of finding that thing makes me CHOKE.
What you do with this, is you get some dirt into the pan along with some water and swirl it carefully before pouring a tiny bit of the water out. Then, on the ridges, you comb through the silt VERY CAREFULLY to see if you can find gold flakes. (The mine is pretty much tapped out, so the chances of finding some gold flakes are pretty slim...but it's still pretty fun!)
This is as you're walking from the guest center to the walkway to get TO the mine.
This awesome thing is Little Meadow Creek. The awesome thing about it? This is where Conrad Reed (I KNOW, OH MY GOD), who was a kid at the time, found the giant ass gold nugget. Literally, the kid was playing around in the creek and found a 17 pound nugget. When he took it home, because nobody knew what it was...said nugget became a doorstop in his family's home. O_O It stayed there for about 3 years? And then his Dad, John Reed, ended up taking it to get it appraised and sold. (and was subsequently swindled into taking around $3.50, which, to be fair, was a LARGE sum back then. But the nugget was...actually worth around $3500. Which. GOOD GOD)
The walkway over the creek to get to the entrance of the mine.
The entrance to the mine, along with our tour guide. Who would probably kill me if she knew I took that picture. (Her mom was actually my 2nd grade teacher? LOL GOD, I LOVE MIDLAND)
View of the quartz.
More quartz!
Entrance to the mine
Different shot, etc.
I KNOW, it looks creepy.
And honestly, there were a couple of moments where I was just like 'OMG, MINES OF MORIA, IDEK.'
So, okay, the interesting thing about gold is that it only forms around/near quartz. Quartz, in a neat twist, actually forms at a 45 degree angle and always forms facing Northwest, I think. (That sounds right, lol), so what they would do, is they would find quartz, which alternates with regular rock, they would test it and then mine it. When they mined the quartz, they had to put these things in there to hold it open so that, y'know, shit didn't collapse in on them. O_O
FUN FACT: I was taking a picture (more like a few pictures, whatever) when our tour guide grinned and said, so, look up. You can see the sky. This means that we are officially 50 feet underground. UM, HI, LADY, PLEASE DON'T PUT IT LIKE THAT. But still, it was kind of lovely?
Ladders to get up to the top.
More ladders
Another shot of the stuff above us. The fun thing is that string you can see? That's attached to a bell, that would have to be rung in a specific sequence in order to have a bucket lowered, etc. The bell that's up there is actually the same bell that's been there since that part of the mine was created. O_O
Heee. The number one question asked by tours of school children. "Can I ride in it?"
You could really see the alternating veins of quartz and regular rock there.
This is the area where we'd go up the stairs to make our way to the top entrance of the mine. None of us felt like the stairs, so we all braved the (super fucking steep) hill to get up to the top.
So, when I said that looking up and all, with the bell? That's what was directly above us.
These things were hanging out at the fork of going back to the mine and going back down to the guest center. Told you they were everywhere.
Various latitude/longitude of sister cities or something like that. ♥
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
The Guest center, lol
There's a few of these ore carts littered around the property, for display and whatever. But they are authentic, I do believe.
Enginnneee. Heeee!
I knew I'd never remember the description of what this next thing was, because LOL bad memorrryy.
I don't know why I love this thing so much, but it looked so lovely and interesting.
Couple of pumps and the like to help keep the mining areas cleared.
A close-up of one.
One of the little exhibits. The thought of finding that thing makes me CHOKE.
What you do with this, is you get some dirt into the pan along with some water and swirl it carefully before pouring a tiny bit of the water out. Then, on the ridges, you comb through the silt VERY CAREFULLY to see if you can find gold flakes. (The mine is pretty much tapped out, so the chances of finding some gold flakes are pretty slim...but it's still pretty fun!)
This is as you're walking from the guest center to the walkway to get TO the mine.
This awesome thing is Little Meadow Creek. The awesome thing about it? This is where Conrad Reed (I KNOW, OH MY GOD), who was a kid at the time, found the giant ass gold nugget. Literally, the kid was playing around in the creek and found a 17 pound nugget. When he took it home, because nobody knew what it was...said nugget became a doorstop in his family's home. O_O It stayed there for about 3 years? And then his Dad, John Reed, ended up taking it to get it appraised and sold. (and was subsequently swindled into taking around $3.50, which, to be fair, was a LARGE sum back then. But the nugget was...actually worth around $3500. Which. GOOD GOD)
The walkway over the creek to get to the entrance of the mine.
The entrance to the mine, along with our tour guide. Who would probably kill me if she knew I took that picture. (Her mom was actually my 2nd grade teacher? LOL GOD, I LOVE MIDLAND)
View of the quartz.
More quartz!
Entrance to the mine
Different shot, etc.
I KNOW, it looks creepy.
And honestly, there were a couple of moments where I was just like 'OMG, MINES OF MORIA, IDEK.'
So, okay, the interesting thing about gold is that it only forms around/near quartz. Quartz, in a neat twist, actually forms at a 45 degree angle and always forms facing Northwest, I think. (That sounds right, lol), so what they would do, is they would find quartz, which alternates with regular rock, they would test it and then mine it. When they mined the quartz, they had to put these things in there to hold it open so that, y'know, shit didn't collapse in on them. O_O
FUN FACT: I was taking a picture (more like a few pictures, whatever) when our tour guide grinned and said, so, look up. You can see the sky. This means that we are officially 50 feet underground. UM, HI, LADY, PLEASE DON'T PUT IT LIKE THAT. But still, it was kind of lovely?
Ladders to get up to the top.
More ladders
Another shot of the stuff above us. The fun thing is that string you can see? That's attached to a bell, that would have to be rung in a specific sequence in order to have a bucket lowered, etc. The bell that's up there is actually the same bell that's been there since that part of the mine was created. O_O
Heee. The number one question asked by tours of school children. "Can I ride in it?"
You could really see the alternating veins of quartz and regular rock there.
This is the area where we'd go up the stairs to make our way to the top entrance of the mine. None of us felt like the stairs, so we all braved the (super fucking steep) hill to get up to the top.
So, when I said that looking up and all, with the bell? That's what was directly above us.
These things were hanging out at the fork of going back to the mine and going back down to the guest center. Told you they were everywhere.
Various latitude/longitude of sister cities or something like that. ♥
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
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no subject
Date: 8 Nov 2010 08:13 (UTC)no subject
Date: 8 Nov 2010 08:14 (UTC)Sometimes Midland's not a bad place to live. XD
no subject
Date: 8 Nov 2010 08:57 (UTC)ALSO THATS A PRETTY COOL PLACE, AND VERY PRETTY AS WELL!
no subject
Date: 8 Nov 2010 09:05 (UTC)Also, it's a very LOVELY place. Panning for gold is closed for the season, but then again, I don't feel like spending 2 bucks just to possibly find a TINY GOLD FLAKE. XD
no subject
Date: 8 Nov 2010 14:47 (UTC)no subject
Date: 8 Nov 2010 20:43 (UTC)no subject
Date: 8 Nov 2010 15:32 (UTC)Absolutely LOVED this photo (http://s366.photobucket.com/albums/oo103/Chrissy517/Reed%20Gold%20Mine/?action=view¤t=reed-mine-079.png).
no subject
Date: 8 Nov 2010 20:42 (UTC)And oooh, that's one of my favorites, definitely!