On one of our days on vacation in Mammoth Lakes, we visited an old gold mine, because why not?
It was an easy, beautiful and shaded hike to get to the fairly recent remains of the Mammoth Consolidate mine. 
It was only in operation from 1927-33, producing around $100k worth of gold. I almost convinced my nieces this rock had gold in it.
A lot of the structures were still standing, which is rather impressive given the amount of snowfall this area sees every year.
Some survived better than others.
This absolutely pancaked building was so weird to see. A giant stack of metal spring beds.
What I found so interesting about it was how so much was just left behind. 
Whole entire cars left to the elements to rot, all the machinery just sitting there rusting to bits. 
Sure it was all very heavy and hard to move on the no-doubt sketchy roads, but it really stood out to me. 
All of it so disposable.
I really liked this sign at the beginning of the trailhead.
Beautiful photos. That blue sky is magnificent. I am enjoying something similar today at home.
ReplyDeleteI agree about the stuff left behind. I have always wondered about that. P's grandfather 'borrowed' supplies to build his house from the railroad yard where he worked. Wouldn't the stuff you showed be useful to someone?
Yes, that blue sky was truly beautiful, especially since the smoke came in soon afterwards. The heavy metal stuff left behind was probably not worth the effort to move out on the very primitive roads they had back then. I think it was probably all obsolete pretty quickly too,
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