[Mine Explorer]

Check out our channel for a full exploration video coming out today.... https://youtube.com/@NWUEmines

[Mine Explorer]

[Jimbo]

Was a good trip. Still more to see some day

[Jake]

For years the upper end of the tunnel was plugged with logs and debris and another dam of logs on the upper end of the raise to the surface. A couple years ago the river changed course for a short time, but long enough to push all that blockage out of the tunnel and entrance. So now it's open end to end for exploration.

[Bramble_Scramble]

Awesome video guys! I love our local mining history and have been wanting to check this one out at some point. I subbed to your channel and will check out all the videos. I'm curious about the open stope/shaft. Was it a collapse when they making the tunnel or was there a purpose to it?

[Jake]

See paragraph 3. The Sultan River has produced placer gold in reasonable quantities over the years. Not super rich, but it made a living for a lot of miners. At Horseshoe Bend they found deep holes in the river bottom they believed contained massive amounts of gold, but dewatering the river to remove the gold was a problem in the 1880s and 90s. So, in 1889, the Sultan River Mining Company bored a long diversion tunnel over 600 feet in length to divert part of the river away from the current river channel allowing them to mine those deep holes. Also, Horseshoe Bend contains the old, original river channel now dry that they were finding gold in. Thus, they bored that massive raise from the diversion tunnel up to the surface and started a hydraulic mining operation by washing away the floor of the old dry channel and the hillside next to it into sluice boxes and depositing the wastewater and debris into the big open hole and down to the diversion tunnel and back out into the river downstream. If you look at the picture Mine Hunter has in his video at twenty-eight seconds into it, you’ll see the hillside they were blasting away with jets of high-pressure water and part of the sluicing equipment. For those wondering about the massive ten-foot diameter Pelton Wheel mentioned earlier in the conversation, it operated the compressors for the Copper Belle mine. Reference: Discovering Washington’s Historic Mines, volume 1, pages 115-119.

[Bramble_Scramble]

[Jake]

Yes, the Pelton wheel is below the trail to Lake Isabel.

[fourteen410]

Visited this fascinating place today. Thank you for the inspiration. The only note I will add is that access from the SW has been moved back, requiring an additional 1.5 mi of walking. We found a way in from the NE that worked though. North end is still jammed with debris. I suppose if you really wanted to you could wiggle through it but it seemed pretty unstable to me. Lots of cool artifacts in the general vicinity.

[Jake]

Well, that's a bummer the north end is still plugged, but it's still an awesome tunnel to explore. I'll have to drive up there and see why the lower access road is moved back. The road went right up to a few feet from the trailhead last time I was there not long ago. Just had to go in through the powerhouse area.

[fourteen410]

Gate down to the powerhouse was open but there were signs warning of a $5000 fine for driving down the road.

[Jake]

WOW! No kidding? I wonder why? Guess you can still use the ole shoe leather express though. Right? Thanks for letting us know fourteen410.

[fourteen410]

Yep, no issue with that, just wheels. The registration booth is right by the turnoff to the road down to the powerhouse. In the video upthread it looks like it used to be by the tower. Note that this is approaching the powerhouse from the west. There might be still access from the east side if the yellow gate is open but we drove a little further north before parking.

[Jake]

Thanks. I have an appointment at the VA clinic tomorrow, but I'm going to drive up there Tuesday and see if I can talk to someone at the powerhouse and find out why it's closed to cars. I live fairly close by. Not that big of a deal to walk the extra mile or so, but I just want to know why we can't drive down to the gate below the dam anymore.

[timberghost]

Nice photos