The Carlyle mine, also known as the Carlysle or Carlisle mine, was first discovered in 1902, but extensive development of the mine didn’t start until 1911. A mill was built sometime in the 1910s. In 1936, the Carlyle Mining Corporation was incorporated and brought in a well-known mining engineer from Grass Valley, California, Ernest Ellis. He managed the replacement of the older mill with a new ball mill and modern flotation cells. In 1937, a 250-horsepower Fairbanks-Morse diesel engine connected to a 150 KVA electric motor was added to the mill.
The lower adit of the mine was opened back to 1,500 ft, and the upper adit went 1,200 ft into the mountain following a vein of silver and gold. The mine has over 5,000 feet of crosscuts, drifts, and raises. The tramway was a two-bucket, 2,680 ft single rope aerial tram. Water was pumped in via a three-inch pipe from Dale Lake.
The mine’s heyday only lasted a few short years, though. On October 10, 1940, the mill, buildings, and all equipment were disposed of by auction on-site. The mine, however, was still being worked part-time by a lessee. Ore was being treated in the Gold Crown Mill. When WWII closed the mine for good in 1941, it produced more than $125,000 in gold, silver, copper, and lead over its life. The heavily desert-varnished bedrock here is a mix of granites, feldspars, and diorites.
Only ruins remain of the mill and the tramway today, but it is still an interesting site.
My photos are from trips in 1998 and 2013.
