Late autumn of 2017 found us tracking down a very unusual stamp mill high in California's Sierra Nevada mountains. The mill was a unique hammer design called a Pratt Ideal Stamp Mill. Very few of these mills were ever put into use, and even fewer (if any!) still exist in the wild, so we were very interested in finding it.
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Mammoth Consolidated Mine
Mammoth Lakes is one of the Eastern Sierra's most popular recreation destinations, prized for its excellent skiing in the winter, ample hiking opportunities in the summer, and world-class scenery. Few visitors today realize that the town's roots trace back to a late-1800s gold mining boom, which
Chemung Mine
The Chemung Mine tells two stories, and neither one ends well. The first is about phenomenally rich gold ore that someone discovered in 1909 – ore so valuable it ran "several hundred dollars per ton" in an era when that meant real money. The second story is about a
May Lundy Mine
Just northwest of Mono Lake lies Lundy Canyon, home to a Mono County campground, a large lake, and a small resort with a few cabins and campsites. Most visitors today come for the fishing, hiking, and fall color, probably unaware that this quiet area was once home to a booming