Any old mining/ghost towns around these parts?

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Amanda

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I'm looking to take my new hubby out on a fun little day trip type excursion.

Anybody know of any old deserted mining towns or ghost towns around here that would be neat to check out? I've been searching the 'ghost town' websites, but they don't really offer much real world insight..

Thanks. :)
 
Yah, I don't really care about the hiking part. If I want to see cool nature scenery, we will just take the buggy out and go wheeling. I want to see some old structures and explore some cool left-behind ****. ;)
 
HEHEHE!!!

I know were a BUNCH are!!!

But I also have been in every corner and county in this state also.(Job requires it)...

I know there is one down between Randle and Packwood that the PNW4WD is trying to reopen to wheelers...
 
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I liked the info crash posted up about the train tunnels in his area. some neat history there.

crash, post that tunnel/rail trail link please. I dont remember what the thread was called.:beer:
 
no good right now, but if the water goes down you can find the old town of alder in the lake behind the island. just hit sunny beach point at alder lake and walk out to the island or park off lilly dale road and follow the old hiway into the lake, you can walk out about 1/4 mile before its up to your neck.

the other that comes to mind is cosmos in riffe lake. they raised the lake like 20 feet in the 60s and it covered a few miles of land, including the town of cosmos. if the lake drops abot 30-50 feet you can explore miles of exposed yesteryear. there are old bridges that the army COE blew up for practice. there is also a huge train station at cosmos also. do some internet searches and youll find more info.

ghost towns are getting harder to find. but old sunkin towns in manmade resivoirs are pretty common and not explored much.

I found a glass jar that looks like an elixer bottle at alder. it still ahd the cork in it and had raised letters that read "THREE IN ONE OIL CO". I cant imagine pullin a cork to lube the door hinges!! wow, oil in a jar with a cork.:beer:
 
There's lot's of stuff outside of granite falls on the mountain loop, There is Monte cristo that binder said, I'm not sure about the buggy (legality), but I'm pretty positive you can drive a truck. I havent been there since I was a kid, but it's something like 3-5 miles from the highway. The ice caves are something you definitely should go see, it's hiking only but it's all of like a mile into them. The train tunnel's are also a super cool thing to see up there, but it's more like 2 or 3 miles off the highway (hiking only).
 
darius said:
There's lot's of stuff outside of granite falls on the mountain loop, There is Monte cristo that binder said, I'm not sure about the buggy (legality), but I'm pretty positive you can drive a truck. I havent been there since I was a kid, but it's something like 3-5 miles from the highway. The ice caves are something you definitely should go see, it's hiking only but it's all of like a mile into them. The train tunnel's are also a super cool thing to see up there, but it's more like 2 or 3 miles off the highway (hiking only).
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D, where are the ice caves?

I wasn't thinking of taking the buggy any of these places, but maybe taking Tucker with us.. you think he would do ok?

Edit: nevermind, looks like bridges are down making it almost unpassable: http://www.localhikes.com/Hikes/BigFourIceCaves_7602.asp
 
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darius said:
There's lot's of stuff outside of granite falls on the mountain loop, There is Monte cristo that binder said, I'm not sure about the buggy (legality), but I'm pretty positive you can drive a truck. I havent been there since I was a kid, but it's something like 3-5 miles from the highway. The ice caves are something you definitely should go see, it's hiking only but it's all of like a mile into them. The train tunnel's are also a super cool thing to see up there, but it's more like 2 or 3 miles off the highway (hiking only).
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Last I heard they have not rebuilt the bridge over the river to get to the ice caves? Does any one know if it has been rebuilt?
 
Just drive up there and find out. The caves are cool and a very easy hike but if you can't get there I'm sure there's some place to get lost in the woods for a short time.:; :sex:
 
boxboy said:
Last I heard they have not rebuilt the bridge over the river to get to the ice caves? Does any one know if it has been rebuilt?
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Not rebuilt yet. And last I heard, no plans to do so any time soon due to funding. The river's not that big in the summer - you could probably wade across pretty soon if not already, but I bet that water is COLD. :shiver:


Not that I'd recommend climbing up there, but the view down the backside of the glacier from the top is amazing. I didn't have a camera with me when I went up, and I vowed I'd never do that again without ropes, harnesses, sturdy anchors, and some big friends to pull me back up. As I crawled out to the top edge and looked over, I realized that it was undercut and I was on a very thin ice precipice. I very slowly slid back about 20 feet on my stomach and headed for the nearest clean shorts. But the striated ice looks pure and clean with varying shades of blue on the way down - gorgeous. :cool:
 
I don't remember any big river, I remember right as your getting to the caves there was a low bridge crossing a small creek? Oh well.

Another cool hike is to the old fire lookout at the very peak of pilchuck, though it's a fairly long hike (once again probably haven't done in 8 or 10 year's) it's pretty cool. There's an old cabin up there that's cool to have lunch at before going back down, right off the back deck it's about 500 feet vertical down to lake 22.
 
darius said:
I don't remember any big river, I remember right as your getting to the caves there was a low bridge crossing a small creek? Oh well.
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A few hundred yards before that, there is (was) a 210'-long bridge, that goes over the river. In the summer, the South Fork of the Stilly is small, and the bridge just saves you a long walk over round rocks, but in the winter it gets much bigger. During a big flood in November '06, the river washed a bunch of trees downstream that took the bridge down.

ice-caves3.jpg




The logs to the right in the picture were still useable when the water was low, but I heard they washed out last winter, so wading is the only option now.




I just read that the bridge may get replaced this August (at least the contract went out for bids a few months ago) :awesomework:
 
There is a huge old pelton wheel of the copperbelle mine in the woods near Reiter. There are dozens of mines in the Miller river area and Money creek. There is the sunset mine a little past Index. Silver creek has many in a small area.

This book is a great resource for mines http://www.amazon.com/Discovering-Washingtons-Historic-Mines-Mountains/dp/0964752123

also look overthis website http://www.2drx.com/

another http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/NWUNDERGROUND/

and the best for last http://www.nwue.org/


Search Archives on the above sites and you will find way more than you can imagine.


If you need anymore help, you can call me 253-223-2722
 
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darius said:
Another cool hike is to the old fire lookout at the very peak of pilchuck, though it's a fairly long hike (once again probably haven't done in 8 or 10 year's) it's pretty cool. There's an old cabin up there that's cool to have lunch at before going back down, right off the back deck it's about 500 feet vertical down to lake 22.
Click to expand...

The lookout is now closed.

Although many hikers enjoy the restored fire lookout perched atop Pilchuck and the group Saturday found shelter there, this year it's closed.

Snow last winter damaged part of the railing and it's uncertain if the storms caused additional problems, U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Adrienne Hall said.

Typically, it's for day use only, she said. Now, it's closed until further notice.
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http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20080708/NEWS01/891055116#Hikers.rescued.off.Mount.Pilchuck
 
If you wanna take a two or three day trip, there is a ton of stuff in Eastern Oregon to check out. I've also got a DVD I'll try to get copied that I think you would get a kick out of. They cover about 30 ghost towns in Oregon that are on both sides of the state.

I can think of one road in particular down here that you could spend all day on.
 
It's a bit out of your way but down towards Black Diamond is proabaly about 20+ old towns that are no longer there. Franklin, Bain, Kanasket, Elk, Selleck, Lester, Lavendertown, Palmer, Kummer, Krain the list could go for quite a time. There are some areas wher you can find history but for the most part the townsites are gone and have been developed into homesites or just razed.
 
CHOP SHOP said:
no good right now, but if the water goes down you can find the old town of alder in the lake behind the island. just hit sunny beach point at alder lake and walk out to the island or park off lilly dale road and follow the old hiway into the lake, you can walk out about 1/4 mile before its up to your neck.

the other that comes to mind is cosmos in riffe lake. they raised the lake like 20 feet in the 60s and it covered a few miles of land, including the town of cosmos. if the lake drops abot 30-50 feet you can explore miles of exposed yesteryear. there are old bridges that the army COE blew up for practice. there is also a huge train station at cosmos also. do some internet searches and youll find more info.

ghost towns are getting harder to find. but old sunkin towns in manmade resivoirs are pretty common and not explored much.

I found a glass jar that looks like an elixer bottle at alder. it still ahd the cork in it and had raised letters that read "THREE IN ONE OIL CO". I cant imagine pullin a cork to lube the door hinges!! wow, oil in a jar with a cork.:beer:
Click to expand...

I don't know about Riffe as I haven't been up that way in ages, but Alder is pretty cool, and if you're coming up hwy 7, the canyon can be a fun drive (my GF's dad got to blast the canyon right after they paved it in the 70's, his dad was head nut of the road operations up there, and both ends were gated for paving, lifted his dad's keys after he was asleep and him and his buddies went out and tore it up, lucky bastards). The lake may be low enough now to walk out to the island where the old school is/was. The last time I was out in the lake bed the old bridge off the highway was still there, along with quite a few foundations of old homes and such.
 

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