The Lost Town of the Uncle Sam Mine - Has Nobody Been Here in a Century?

Thank you everyone for the continued support! There was a lot of interest in me making a video about the Mizpah Hotel, which I've published here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9S9BequQRw As for the canyon, it's one of the most remote places we've explored, but it turns out some people have been there in the past century for sure and a couple comments had some excellent additional research on the place. I'm now planning a Part 2 of this video including some of the new information that was shared as well as some of the material I cut from this video. Honestly, I didn't anticipate this much interest in the subject and trimmed out quite a bit to cater to my usual subscribers. There isn't much to see of it, but I'll be including shots of the blasted mine entrance as well as more surveying of the town. I hope to have that out on this channel Saturday, March 19.

Living in central europe, where pretty much every square centimeter is occupied today, I find this very interesting, that there spots like these that haven't been visited in over a century. I always underestimate how huge the US is. Thanks for the video, really great to watch.

I visited this camp back in 1972. The buildings were somewhat still upright back then with only the roofs caving in on two of them and a few walls starting to tip. It was "spooky" to say the least. At that time there was an elderly man living there in a pickup truck with a camper on top of it. I believe his name was Dave, I can not for the life of me remember his last name. He was using part of the old buildings to try and build another one to the northeast a few hundred yards. I would think it should still be there. It looked as if he was mining the area and had a few boxes made up for mining what he called" left overs" LOL. That was many years ago and I have gotten pretty old now ........ He liked to bury his pots of gold, or so he said (smile). I dont think he really did that well but hey, who knows on these old mining camps. And another thing, that small creek was quite a bit larger back then and the water not so toxic looking.

That stamp mill belonged to my grandfather. The McCoy's mined that area in the early 40's. Pigeon Springs had a cabin that was their home. Above the stamp mill was a canvas tent. They mined the Buster mine. The shovel at Tonopah museum also belonged to my grandfather and his brothers. A man by the name of Roy Wilber had a couple mines as well. He lived in a cabin from 1932 I believe until his passing.

I've been to this area in the late 70's early 80's. We use to look for where the old outhouses were and dig for old bottles. Men tended to sit on the pot drinking and when the bottle was empty they dropped it into the hole 🙂The buildings were in much better shape then. I still have many bottles collected from our treks into the hills. Thank for posting this, bring back many good memories of my younger days.

I'm in awe that someone besides myself has been there! Back about 1977 / 1978 I had access to several volumes of maps covering most of Nevada. What fascinated me most was the fact that within a few short years between map publications, towns would appear for a short time, then vanish before the subsequent map was published. Obviously the towns didn't move... only the people. So... I plotted the most interesting places on current USGS maps and with my camera in hand, went exploring. My personal policy was... take nothing, but photos & memories, & leave nothing but footprints. However, I was overcome with temptation at this place. The largest building there was still partially standing when I was there. While standing in the door frame, my back to the inside, I was reloading a .22 revolver (cowboy style six shooter). I was holding it about waist level, with the barrel pointing down when I dropped a spent shell casing. I focused on the ground and right next to where it landed I noticed another gun barrel protruding out of the ground about an inch. In absolute disbelief, I carefully started uncovering it. Eventually it was recovered from the ground, amazingly intact! The wooden grips disintegrated even though I tired my best to preseve the few remaining fragments but the rest was in remarkable condition. It was at one time nickle plated. It had an octagon barrel about 3" long. It was a 5 shot revolver in .41 cal rimfire! I had never heard of that before or since. 4 of the 5 chambers had spent cases, the 5th was completely empty. Another neat feature was the firing pin. It was part of the hammer and closely resembled a thorn from a rose bush. I had never seen that before either. I broke another rule as I my curiosity was stronger than my sense... I used some of my precious drinking water to rinse off the dirt to read the writing on it. It said... American Bulldog, Double Action. And a three digit serial number of 307. While half or more of the plating was gone, the engraving was VERY clear. There was zero possibility there were more than three digits of the serial number. To me, that was absolutely fascinating. Of course my imagination went wild with a plethora of possibilities of how it got there & why it was left behind. Again, breaking my strict rule of leaving things as I found them, I took the gun with me. The next day I went to the local sheriff to report my discovery. That was the last I saw of the gun. I returned later to learn what they might have found out about it and hopefully claim it but was told they didn't know anything more than I provided and it was subsequently "lost". Don't feel bad, I still don't believe that either. I didn't recognize the name of the place and further confusion was hiking "down" to it. I hiked "up"... and it was substantially more than a mere three miles! Another misleading fact was there were at least five buildings, not four! The car was exactly as I remember and the other photos were unmistakable. Ignoring the horrific trek in & out, I found the site incredibly comfortable and tranquil. It was too late in the day to attempt hiking back out so I spent a very enjoyable night there, departing as the sun came up. Seems like 100 years ago now but good memories of a great trip! Thank you for sharing the video!

Alan was a trooper hiking down 3 miles, exploring around and then hiking back up 3 miles during extreme heat. Right On Alan !!!

The large building was the bar, kitchen and scale. I have 4 poker chips fused together from time and weather we unearthed in 1971when we went back. The entrance is at west end of great smokey valley where our ranch was. The governor of Nevada in 1972 flew over the canyon with me at 6yrs old and I broke my finger in the plane door on that trip. All in all 5 trips we took into the mine and we came from the gold rush end. I have the documents and photos to show. I am completely excited that someone else took the trip there and I would be honored to donate the chips to the public and meet that gentleman. I'm the last survivor of the mine and I now live in selah WA . The records for the mine are in my mother and grandfather's name in the Nye county courthouse. Bert Leroy Carder and Francis Joan Carder. Only one town I didn't get to see was Kimberly Nevada which is 15 miles southwest of Ely and I would love to get information from there

I think Emma deserves a round of applause for hiking all the way down there and back too with nary a complaint! Enjoyed your video, thank you :)

My dad, in 1965, bought an old house that was a stage coach stop for mines in the mountains of northern ID. The house was 100 years old when he bought it and 6 acres for $500. We lived in the house and it still stands today. The property had lots of smaller bunk houses all over the property and several old automobiles as well! My dad even got one running and my mom drove it around and people looked at us like we were nuts … today I still love old cars. None of the buildings were made of stone/rock…everything was wood. ..up the road were three mines and all were made of wood and falling down but there were three huge settling ponds and when I say huge I’m talking huge…it’s a big EPA headache. Arsenic, lead, mercury, iron…all coming from the ponds where the cribbing is collapsing. Good memories. Thanks for the video.

Thank you so much! I'm a 68-year-old lady whose heart's desire is this kind of exploration, but, oh well. You give me a vicarious experience so appreciated!

Well done for walking down and up that valley. Next time you attempt something like that drop a water store en route to pickup on the way back. Saves carrying it. I used to work regularly on 52°C and above, in desert conditions, we always dropped water to save on carrying it.

Slightly off topic but I live on a large ranch in N.E. Arizona. The winter of 2021 was harsher than normal and an ancient lake refilled. It has been gradually drying up since. As the shores receed evidence of a large ancient Anasazi encampment has emerged from the muddy shoreline! Lots of broken pottery & arrowheads / spear points & other various tools are present. The vast majority of pottery is the distinctive black on white patterns. I think it's fascinating to see that within a few hundred yards beyond my doorstep. Arizona law states that I own any artifacts on my land but... I personally believe that it is unethical to disturb or remove them. I admit that I've picked up many pieces to admire & photograph, but I've always left them EXACTLY as I found them. Hopefully future generations will show the same respect.

A lot of credit to the old man for making this rugged trek in the oppressive heat. Many much younger men wouldn't or couldn't have done what He did.

Using a drone to save you hours of trail finding misery in such heat, was a game changer. Great video - I really enjoyed it from the comfort of my UK homestead.

Wow, so totally interesting. I spent 40 years hiking and backpacking mostly in the Eastern Sierra's but also around Death Valley. Those were the best years filled with wonder and amazement.

Sorry, but I am an old explorer of the west. I am 75 now and unable to do much. Me and my friends were Marines. We would plan for a week of exploration. We used burros to help with supplies, as you had to walk into these areas. Really enjoyed our discoveries, but no one was interested in them at time. Found many claims, with stone monuments that had the old claims inside inside old tobacco cans (Prince Albert). Left everything as it was. Glad to see that someone is documenting these places

What a great and rewarding adventure! I'm a land surveyor and I've encountered similar things to this. About 20 years ago I was running the boundary of an old mining claim with a compass and hip chain when I spotted beer cans on the ground in front of met. We were in a remote location that had grown over and the cans were tin and required a "church key" to open, the were all unopened and empty. I followed the cans into the woods off the line and discovered an intact miners camp. There was a wood shaker box for gold and a canvas wall tent. The tent had turned into scraps and trees grew up through the old 4 poster bed and rocking chair within. There were several other items that seemed to date the site to the 1920s or 30s. We were locating the corner posts with GPS but only had claim maps form the early 1900s, we found all of them too, including one that had been through a recent forest fire. (Hint, wood claim posts don't have roots!). Here's to adventure and exploring the old places!

Best part of exploring the SW US mines and ghost towns is how well preserved they are. In the Pacific northwest, alot of the old camps are over grown and or rotted away. There's not much left to see. But in the desert, there's much more evidence left.

Very interesting! I grew up in Arizona, in old mining country. My dad was a foreman for a rancher who came to Arizona in 1914, when he was 16 years old. He established 5 mining claims and built 5 small cabins, one for himself and each of his 4 brothers. I loved listening to his stories. He personally knew the Powers brothers.