The Lost Rhoades Gold Mine - Following the Geology (Igneous Dike, Uinta Mountains)

Very interesting evening watching this video and reading all 233 (so far) comments. My grandfather was born in Spanish Fork, Utah in 1869. He was a rock mason. He heard all the Spanish mining stories and would talk with the sheep herders who lived deep in the wilderness with their sheep during the summer months. One told my grandfather he saw a group of Spanish miners travelling a zig zag path to hide their travels from the Indians. These miners were killed by the Indians on their trip home, they stole their gold, tried to sell it to the whites. They were arrested and hung for killing the Spanish miners. Anyway, the sheep herders told my grandfather where they thought the mine might be located. Grandpa told my dad about it. My did was the youngest of eleven kids and became a chemist with a master's degree in geology. He frequently took me prospecting as a kid. He loved prospecting and he showed me an area in the Uinta Mountains near where the sheep herders told my grandfather that the mine might be located. Later that summer I hiked to every ravine in that area, sampling deep gravel and taking it home to pan it out. Plenty of black sand but no visible gold. I'm now 78 with no energy to repeat that trip, but I still think about it now and then. Thanks for posting this video, and, yes, I gave it a thumb's up and subscribed.

Crazy that this video was just recommended out of the blue. I have a bit of a history with this mine. I grew up in SLC reading about the Lost Rhoades Mines and lost Spanish gold mines throughout the west. When I was in high school I would frequently make trips to the Uintahs looking for Spanish symbols in trees and cliff faces -- and I even found a few. I also found an old tree in Pole Creek Canyon with Thomas Rhoades' (Caleb Rhoades' grandson?) signature in it. It was located about a quarter mile upstream from the old Pole Creek Sink mine. When in college I studied Mining Engineering, and graduated from the UofU. While in college I was convinced that the Uintahs were barren of precious metals because the geology doesn't support it. The Uintahs are almost exclusively sedimentary rocks, devoid of granite, gneiss, or any other igneous rocks that support precious metal deposition. I had no idea about the dike you refer to in this video. That said, my curiosity is again piqued because the presence of an igneous dike is a game changer, proving that it is indeed possible that precious metals could have been deposited.

I really enjoyed the continuity and comprehensiveness of your educational geology and history of this region. Well done and thank you!

Glad I stumble upon your channel. With such detail explanations, may your channel qiuckly grow. Love it.

Interesting video. I grew up in that area (most of my family still lives there) and I grew up hearing many stories about the mine. Always found it and the legends of Chief Walkara quite fascinating! My wife’s father owned and operated the U Bar dude ranch in the Uinta’s for many years before selling it in 1981. That’s what I miss the most is trips into the high Uinta’s! Thanks for the trip down memory lane!

I’m just going to tell you from a guy here in the flat dead W. Texas area, you, Terry Carter, Dale Bascom, Rick (Tresure Exploration), sometimes Dan L. Lol jk, Mr. DL. You Men are the reasons why I’m retiring on the 1st of November and moving to Roosevelt on the 45 acres I bought last year. Im not fool enough to think Im going to move there and strike it rich with finding gold or a Cashe, that’s just icing on the icing for me, I see the real gold thru you all’s videos and stories! I just want to get lost in the Mountains! Yes, am very trained in search & rescue as I have been a K-9 Unit for 25 years. I have trained in Canada w/ RCMP SAR for the last 10 years 2 weeks a year. I’ve always knew in the back of my mind that I would hopefully and GOD willing, end up in the mountains somewhere, I guess that’s why I took up the opportunity to train in Repelling & Mountain Rescue Courses as part of my annual continual training requirements. I hope I can actually help someone in need one day with my training, where I am in Texas, I’m 2 hrs away from the Davis & Guadalupe Mountains and have been called out with my K-9 to assist many times but always we ended up finding people down low off the mountains. I just want to thank you for sharing your videos and educating me on so much that we never had to even worry about in Texas. Very very little gold here in rare form anyway, lots of looted gold supposedly. I may have even found a gold coin or 15. Im getting up there in age and my memory on that kinda stuff isn’t that keen anymore! 😂! Ill be 51, on Saturday, I was supposed to retire last year but was asked to work one more year to help transition a new K-9 Unit Commander. The fella didn’t need me to stay because he’s 100% better than I ever was, however, I was very flattered with the request and was more than happy to do it. I have officially handed him the reigns and am ready for my last Radio OD call! My K-9 Partner and I are ready to freeze our butts off! I couldn’t stand another Texas summer here! This 2023 Summer was the hottest on record EVER! No Sir, I am not the one to burn like that again! I may come back here and visit in December’s only. Lol. Anyway, I’ve rambled way more than should have, I hope to meet some of you Gentlemen in person one day. Just watch out, I may have to put a GPS device on your vehicle so I can find all these spots. Lol. No, I would never do that! If GOD wants me to visit a special place, he will guide me as he is my GPS. GOD Bless YOU for your amazing videos & stories. Very inspiring to an old flat lander like me! Ty, C

Im from Eastern Utah and my grandfather had gold claims by moon lake and urainium claims on cedar mountain. My dad douses for Gold veins with a ball bearing Dousing rod so yes one rod not two lol. A book was written on what he believes how it works. A Smart man he is.😊😊. Great video and a double 👍👍 for you.

What a great story, with an easy to understand description of the geology. I believe your theory of the contact zone is spot on. Hope to send you a picture of it when I find it. At least see you up there making memories with our families.

Fantastic description of geologic formations, thank you.😊

Thank you for the detailed explanation on how gold and other minerals are formed and deposited. I love these mysteries and we have one here, Lasseter's Reef is in the mind of many a gold prospector although it was never truly confirmed. I hope somebody discovers your mine in time for you to appreciate it.

Well done. Thanks for putting this together.

We had a flash flood in maesar some years ago and a chunk of rose quartz washed on my property from the yellow hills area. It wasnt tumbled heavily like the tumbled stones on the hills and in ashley creek. I had also heard from fellow o/g operators about well drillers finding gold wire in the drill tailings.

Super interesting channel. Keep the videos coming. Awesome work!

First person to explain geology in a way that makes sense. Great video. I live in Rock Springs, WY. and explore the Uinta often.

Your educational ability is so good. Thank you! I learned more out of this video than all I have ever watched on this yopic.

Great video. Very instructive on the basic geology and a great legend.

I would think if there are dikes like that there might be gossan/ with supergene secondary maybe enriched cycles associated but not directly at the long contact zones. So not only the contact getting a bit of focus but other rich areas related but hard to get to and survey for. Very exciting chat vid for sure. I love these types of vids! Great job.

Man I love your mixology of history, legend, and geology. The icing on the cake was the Spanish, somehow the history of the Spanish, leading to the legends of old Spanish mines, documented by the records of what they pulled out across this country can not be discounted. Somehow the Spanish understood their geology to the point that they established mines in some of the most gold/silver rich areas with no previous history to guide them (except possibly local Indians) I think they had a very solid understanding of how and where minerals form. I hope someone finds your lost mine, but part of me hopes they only maybe tell you about it. It's never the individual miner that does the damage, it's all the pathetic humans that follow, shooting up, burning up, destroying all of that rich history. I grew up tramping through Death Valley ghost towns and mines from the age of five, it is heart breaking to re-visit these areas and see the total rape of what was there. In the 80's if you wanted to see the best collections of town/mine artifacts all you had to do is know someone in the park service they had the best stuff. Don't even get me started on the meth heads, some mines I used to visit I will no longer even enter as their misguided but effective hi-grading have removed most of the protections the old miners knew they had to leave. It's sad, we have lost so much.

Years ago, when I was a teenager probably about 14, I was back packing up in the Uinta's with my family. I got separated from the group and found a tunnel going back into the side of a mountain back then I thought it was a cave. I took a piece of quartz home with me years later I realized it was full of gold. I crushed it and it had wire gold in it. Now I'm too out of shape to go back. I did find some float on the side of a hill in the same area that also contained gold, but I've never been back.

The USGS is very determined to drive out all of the small miners. They're very happy to work with the huge mining corporations but they definitely want to stop ALL the small miners.