I Found A Strange Circle In The Woods Exploring My Favorite Abandoned Railway

Comments · 265

• TB

  @TBI-Firefighter · 8 months ago (edited) · pinned

  New Sub. As a retired USDA/FS Mine Inspector what you've found is an Ore Roaster for burning the Tellurides off of the Quartz to facilitate the Gold Ore for the Stamp Mills, if you don't roast the Tellurides off you'd lose all the Freemill Gold.  The Circle is a Trail Marker to warn of Telluride Roasting which is deadly if inhaled.

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• DA

  @danteeters4202 · 3 months ago

  Actually relaxes me to watch your videos

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• R.

  @r.d.outlaw5691 · 8 months ago

  The dog is enjoying all this.

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• MA

  @mattw-cx50 · 8 months ago

  I love then and now pics. 👍

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• LO

  @loveistrue8163 · 4 months ago

  Thanks for exciting video

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• JA

  @Jackrbbt1989 · 8 months ago

  Thanks for another excellent video, brother. Great views of old Homestake Pass.<br>- The concrete was a foundation for a Northern Pacific water tank and/or tower. It would have been fed slowly from a well or other water source and, in turn, fed a stand pipe by the tracks via gravity. It was used for locomotives that needed refill after the tough climb up the grade. There was one very similar in Tonasket, WA. when they reopened the Stampede Pass line. It was saved by having been converted to serve the local houses.<br>- As for the shelter built into it, it looks like someone took the piping and timbers from the old water tank and made themselves a makeshift survival shelter or cache. Pretty novel how they bent the pipe down to prevent snow from getting in. The door is pretty good bush craftsmanship, too. The tanks were often made of wood that was burned on the inside to waterproof it. It&apos;s a technique that is still used for the wooden water tanks on old high-rise apartments in places like New York City. It&apos;s a pretty cool process if you every get to see it done. Mike Rowe did a Dirty Jobs episode on it that you can probably find online.<br>- The structure was a converted late nineteenth or early twentieth century wood boxcar. Story is that it was used as a telegraphers office, worker&apos;s cabin, and finally just a storage shed. When I was last there in 2004, it was surrounded by several other historic structures. They must have fallen down since or been vandalized for their wood.<br>- The Museum of the Rockies has a great collection of Ron Nixon&apos;s photography. He worked as an official photographer for the N.P. There&apos;s probably dozens of photos there from around Butte.<br>Good eye on seeing that water tank foundation. I missed it when I was there. I look forward to more of your adventures. With caring for our disabled daughter, my trekking days are over for now. I&apos;m glad to have content creators like yourself with this channel and Dustin Porter from Destination Adventure to at least let me see great scenery again. Many thanks. You might check him out for ideas on cinematic drone shots, etc. Very similar historic content. Have an awesome day, brother.

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• RO

  @roadkingrider6532 · 8 months ago

  That’s an ore roaster. Very cool!

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• SA

  @sandyzalecki1145 · 8 months ago

  I didn&apos;t realise there was so much in Montana until I found your channel. You and Greta keep up the good work.

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• CR

  @CrawfordFunday · 8 months ago

  My Dad use to blast cuts like these in the video before he went underground to drill and blast for gold. He blasted for highways in Canada, in Alberta and Ontario and he has mined in Nevada, North Dakota and I think Montana. He did alot of other blasting as well, I guess where ever rock needed to be removed with force. I heard from a few that know my father and they say he could blast a boulder from just feet of a house and would not even make a mark on the house. My father is still alive at 76 years old but he is suffering the effects of underground mining now. His lungs are bad with fibrosis and he has problems with his hands and feet. He had swamp foot on more than one occasion underground. I look up to my father and am proud of what he has accomplished in his life time, it will be hard when he is gone.

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• MR

  @MrEd-w8y · 8 months ago

  In exploring old mines in the west and rail lines, a bunker like that with a vent was usually an explosives storage area. Well away from the working area. Pull up an old auto road map,40&apos;s/50&apos;s, west of the Mississippi and it&apos;s fairly easy to see where the railroads went. In the age of steam the trains could only go 50-70 miles before they needed water. With little towns popping up to serve the railroad and agricultural communities along the way. Gotta love the old railroad/mining history of the west. Fun to search this stuff out if you have the time with the proper vehicle and planning. Lots of info from the Denver public library, mining history museums and county historical assets.

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• MI

  @mikewebb8456 · 8 months ago

  Thanks for taking us along! 👍

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• AC

  @actionfaction2558 · 8 months ago (edited)

  Man, you got the best companion there. My GSD would accompany me on my adventures in th3 woods too!

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