A few miles off Hwy 395 in
the Antelope Valley.
DO NOT CLIMB ON THE STRUCTURE!!!
I come up to this valley to
visit family nearby. Every time I am up here I visit this location
because it is such a neat area to explore. This cache is located at
an old mining operation up in the hills surrounding the Antelope
Valley where the Walker River runs down to Topaz Lake. I placed
this cache near the old stamp mill that was purchased in San
Francisco and transported and assembled on this site.
PLEASE DON’T CLIMB ON THE STRUCTURE
AS IT MAY BE UNSTABLE. I have seen a few stamp
mills but never on this big with ten “pistons”. All of the
others that I have seen at mines in Grass Valley and
Placerville have only 8 pistons. If you look up the hill you
will see the actual mine where the material was taken from
the mountain. The Ore was brought down the hill to the stamp
mill and processed to extract the Gold/Mercury slurry. The
stamp mill was powered by a water wheel turned by water from
the adjacent stream. The Gold/Mercury material was then taken
down the hill to the now two run down buildings. The one with
the little “roof topper” housed the furnace here the mercury
was boiled/evaporated off for reuse at the stamp mill. After
that the remaining gold was sent else where for further
refining since there was usually other heavy metals in the
mix. Any way I find the process pretty interesting… Wife says
that I am a geek. There are a few other nice caches in and
around the valley. Some are fairly easy to access and a few
will really take the wind out of you. Especially if you are
not use to the altitude.
Remember, Practice "Cache In Trash Out"
While out geocaching, bring a bag with you to
pick up trash along the way.
Visit the Cache In Trash Out page to learn
more about CITO.
CITO Logo use granted
3/28/08 by Groundspeak BTG-708616