gone silver mining

September 13th, after the day's cycling, we toured the Sierra Silver Mine in the hills near Wallace. It had been an operating mine but only assayed at half a troy ounce of silver per ton. It was eventually closed and used as a mining training site for local high school students.

Keen silver mining trainees.

Our guide giving us a history of silver mining in the valley before leading us into the drift.

Soaking it all up. These young trainees are very teachable.

Going further into the mountain.

The stope where the miner drills his blast holes.

Dragging out the rock with equipment. It's very noisy

It's dark. Not a lot of windows in a mine. Nice and cool on a hot day though.

On the trolley back to Wallace.

Newly certified silver miners back in town, looking for a job.

Saddling up the horses for the ride back to Osburn. We left all our gear unlocked on the sidewalk in Wallace during the tour. It was all there when we returned.

Ready to giddy up.