Alabama Hills Mine No. 2

I don't know how productive this mine in the Alabama Hills was, but Cerro Gordo (in the Inyo Mountains on the left horizon) was one of the greatest producers of silver-lead in California. Smelters were located at Cerro Gordo and in the town of Swansea, on the east side of Owens Lake. The silver-lead bullion was poured into 85 lb. bars (pigs) and shipped across Owens Lake to Cartago by steamboats. The bullion was then loaded onto 14-mule team wagons and hauled to Los Angeles. The wagons could not keep up with production and in 1873 there were over 30,000 bars of bullion in Cartago waiting to be hauled south. The miners would stack the bars like bricks, stretch canvas across the top, and live in "silver splendor".
Thanks,
Rudy
D700, 24-70mm

An excellent vantage point to take this entire area in Rudy. This old mine gives me recall of the similar looking site out at JTNP with the Lost Horse Mine.

Very impressive, Rudy. This is a good B & W, and the clouds in the sky really
help to make the scene pop. I also appreciate learning some of the history of
the area. At one time photographers could photograph the interiors of some
of the old buildings. Do you know if that's still possible and what the conditions
are for photographing there?

This is such a nice piece of mining antique architecture, and BW does it justice lovely sky too Rudy, well done.

Paul

Good story and fine photo. Super sky. I would not mind seeing everything below the sky a bit light and perhaps with a bit more contrast. Seems a bit dark to me.

Can one tour the ghost town at Cerro Gordo? If so, any procedure to follow?

I'm not sure what the status is I was there many years ago collecting minerals on the dumps during a field trip sponsored by the Cerro Gordo mineralogical Society. It was a two day affair over a weekend in June with a barbeque at the old Hotel on Saturday night.Misssed the que, it would have meant camping out and we had not equipment. So we stayed in Lone Pine. I would Google Cerro Gordo. There's not much of the town left, but the hotel is still there and a museum.

Paul

Rudy, great sky. Always enjoy the history behind the locations as well. Best Regards.

Check this site out: http://www.explorehistoricalif.com/cerro_main.html
Humboldt State had their geology field camps at Cerro Gordo and would help out with the maintenance of the buildings. When I was there in 1985 we did a lot of work for Jody Stewart, who is shown on their web site.

Harley, Here’s another one taken a few minutes later, under a little brighter light.
Thanks,
Rudy

I wouldn't mind living in silver splendor! The repost is an improvement, you can see the detail in the wood. Nice inspiring mine work.

SS

Second shot much better, Rudy. Great job on the bw treatment

I like the snap of the original sky, but the added details in the second version's fg is a nice addition. Nice find and capture!