I have been mine exploring for a long time, but there is one mine that is quite special to me; Delamar Nevada. Through the years I have accumulated literally weeks of underground exploring time. In that time my exploring friends and I have located and opened up areas that are now a regular part of everyone's explore. The mine is reported to have had 16 levels and over 60 miles of workings! It is truly massive.

It is no surprise that there are areas that have been "lost" through the years. Those areas intrigue me and we are always looking to see if we can find ways into them. In the last few years my friend Tony and I have found sections of two levels that have been lost for many years. They are in untouched condition and I have posted videos of those areas.

The entire Level 9 of the mine has been lost as long as anyone can remember. Quite a few explorers have unsuccessfully looked for it. My exploring buddy, Tony, is from England and is one of the top explorers there. He is well known for his technical rope skills as well as his complete lack of fear. This past week we went on a mission to check every possible way into the lost Level 9. Sure enough we found a way! The level is untouched and strewn with artifacts. Although it is one of the most difficult explores I've ever done, it is the high point of my exploring career.


This old mine building is the most well known feature of the ghost town of Delamar. It is truly majestic with its beautiful view of the valley.




Tony contemplating his next move as we hunt for a way into the lost level.




Once we found ourselves in the lost level, we were stunned at all of the artifacts.


















These are boxes of high grade ore stacked in an upper level of square set.




This was quite an adventure. We are going to go back in the future to see if we can find any more lost connections from this level back up into some of the upper levels. Who knows if we will find even more unexplored areas?

Abby Normal

Super cool finds! Well done!

Wow! Super neat!

amazing. caves are starting to appeal to me more and more!

This one looks awesome!

I've been trying to research that bottle of Hill and Hill whisky all day today, and the best approximation I can find is between the end of Prohibition and 1954, since I can't find any photos online of whisky from that distillery being branded with the National Distillers Products Corp. Fascinating find, Abby!

Posted by Wei I've been trying to research that bottle of Hill and Hill whisky all day today, and the best approximation I can find is between the end of Prohibition and 1954, since I can't find any photos online of whisky from that distillery being branded with the National Distillers Products Corp. Fascinating find, Abby!

Hey Abby, if you post a clear picture of the bottom of the bottle I might be able to date it. Most glass manufacturers historically had a maker's mark unique to each manufacturer they would place on the bottom of the bottle, which often contained a number that corresponds to the date of manufacture. With some bottles it's possible to pinpoint the exact year and location it was manufactured, no matter how far away from its point of origin the bottle may be found. It's not a guarantee of course, but given the age of the bottles I'd wager they probably have a maker's mark. We use those to date bottles all the time in archaeology.

Anyway, this is an awesome find! I'd love to read a full writeup someday of your adventures searching for the 9 level and finding those artifacts if you ever write one.

Posted by Wei I've been trying to research that bottle of Hill and Hill whisky all day today, and the best approximation I can find is between the end of Prohibition and 1954, since I can't find any photos online of whisky from that distillery being branded with the National Distillers Products Corp. Fascinating find, Abby!

The Calvert's bottle appears to be around 1936. Seems unlikely they're too far different in age.

http://www.czajkus...Bourbon%20Baza.htm

Awesome find indeed. Well done!

Woah, phenomenal discovery. Thinking about how that level has been untouched in what has to be more than half a century is crazy. Great Post!!

Posted by MrBungle Woah, phenomenal discovery. Thinking about how that level has been untouched in what has to be more than half a century is crazy. Great Post!!

Thanks!

There are a number of reasons why it wasn't found earlier. The level does not have an opening to the surface and was only accessed using a man-cage lifted up and down the shaft by a hoist. Once the shaft was plugged, that way of accessing the level was gone. The other way to get into the level requires some significant rope-work. I could follow Tony once he had the route roped up, but I could not have done it first. He did some crazy exploring to find our way there.

One incident was humorous. We got down a couple of levels, a place that we had explored years ago. We found a Colorado state flag tacked up on a beam gloating that they had gotten there and everyone after them were loosers. LOL I chuckled when I thought, "That flag wasn't there when we first explored this area." And to be fair, it had already been explored before we got there.

In the last couple of years, Tony and I have found a lost section of level 7, a lost section of level 8, and all of level 9. It feels good that some analysis and hard exploring can still turn up new finds. I know there is more to find. I hope some of my fellow mine explorers get to them before we do. It would be good to see their smiling faces.

Abby Normal

Posted by Aran Hey Abby, if you post a clear picture of the bottom of the bottle I might be able to date it. Most glass manufacturers historically had a maker's mark unique to each manufacturer they would place on the bottom of the bottle, which often contained a number that corresponds to the date of manufacture. With some bottles it's possible to pinpoint the exact year and location it was manufactured, no matter how far away from its point of origin the bottle may be found. It's not a guarantee of course, but given the age of the bottles I'd wager they probably have a maker's mark. We use those to date bottles all the time in archaeology. Anyway, this is an awesome find! I'd love to read a full writeup someday of your adventures searching for the 9 level and finding those artifacts if you ever write one.

There were marks on the bottom of the bottle, but I don't know if I got video of them. I do remember that they did have makers marks. One was a small diamond shape with two letters inside of it. It also had "MI" so I'm assuming it was from Michigan. I wish I had taken a photo of the bottom.

Abby

But did you find Kenny Veach?