American Hill

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hemingray
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American Hill

Postby hemingray » Sun Jul 17, 2011 7:44 pm

Took a trip up to see the opposite side of the canyon from Last Chance and Barney Cavanah Ridge. American Hill is a mining area off Foresthill Road off the TNF FR-13 road. FR-13 loops from Foresthill Rd at 5400 ft out and about and returns at 6400 ft. The lower part of the 13 road is paved to a spot called Function Junction, but the upper part is dirt from just off Foresthill Rd between Ford Point and Sailor Flat Rd near the old Carmac Mine. American Hill is several miles down from Function Junction. There are side roads to Manila Canyon and Antoine Canyon (mostly on the ridges though).

Nice day - 60 degrees in the morning.

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Most maps show a pond at the Carmac Mine. Long gone. I'm standing on the breached dam. Apparently there was a ditch at one time that took from the creek here and took it down to American Hill mine.

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The last bit of snow on this road.

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Must be getting near the mine! A vintage (1950's) Eimco loader (Mfg'd in Salt Lake City!) sits abandoned.

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A little further on is the American Hill mine.

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It's been awhile.

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The remains of the buildings.

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Another abandoned loader - a Pettibone - sits at the bottom of the pit.

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Remains of a conveyor.

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Here's what I was looking for - a view across Screwauger Canyon to Last Chance.

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A side trip to Antoine Canyon - and boy am I glad someone else got this log for me!

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A nice place for lunch on Antoine Creek.

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Back up on Foresthill Road, I discovered an old ditch running above the road near the Beacroft Trailhead. More of the "secret Sierra"...

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The moderate weather is just great - 65 - 70 degrees in most places today.
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Re: American Hill

Postby avejoe » Sun Jul 17, 2011 8:42 pm

Very cool. Old mines, equipment, and relics are facinating.

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hemingray
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Re: American Hill

Postby hemingray » Mon Jul 18, 2011 5:51 am

I'll say - imagine digging those ditches up there!
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Re: American Hill

Postby GrizzlyGuy » Mon Jul 18, 2011 11:09 am

Dude, you found my boot! I've been looking everywhere for it!! :P

I think we need to send Kendo out to get those loaders running. Then we can swap out the buckets for blades and build lots and lots of new trails. :wink:
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Re: American Hill

Postby EigerMike » Mon Jul 18, 2011 4:37 pm

nice pics and great job narrating! :D
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hemingray
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Re: American Hill

Postby hemingray » Mon Jul 18, 2011 7:05 pm

Thanks Mike!
GrizzlyGuy wrote:I think we need to send Kendo out to get those loaders running. Then we can swap out the buckets for blades and build lots and lots of new trails. :wink:
Easy parts!

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But there's this leak....

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Wonder how many gallons have gone and how many are left?
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Paynes Creek 2016!

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Re: American Hill

Postby hellcat650 » Tue Jul 19, 2011 2:30 pm

How come FS dosen't make someone remove and clean up that stuff?
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Re: American Hill

Postby The Modfather » Fri Jul 22, 2011 5:09 pm

hellcat650 wrote:How come FS dosen't make someone remove and clean up that stuff?
they're too busy closing down trails and hunting ATV riders...
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hemingray
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Re: American Hill

Postby hemingray » Fri Jul 22, 2011 7:16 pm

That and the unbelievable amount of regulation. The gov't regulates the gov't in unbelievable ways. I think it's probably easier for them to just leave the stuff - it's not "theirs" (belongs to the mine claimant). If they start a cleanup, they then would be subject to EPA, water quality, Fish and Game etc. etc. etc. I have a little firsthand experience with this kinda thing between the county, state and feds - and one agency treats another just like they would treat you and me. "Let sleeping dogs lie" is probably their outlook on the mine junk.
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Re: American Hill

Postby hemingray » Mon Sep 05, 2011 9:00 pm

So, not wanting to fuss with I-80 traffic on Labor Day, I decided to tie up some loose waypoint ends on American Hill Rd (FR-13) again. Not much to report, logged 30 miles of out and back stuff with stub roads and whatnot.

Everyone hates these.

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Nice view of Duncan Peak and Little Bald Mountain (Duncan Peak Lookout) from here, a ridge over from the American Hill Mine.

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Ooh, there's a piece of equipment on that gash across the canyon at the mine. Have to figure out where it is.

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Well, could not find it - overgrown paths etc. left me with no clue where it is. (looked it up on Google Earth - now I know!)

Elsewhere - a capped mine shaft.

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Securely fastened!

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Finally, someone's prospect. The tin at the left may cover a hole, but I could not tell - covered in rock and dirt.

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Lastly, the old topos show a well at Foresthill Road and Elliot Ranch Road (and Chicken Hawk Road, for that matter - but it's no longer public at this location). Stopped and puzzled over it while the GPS said I was at the spot (I was walking around in brush and slash etc). All of a sudden, the old fence posts I saw made sense - sure enough, there's a well. (under the wooden cover)

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Wherever I go, there I am

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Re: American Hill

Postby GrizzlyGuy » Tue Sep 06, 2011 7:47 am

Did you take a peek under the wooden cover for the well?
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hemingray
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Re: American Hill

Postby hemingray » Tue Sep 06, 2011 8:56 am

I did. Looks like a 3' round cistern kinda thing, with a pipe leading down and water about 5 foot from the surface no controls or anything, I think it was an old "dip the bucket" operation or a gravity feed through the pipe to somewhere. Several ditches run through that area, but I'm not sure if they were ever related. The close in trees and broken down fence say "not used for a long time".
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Re: American Hill

Postby GrizzlyGuy » Tue Sep 06, 2011 9:47 am

Cool, it sounds like they lucked out in having water that close to the surface. The well at our new house is something like 750 feet deep!
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hemingray
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Re: American Hill

Postby hemingray » Tue Sep 06, 2011 10:53 am

Holy cow - you're going to have to trip a lot of pipe if the pump is at the bottom and needs replacement!

You know the Sierra - lots of rock layers and such creates many springs - it's very flat there, so perhaps the snowmelt percolates before it runs off.
Wherever I go, there I am

Paynes Creek 2016!

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Re: American Hill

Postby GrizzlyGuy » Tue Sep 06, 2011 1:11 pm

hemingray wrote:Holy cow - you're going to have to trip a lot of pipe if the pump is at the bottom and needs replacement!
Tell me about it, we're going to have that done in the next few months as the pump is on its last legs. The well guys say it is a 2-day job and estimated around $10k but it depends on how many of the pipe lengths need to be replaced. They think that all of the pipe below the water line should be replaced but the stuff above the line may or may not need replacement depending on what it looks like when the pull it. A 21' length of pipe is $90 so I'm hoping that a lot of it is still good.
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