Lost Mines... What do you look for?

Alrigh, so I was at the laundromat and saw one of my "Old Timer" buddies. He owns a place down in Mill Canyon here in the Davenport, WA area. We got to talking about mining and geology as we usually do, and he brought up "The Lost Mine of Mill Canyon". Now I know every area has its lost mines, but being surrounded by basalt all of the mines in the Mill canyon area are pretty much considered lost. What makes Mill Canyon interesting is that from a geologic standpoint it has the same features as the other gold bearing areas in Eastern Washington, it is just mostly overlooked because basalt is so prominent in the county. I did some research and found two locals at which hard rock mining occured. The story is that the mine entrance was blasted when the price of gold was fixed at the $35 or so an ounce. So he continued to tell me about an anomaly in which in the dead of summer near a cliff face with boulders strewn about there is a spot where ice crystals were forming. Any opinions?

Thanks

Sean

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for me,it is the "slag" piles, that are the most helpful.  a lot of people think that looking for that is a no brainer, however the earth shifts, erodes, and changes causing piles of sediment to look just like piles from the interior of mines, even though there is no mine.  look for the history of what was mined in the area in the past.  for example coal was mined in the are where i found a mine two days ago.  the rock in that area is a bluish tint when pulled out of the mountain.  i go on the internet, research the history and then go on google earth, and view the satelite imagery ( something I'm used to from my military intelligence experiences) and then look for what appears to be old "slag" piles.

     Last night i did this very thing, and in fact found two places up a shallow canyon that do in fact look like slag piles, and have old over grown trails leading to them.  i then use google earth applications and measure the distance from where i am going to start, so i can gauge my distance when I'm actually there on the the ground looking for the place.  keep in mind also, that viewing something from 7500 feet is a lot different than being there obviously, so take into account things like bends in the rivers, canyons, certain types of brush that's growing in certain patterns and the like.  this will help you to identify what you are seeing from the ground in your search.  Good luck, and I'll let you know what i find as far as what i am going to explore off of the satelite imagery that i have been studying.
also I'm no geologist by any means, but the statement about the ice crystals on the cliff might be from spring water inside the soil and rocks from the spring run off that is coming outside the cliff, and the cliff's themselves might be causing a venturi effect where the wind and ambient air are forced to pick up speed and lower the temperature.  there might also be the shade and shadows that come into play as far as temperature, depending on the aspect (side of the mountain, such as East, South, West etc).  pieces of terrain usually spend more time in the sun on the south side, leaving the North face to be colder and allow freezing.  anyway, that is my thought on it  and might be a possibility. take care

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Thanks for the input.

Sean

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I doubt I will actually go inside if I find it, I just mostly want to poke around and see what I can find. You never know what's laying about waiting to be found. I may take some samples.

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Never understood the concept of an ore cart as a yard ornament.

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