« COLLEGIATE KAYAKERS CONQUER THE TRUCKEE | Main | Biking, hiking and rock climbing »
May 01, 2006
Going Underground in Virginia City
The Ponderosa Saloon in Virginia City is home to an underground mine tour.
Virginia City's Best and Belcher Mine makes more money today than it ever did when it operated as a mine more than a century ago. Tourists, however, are the reason the mine is lucrative these days.
The Best and Belcher is one of the best examples of a mine that was a genuine money pit. Established in 1869, the mine's shaft was located between the fabulously rich Gould and Curry and Consolidated Virginia mines.
More than $1.6 million was spent developing the Best and Belcher. But despite nearly 40 years of digging, dynamiting, timbering and drilling, the mine was never as profitable as surrounding mines and was finally abandoned in 1917.
About 30 years ago, however, the owners of the Ponderosa Saloon in Virginia City, which is located in the historic Bank of California offices, discovered that the old Best and Belcher shaft ran through the hillside behind the building, which had been built in 1864.
A horizontal tunnel was dug from the rear of the saloon into the old shaft and opened for tours. Since then, thousands of visitors have walked the 315 feet from the saloon into the shaft and caught a glimpse of Comstock history.
The Ponderosa Mine Tour is one of the best ways to get an up close look at the source of Virginia City's fame and success. You catch the tour in a waiting room just beyond the saloon's wooden bar.
During a recent visit, the guide, who wore a protective helmet (mostly for effect), began the tour by ushering us through metal doors into a timbered map room. Pointing to a large underground map of the area, he explained how Virginia City is crisscrossed with old mine shafts and noted that if all were placed end to end they would stretch more than 750 miles.
From the map room, we moved into a dirt tunnel (wear shoes that you don't mind getting muddy) that led into the heart of the Best and Belcher shaft. We passed an old powder room, which still contained a few old, wooden dynamite boxes.
The guide said that during the 1870s Virginia City's miners were the highest paid miners in the world, making $4 a day (the equivalent of about $230 a day today).
Near the end of the tunnel, we were told that we were about 52 feet underground and that the temperature year-round is a cool 50 degrees. The guide walked to a partially caved-in ventilation tunnel, which he said was the original entrance to the shaft, and lit a small candle.
He extinguished the electric lights and showed us what it was like to work in the mine during the 1870s. The single candle barely illuminated his face, let alone much of the shaft.
Smiling, he said the biggest problem for the miners was a sudden breeze coming in from the ventilation shaft and blowing out the candle. Then, of course, blew out the candle.
After flicking the overheads back on, he added that sometimes miners would bring canaries in small cages down into the mines with them. If the bird suddenly died, it was a sign that the air was bad from methane gas, and the miners would quickly exit.
And from here, so did we.
The Best and Belcher mine tour is offered daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $4.50 for adults and $1.50 for children under 12. The Ponderosa is located on C Street in Virginia City. For more information call 775-847-0757.----Richard Moreno
Posted by Rich Moreno at May 1, 2006 10:20 AM