One rainy day i still wanted to do something, so i decided to go check out some ruins i spotted previously on a mountain in the Talkeetnas. I've got a long list of mining ruins to check out and a rainy day would be the perfect opportunity to scratch one off my list. Plus, if i could get inside i'd be out of the rain.
The way you find a mine is to look for the tailings pile that is dumped down the mountainside below the entrance. It's often easy to spot because it has a different color than the much older, natural, weather-tarnished talus that is every where else. Once you spot the tailings, you look for a hole above it. If there are actual structures it's pretty obvious. Much more interesting is how you find the spot to make the mine. In these mountains they were mining gold.
This mine's sole remaining structure was literally on it's last legs. Water coming out of the mine had washed away the foundation under one of the four legs it stood on. There may have been another structure that had just collapsed the previous winter. Everything had a freshly destroyed look to it. None of the debris had settled into place, making walking around treacherous. The mountain was steep enough and covered in enough wet vegetation to make going around the debris just as treacherous. Eventually i found a way to get to the mine entrance.
You never know what to expect when you get to a mine entrance. Sometimes they are blasted shut. Sometimes, because they are dangerous, or in order to keep others from mining in a vein that is still holds promise they are blasted shut. Sometimes they have a thick iron gate across the entrance with a stream flowing underneath it. I've even seen one with a concrete block wall sealing the entrance. This mine was unusual. It had a barrier i never would have imagined: a solid wall of ice....
I was stunned. It was the beginning of August and here, only 10 feet in from the open air was a 4 foot high wall of ice. I got down on my knees to see if i could crawl underneath but it pinched off to the waters surface only a few feet away. The top continued with about 8 inches of space between the ice and the overlying rock. I could see far enough to know that the ice was at least 20 feet deep. Then it faded to darkness. It would not be melting before winter. Fall in these mountains starts in the middle of August. I've seen snow fall before September 1st.
After i got over my disbelief i took a closer look around and found something else, just as surprising. Melting out of the top of the ice, but not yet covered by encroaching moss, one of the support beams had something written on it. A cryptic message i knew all too well, but out here in the middle of nowhere in a ruined frozen mine on a treacherous cliff side. The words looked as fitting in their setting as they would in any authors imagination.
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"Who is John Gault?"
Who is John Gault? Did he carve this mine? Was he in some kind of secret underground fortress behind this ice? Is this his grave? Who knows.
