 So here we are with Chris Austin and Julie. We ran into Chris out here at the Ruth mine. He's a previous owner of the mine. He and his brother and his family before that. So why don't you tell us a little bit about what you can just in general about the mine? Sure. Doug Graham was the original prospector in 1899. He brought my grandfather in in around 1917 and the way I understand it, he traded quarter ownership if my grandfather would pay the taxes on the mine and built up. They had their own schoolhouse here, 68 miners, a little general store and when World War II broke out they sent all the miners to strategic metal mines. Right. That was a 1942 I think. Yes, sir. All the gold mines closed on. This was a gold mine, right? Yes, this was gold. And all the non-strategic metal mines were shut down. Right. So this got shut down. So we cleared out very quickly and it was not totally abandoned, but it sat for many years and I grew up down in Orange County about three and a half hours away and we started coming up here when I was a little kid and my dad fixed the old warehouse here to a two-bedroom cabin. So this is the warehouse. This was the warehouse. We're looking at the back of it kind of right? Right. So one big central room and two offices and a bathroom with a shower. Okay. So he fixed it up into a really nice cabin. We spent years from 1972 up until I was in past college and we lost ownership in 2003 when my father passed away. So not that long ago. Right. How much land did you actually have with this? It was about 200 acres. The main mine area here is about 60 and they brought the water down from about a mile up the canyon here. Okay. Okay. So they had mining claims lined up until spring. He had that property as well. There's a two-inch water line that came to a tank that was up here on the on the ridge line and they were just gravity feed down here. Nice. So yeah, in the 70s we had hot and cold running water and everything you did. That's a great story. Okay. So here we are. We've moved over to the bunkhouse, right? Right. It's a four-bedroom bunkhouse with a central area and we used it as kind of a storage area and kind of a warehouse type thing in the 70s and 80s. I see. Let's go in and take a quick look. My brother Steve got involved with the adopt a cabin program. So this is still in pretty good shape. It is. So you say four. It was well protected. You say four-bedroom or did you say something? Yeah. Four-bedroom and that's central area. I see right here. Yeah. Neat. Okay. Well, we're up here. Why don't we why don't you just say like point this out? So now you've got this building here. Right. A few of these I don't know much history on. I assume that was just somebody's house. Just a little one of the miners local's houses. Right. Like I say, there were about 68 miners here at the peak. Right. The same with the one down below it on the left. Behind the trees there? Correct. And then were the two buildings on the right or put together those were originally separate buildings. One of them was the school house. Okay. And at one point they had 22 kids in the school. That's what I heard. And I heard that that went until the 50s. Oh, I didn't know that. Somebody said it was 1951 was the last year that the school house was operating. And that there was the teacher's quarters. They had a little apartment for the teacher to live in. Right. Is that what is that? Is that what one of the buildings is? Yep. Okay. And then over here we have the let's go look at the bigger one over here. Was this the most recent place where someone lived? Yes. We used it until essentially when my father passed away. And we had one caretaker living in there for a little while. Did you guys ever do any mining since your father? Did your father mine or was this your grandfather? No. Well, my father was involved with all of it that nobody ever did any labor. But was he was he running the mine essentially then you mean? Yes, from a distance. My father was born in 1914. Okay. So can we go inside of this one? Yeah, if it's unlaunched. Go ahead, Julie. I'll follow you guys up. I'm surprised it's not been beaten up more than it has because sometimes the kids get into these places. Right. And my god, it's just unbelievable. It is sad to see initiate though, because it was so nice. Was it really? So how long has it been since someone lived here? It was right after the BLM took it. So around 2003. I see. And you had you kind of arranged to have that caretaker live here until then? My brother Steve arranged it. Yep. But my dad moved some walls around in here. This this was porch. Oh, from here on. Oh yeah, I can see it. I can see up here. Yeah. And had the bathroom with the shower. What the heck did I mean? I have no idea. Scary. And every time we came up here every weekend, he would bring another the kitchen cabinet or stove or whatever. This was pretty much an all purpose room. We had a couch in here and we had a fireplace over in the corner and dining room table over here. Somewhere I read that there was also a bar here. Yes. And I don't know which building that was. Well, I saw a video of it and it looked like it had a cooler and it had a it had a unless I was looking at here there was a stool. There's a there's a we had stools. So behind Chris is where the mill used to stand. What can you tell me about the mill? It was about a five story building built up the side of the hill there. And then we had numerous settling tanks. And I don't remember how many at least 20 really for the Sinai solution. Yeah, they used to fill the tanks up after they've crushed it and then they would leech out the gold. The Sinai would actually dissolve the gold. Right. And it would run it over a zinc tablets and the gold would stick to the zinc. Right. And then you're left with a mess of tailings. Right. And that's there's a huge tailings pile down here covered up by the dirt. They've covered that. And the BLM brought in some sort of big caterpillar and pushed a big portion of the mountain down on top of it. So did they haul the mill parts off? I don't know. I don't think so. I think it's still underneath. Oh, it is the least buried. Yeah. Yeah, mills are usually built on a tear. They usually right. They use gravity to help. Yeah. You also said your brother got to go down into the lower levels of the mine. Right. And that's somewhere out on the internet. My brother Steve and his son Stuart got to go with some spelunkers. Okay. And they went through and they were amazed at the size of the caverns on the different levels. Right. I think it's about five or six hundred feet deep. Yeah, we always heard it was 500 feet deep. And then every 100 feet there was another working level. Yeah. A drift level. Right. And then they take everything from each level and they haul it up a central shaft. Right. Bring it out here to the mill. And they had the train track system with the ore cars. Came right over to the mill, huh? Yeah. Did you, were you around? Did you ever see any of the ore cars running? No. We, we actually got our hands on one when I was a kid. Did you? But when the mine was operating, they had a, they'd captured a burrow named her Ginny. Oh. And put a carbide lamp on her and she hauled the cars. Oh my God. That would be so cool to have a picture of that. Yo, no kids. Do you have any old pictures of this? We have quite a few in the family. Yeah. Yeah. Obviously I'm here from Texas. So I don't have any of that with me. Right. Cool. Okay. So we're coming down the hill to the school. Looks like a two building affair. So this was, there were 20 some students. 22 students from what I've been told. Yeah. And the buildings weren't put together until I, I think it was just shortly before we lost the mine in 03. Okay. One of the caretakers. The dusts are still here, huh? Those were put in by the doctor camera. Oh, they were just to make it look good. Yeah. The teacher lived here somewhere too. That's what I read anyway. That the teacher. Yes. I know the teacher was on a property where they were in the building. Yeah. What I heard is that it was a, it was a join to this building. Do you think this would be her little apartment or his little apartment? No, the ceiling was almost brand new. Yeah. That must have been adopted Kevin. Yeah. A little bathroom. Yeah. You know what the, I think one of the caretakers was living in here for a while. That's probably what it did. Okay. So, so was this like this when you were younger or did you see it, you saw it before it looked like this? Yeah. It was real. It was very rough before. Was this blackboard here? No. Our green board. Was that fire? Fireplace wasn't probably not like that. Yeah. Panelling is pretty modern. Right. And these chairs weren't here. I don't know. This is fake. This is fake. Yeah. That's just, that's like paneling. Right. This is my dad putting up in the warehouse. Your dad put that up? Yeah. Okay. Now, here we had a wood stove, it looks like. There's a chimney anyway. Yes. Look at that. So you're seeing an associated buildings are maintained by the Friends of Ruthmine as a tribute to the Mr. Fred Austin senior and Dr. Evans families who own the Ruthmine since July of 1925. 25 huh. So your, your father and grandfather are both Fred? Yes. As well as my brother. As well as one of your brothers. Right. I moved down to Texas in 99. So I wasn't around here for the last few years of our ownership of it. Do you think this building was moved? This close or was it built this close? No, it was moved here. I see. They were joined. I remember that being my dad's idea from years ago, but I don't remember when they actually did it. I see. Well, that's cool. No, it's not that. I was always bummed that I didn't, didn't end up with that. Who made that? Oh, the miners. They made a workbench. Took the Hercules dynamite. Right. The wood ones. Right. And used the slats off that to make a workbench. Oh, cool. If I had known what the BLM was going to do and cover it up to mill, I would have been here in a heartbeat to grab it. So what do you think? Oh, what was in the mill? Yeah. So they just, they just buried that? Right. We believe this was the old bar. Not 100% sure though. Well, there's a refrigerator and a cooler. Let's back through the door we came in. There's a back deck out of an automobile or something with some speakers in it. Here's a barrel stove it looks like. Bathroom over there. Refrigerator. Hot point. Here's a little cooler. Hudson, Wisconsin. Was it? Northlake. Hikers. Most nest. Here's a sink. Little counter. There's another older cooler out here. So maybe this was the bar area? Bar and store. Yeah, general store. Was this a general store? I think so. He says bull. Oh, I see. Well, Chris, it's been so nice talking to you and you gave us a lot of great information. Same here. It's great to meet you guys. Likewise. And you can come in running into you. Good. And come and look us up on our YouTube channel and you'll be able to see yourself in the old school. And I'm sure I want to see that, but I will take a look. But we do appreciate it. Thank you again for telling us about everything and Julie and I, we both appreciate it very much. Thanks for doing what you guys do. All right, you're welcome. That concludes our tour. Thanks for watching the video, you guys. Yes, we do.