So Spencer mountain, where are cabin is, is dotted with old gold mines. In the 1890s when the first gold was found, a lot of folks figured the mountain to be practically solid gold, based on the size of the veins on the surface. However (and luckily for my family 50 years later) the gold veins did the opposite of what they normally do. Rather than getting wider and larger as one digs into the mountain, the veins shrank and disappeared. So bad for the gold mining, good for us.

Our land has 3 mining claims on it, and countless test pits. This mine, The Terror, is not on our land however. It's higher up the mountain and it is being csmetically restored by the current owners. They use the old miner's cabin as a summer place, and have put a lot of work into restoring the look of the equipment and old shaft and mechanical buildings (what you see here). Very cool.