The group met at one of the gates to Kirtland Airforce Base. Once everybody was ready we proceeded to the mine as a convoy.
Trip leader: Dustin
Attending (From NMT): David, Eshani, Amy, Anna, Justus, and James
The NMT Caving Club has long avoided mines. It is not because we don't like the idea of exploring a mine; we do. It is because abandoned mines are dangerous; don't go in them. Recently we got in touch with the Friends of Galena King mine who offered to give us a tour of the non-abandoned Galena King Mine.
The group met at one of the gates to Kirtland Airforce Base. Once everybody was ready we proceeded to the mine as a convoy.
The road does not currently go all the way to the mine property. We parked a short distance from the mine and hiked the rest of the way. We helped carry two large boards for use in covering up one of the closed-off shafts.
Looking to the north, sharp eyes can see another prospect on the hillside.
Eshani, being taller than the sign, is allowed to enter.
The group at the lower entry.
The Friends of the Galena King Mine maintains the mine, and gave us the tour. They have sections of the mine open for tours while other sections are closed off.
Eshani with part of an old dynamite box. She is sitting next to one of the closed-off vertical shafts. The two beams that we hauled up were bolted over the open part of the shaft, insuring that nobody can fall in.
Shown here is the lower vertical shaft. It is now fully covered to prevent any accidents.
While many of the better samples have been pilfered over the years, a wide assortment of minerals are still on display in the mine.
Minerals found in the mine include massive blue to clear fluorite, silver and gray galena, bladed white barite, with minor yellow sphalerite and green bronchantite.
And Eshani enjoyed every one of the minerals
Cynthia, finding a nice sample near the spoils pile.
Matt and Eshani looking at the upper vertical shaft. This shaft was used to feed ore from the upper section of the mine to the lower. This shaft is, however, NOT on the tour for obvious safety reasons.
You can, however, hold a camera over the edge and get a nice picture of the shaft..
Eshani found a rock, and finding rocks makes Eshani happy. (Eating Thai peppers, drinking coffee, crawling through extra-small cave passages, and researching iron mobilization in Ilmenite are also known to make Eshani happy)
Anna was, ummm, quite startled when Amy found a rock.
After leaving the mine, part of the group searches for fossils in the limestone above the mine.
Dustin, in an effort to extract a fossil from the limestone.
And after looking for fossils it was time to head back.
Last Updated: May 2018; Update for public posting.
© David C. Hunter, 2018
nmtcaver {at) dragonsdawn (dot] org
