Miners have written names and dates on a huge boulder. Their calling cards go back more years than we can imagine. We descend farther to find the water table and check its level. Small ponds form in the larger caverns. We cross creaky planks placed over offset shafts that seem to have no bottom, and no one wants to find out for sure.
Rails criss-cross here and there, patiently waiting for mining cars that never come.
A waterfall, frozen in place, emanates from one of the mining chutes. An ice stalagmite, growing upward from the ground between two rails, continues its agonizingly slow reach for the roof. A cavern with a funny looking streak along its 100-ft high top, unreachable by anyone without expensive machinery, holds the possibility of being a marker for gold. After several hours in the mine, we find that our guide has made one big loop and we approach the entrance through which we came. The bright sunshine we left behind has been minding the store, and we find it much as we left it.