Discovered a hard rock gold mine recently on some property we acquired. 40 acres on a semi-remote canyon that reeks of Gold Rush history. White quartz all around the mountain it's sunk it to. This mine has been undiscovered for probaly 100 years, the only reason we found it was spotting a hole in the mountainside as we cleared a road down to the year-round creek below.
I've been reading this forum for a while, and see that there are experts at this sort of thing. We've gone about a hundred feet into the mine shaft with waders on (about 4 feet of crystal clear water, ice cold) and came upon a partial cave-in with an old rusty ore cart stuck behind it.
I won't go further until I secure a personal gas/oxygen meter and better light.
I'll post a few pics later so you can see what I'm looking at. Meanwhile, what else should I consider for safety's sake?