Red Pit Mine

One of the largest of Tyson’s mines, it was reportedly closed in 1868 by an explosion on the 400-foot level, and no dependable records are available. The mine is reported to have been at least 500 feet deep and to have produced many thousand tons of ore that ran better than 50 percent Cr₂O₃. It is said to have been almost as large a producer as the Wood mine, but no efforts to reopen it after the explosion are recorded, and knowledge of it was virtually lost.

In 1955 the Red Pit mine showed abundant evidence of former activity. A caved shaft and part of a large dump remain, just south of the road. An extensive area of shallow pits and prospects east of the shaft extends about 340 feet along the road and 220 feet south of it. Some of the larger pits probably produced at one time. Sixty feet northwest of the main shaft and north of the road is another old shaft with a small overgrown dump. This is called the Wet pit in some reports; however, it is more likely to be part of the Red Pit operations (Pearre & Heyl).

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Photographs by Mike Bertram, 2004.