Coney Basin Mine September, 2000

Route Information

The Coney Basin mine became a project for us that began in June, after we had explored the Una mine. After lunch, we headed further up the West Fork Miller to see if we could bag the Coney Basin mine as well, since all references talked about a trail all the way to the mine. It couldn't be too bad.

The Coney cutoff takes off to the right, into the brush

We had a waypoint set to make sure that we didn't blow past the cutoff road to Coney Basin. As we were getting close, we did see a faint trail going off into the brush on the right, but chose to ignore the GPS and our intuition. Besides, the map showed the cutoff pretty close to Coney Creek, which was nowhere in sight. So, on down the road we went, until we did hit the creek. No cutoff. With the usual futzing around, which included fording the creek in rubber boots (no small task in June), we decided that the faint trail we saw .25 miles back was the real cutoff. The cutoff is very easy to walk past, and sometimes may or may not be flagged. The Topo map depiction of the area isn't very accurate.

We worked our way up the old road, which starts out very brushy (and potentially wet) but gets better as the sharp switchback is reached. Here we met a group of three climbers coming back down; evidently they had started too late to reach the goal of Lennox Mountain, and were discouraged by the problems encountered past the mining camp. We would find out firsthand.

Mining camp area, an open area in the forest with junk around

After the road makes a sharp switchback, it climbs steadily and the tread begins to get worse. Brush takes over, and some huge blowdowns obliterate the route. Even further up, the old road becomes a wash and is difficult to follow, the only clues being occasional culverts laying about. The route was heavily flagged however, and soon we found our way among the mining camp garbage near the entrance of the basin. All around us was rushing water, and aside from occasional glimpses into the basin, it was all an impenetrable jungle. It was getting late in the day, and after working our way NW slightly, we knew that it would take a greater effort to locate the 'trail' and make it to the mine. We packed it in for the day and returned down the road to the trailhead.

Coney Basin was forgotten for the rest of the summer, until a solo recon trip was made in early September. The route to the camp was easily re-traced. Part of the morning was spent working NW in the basin, and from here there was a good vantage point for viewing up the basin. Back at the camp area, the real route was found, making its way directly into the basin, into the head-high tangle of brush. Some flags were present, and one could see remains of the road for a while (including culverts), but it was a losing proposition. The 'trail' was no more. With some effort, the creek was crossed, and a lunch break was taken on the talus fields which make up most of the south side of the basin.

Across the creek on the talus, looking up the basin (recon photo)

The adit at the head of the basin could be seen from the lunch spot using binoculars. The best route to the mine was evident: it would have to be along the south side of the basin, through some occasional brush, and up around the head of the basin to the mine. With this decided, the recon trip mission was accomplished, and the road was traveled down once again to the trailhead.

Finally, a trip to the mine was scheduled in mid-September. The long trudge up the West Fork road was becoming familiar. We could recognize a lot of the landmarks along the way. Most of the last mile to the Coney cutoff is on pretty good road, which allows two individuals to walk abreast and talk - which we did. And before we knew it, we were standing on the banks of Coney Creek looking confused, having blown past the cutoff once again.

A great fall day! We had just crossed the creek and are on the south talus

We made good time up the cutoff to the mining camp, and started to make our way over the creek past the camp. The usual futzing occurred as we fumbled through the thick brush in our attempt to gain the southern talus slopes. We started to notice that we were not making as good time as we expected to. We finally made it on to the talus, and marked our location so we could follow our way back. It seemed like it wouldn't take too long to reach the mine along the talus slopes, but the travel was slow. Most of the way followed an old strand of thick rusty wire, which probably had run from the powerhouse down on Coney Creek, up to the mine.

Taking a rest stop along the talus

There were a couple short thickets of brush that had to be plowed through, but they didn't prove to be a problem. Until we encountered 'the Jungle'. Almost to the head of the Coney Basin, 'the Jungle' is a stretch of brush that starts from the cliffs above, and runs into the flat brush prison of the basin proper. No way around it. The way was painful and slow. Featured were huge stands of Devil's Club, Salmonberry that could scratch diamonds, and thick Slide Alder requiring circus tightrope balancing - all this thickly clustered on the invisible talus below, insuring precarious footing. The worst of it probably couldn't have been more than a hundred yards or so, but it took more than an hour with much anguish and blood-letting. After finally struggling through, we sat on some large talus blocks to eat. More time was melting off the clock.

Lunch break on a rock, looking down ('the Jungle' top right)

Would we make it before our turnaround time? We quickly ate and viewed the rest of the route. Our next section was a scramble up larger talus blocks, high enough to start traversing around the head of the basin towards the mine. The mossy blocks were big - requiring hands most of the time, and would move occasionally when stepped on. However, with determination we finally reached the head of Coney Basin, and started encountering mining relics from the past.

Below the adit a couple hundred feet was the remains of what looked to be the power source and machinery for the aerial tramway, which extended down valley to the mining camp. It looked to be powered by some type of gas engine, with a rotten radiator and large fuel tank nearby. A little further up was a half-buried ore cart - curiously modern looking - complete with newish rubber tires. We climbed the mine dump, following a section of pipe, to the adit.

The mine dump area is big and flat, signs were abound that people had camped here fairly recently. We quickly got out our gear to explore inside the adit. It was somewhat creepy immediately inside the mine. We hesitated to go in, listening to a strange watery noise. It sounded like a whooshing, sucking noise that would stop after a while, then continue with a rushing water sound. After a while we identified the source of the sound: a siphon hose was in place to remove water from the adit, and evidently was in an endless cycle of moving water out and having the weight of the water pull the hose slightly out of the water for a while. Weird!

Closeup of tramway engine and gear assembly

Approaching the mine dump, following some old pipe

Finally, we were at the Coney Basin Mine adit

The first part was narrow, with a stoped out area that extended vertically a couple hundred feet up to a hole that let daylight in. All this was supported by a system of huge old timbers that seemed like they could come tumbling down any minute. There was also the ever-present water to be waded through, and a big barrel to climb over. 75 feet back, the surroundings were not so disturbing, and this is where the century-old air compressor still sits. We checked this out the best we could in the dim lights, and looked at the other junk inside - which was plentiful.

The inital probe into the adit revealed some creepy conditions...

...ignoring the conditions and forging ahead

Checking out the old air compressor from the late 1800's

We didn't have too much time to explore. One of us went in about 150 feet to try to collect some ore samples, while the other searched around on the mine dump for some small interesting pieces. We both were not too interested in carrying backpacks full of rocks back down the route.

A side angle of the old air compressor

Das Boot. What is it sitting on?

150 feet inside the Coney Mine looking further in...

With the shadows starting to get longer in the basin, we picked our route back down the basin, which unfortunately had to be the same way. With the high vantage point of the mine dump, we saw how some sections could be navigated more directly through openings in the brush, and potentially even cut off a few yards from 'the Jungle' section.

The view from the Coney mine dump

In spite of being so tired, we managed to make good time down the south side of the basin again, only once again to spend some time futzing around on the creek crossing near the mining camp. The rest of the trail and West Fork road were quickly followed, and the trailhead was gained before darkness set in.

References:

• Discovering Washington's Historic Mines - Oso Publishing. Information about the mine, route, and history.
  
• Mining In Western Washington (reprint) - L.K. Hodges. Interesting writing at the time the Coney mine (and other mines in the river valley) were in full swing.
  
• Geology and Mineral Resources of King County - V.E. Livingston. Info about the mine.
  
• Mineral Sites of King County - Ray Claude. Notes about minerals found in the basin.
  
• Cascade Alpine Guide (brown book) - Beckey. Routes in and around Coney Basin.
  
• Walks and Hikes in the Foothills and Lowlands : Around Puget Sound - Manning. Good text about West Fork Miller river. Just roll your eyes when Manning mentions anything about mining 'garbage'.