Damon & Pythias Mine October, 2000

Route Information

This trip was an afterthought, which occurred as we were driving down the upper part of the Money Creek road after our Morning Star Mine trip. We knew that the Damon & Pythias mine was just up the rough little road that branched off near Lake Elizabeth. So we parked near the rough road and walked up in the misty fog.

Approaching the Damon & Pythias mine area

Our intentions were to just check it out; we didn't bring any of our gear. As we neared the adit, it was clear that this mine was an operation of some magnitude. The gravel path wound up around the mine dump to the adit area. We were amazed by the amount of trash lying around: Thousands of beer bottles and empty shotgun shells were the common factor, along with some twisted mine rails, corrugated tin, and the large ore chute.

The GateKeeper

The adit itself was covered by some of the corrugated tin, which made it look like a Quonset hut. Just inside was a once-lockable gate, possibly used to safeguard equipment at one time. The mine floor was fairly dry and slightly raised, with rails still in place. Along one side ran a drainage gutter, which water was flowing. It didn't look like there would be any problem walking a ways in. Cool! We quickly walked back to the truck to get some gear.

The tunnel was very easy to walk down, the floor never being too muddy. It was very straight and uniform with an air supply pipe running along the upper part of one wall. Still plenty of beer bottles. Every so often we would stop and chip away at something interesting with the rock hammer, but nothing really was found. It seemed like we had walked almost 1000 feet along the straight tunnel - when we came to an intersection.

At the intersection of the drifts, in a weird green light

It was a four-way intersection, with the mine rails turning down each side tunnel. Each side tunnel was no more than 50 feet or so. The left hand drift ended uninterestingly, with some material that looked like it had caved in somewhat (or possibly dug and left there). The right side drift opened up into a larger overhead stope, which went up for about 30 feet. Beyond that it looked like there had been some caving going on, so we didn't stay around too long.

Looking up at the stope work in the right hand drift

Beyond the intersection, the main tunnel looked a little wetter, and we didn't have our rubber boots on so this was our turnaround. We were somewhat confused about the short drifts that we encountered, since descriptions of the mine didn't mention them. We must have not been in far enough to intersect the Damon vein (at 900 feet) which was drifted over 500 feet left and 200 feet right. We decided that the inside of this mine needs to be mapped in detail.

The view down the main tunnel towards the entrance

Once outside the mine, we conducted exhaustive tests of the ore chute that sat prominently on top of the mine dump. Large boulders were tossed in, creating loud booming sounds which echoed back and forth among the surrounding hills. One can only imagine the sounds of a century ago in this area.

Conducting a test of the old ore chute

A quick walk back down the access road put us at the truck, where we packed up our gear. We then made the slow drive down the Money Creek road, as winter began its descent upon the peaceful valley.

References:

• Discovering Washington's Historic Mines - Oso Publishing. Information about the mine, route, and history.
  
• Geology and Mineral Resources of King County - V.E. Livingston. A good section about the Damon & Pythias mine, including history and (seemingly outdated) map of the mine.
  
• Mineral Sites of King County - Ray Claude. Notes about minerals found at the Damon & Pythias property.