Index Bornite Mine April, 2007

Route Information

Jimbo had a grand plan to kick off the spring, starting with a trip up to the Index Bornite Mine just a ways from the small town of Index. Despite the best attempts at coming up with a confusing plan to get everyone together, we did just that on a Saturday morning in April, meeting at the Mickey D's outside of Sultan for some carbo loading and coffee. (A side note: The employees in this McDonalds always seem to be having a bad day, and every visit seems to be the same. The managers here need to take a little trip to the McDonalds in Redmond, arguably the best run McDonalds around!)

All the white trucks lined up, and looking tough for the camera!

From the Micky D's we darn near drove every vehicle we could get our hands on, doing a convoy up to the Index turnoff. Past the side road to Index we continued 2.65 miles on the Index Galena road to the bridge over Lewis Creek, and took a right to a large parking area right off the road. (There is some confusion here, as there seems to be a couple bridges over braids of Lewis Creek. There is also a right turn after one of the bridges, but it has a gate very close to the main road and no trespassing signs. This is NOT the road you want. Go further down the main road.)

Packed up, we started out of the parking area up the road, going a few feet more to the closed gate. Around the gate, the road climbed upwards pretty easy at first. There were fresh tire tracks on the road, so someone has a gate key. Someone also dumped a huge amount of garbage into the woods near the gate, that's part of the reason these roads are gated now!

After 10 minutes or so, the road crosses a small bridge

In about 10 minutes the road comes to a bridge crossing of Lewis Creek. After this, the road gets steeper as it winds up the hillside. Logged off spots offer a nice view of the Index area. About 20 minutes past the bridge, the jump-off spot to the old abandoned road was located by the guys that had been here before. We left the nice road and started up into the forest, following a barely visible old roadbed.

Off of the good road and on to the abandoned "road"

The road we left is fairly recent, put in for logging probably. The old roadbed we were on now probably was put in for mining back in the late 1800's. We plowed over and under blow down, past an old cast iron artifact, and contoured slightly around a gully and over towards the direction of Lewis Creek. Near the creek and roadbed is more defined, and one can hear the roar of the water.

Panning near the shaft revealed some nice big ore nuggets

Near the creek we left the old road, and climbed up through the open woods, above the creek and parallel to it. There was flagging all around, so we kept some of that in sight. A decision was made to try to find the old shaft first, so our direction turned uphill and random. Some near-fights broke out, and accusations were made that the leaders either had no sense of direction or were lost. Then, by some miracle the leader stumbled upon the shaft, which was invisible from more than 10 feet away. We put our stuff down and had a rest, and looked into the deep water.

We spent some time at the shaft, would not want to fall in

The shaft was about 5 feet square, with water about 6 feet down. Apparently at one time there was a rotted plywood collar around the shaft that made it extremely dangerous. Now that looks to be gone and one can get quite close to look in. Trees have fallen over it as well. The shaft is reported to be 70 feet deep, with a possible sub-level somewhere.

Down the hillside from the shaft is the adit, above the creek

From the shaft we plowed directly downhill towards the creek, where in a few minutes we found ourselves at the adit, just a few feet from Lewis Creek. We unpacked here and got our mine gear ready.

The adit sits just above the jumble of large creek rocks and trees - and it always is a wonder how the early miners got the heavy equipment in the mine and took the ore out with such a setup. There could have been a landing built at some point, but if so nothing remains after 100 years.

This shot is looking out to the portal with guys ready to come in

Scramble up a feet feet of mud and rocks to the adit and peer into the darkness. Deep green Sword Ferns frame this old mine. Just inside is enough water to soak your feet, so walk and balance on the old boards that served as track for the orecarts long ago. Closer inspection shows the thin metal that was nailed on the tops of the rails to make them hold the weight of the ore and cart.

Near the end of the crosscut was an old empty bucket

Copper is what the miners were after at the Index Bornite Mine. It consists of a long crosscut adit with short drifts off of that, with a total of about 500 feet of workings. Most of the short drifts left and right of the main tunnel looked to be exploratory and ended within 10 or 20 feet. In the dim light we could see shades green mineral staining on the walls.

The longer narrow drift was explored for it's entire length

Further back the main tunnel is pretty dry, and some artifacts litter the floor along the way. After about 300 feet or more, we reached the end of the tunnel, which had some drill holes remaining long after the miners had quit forever. The tunnel here was bored in solid granite.

On the way out, some of the guys decided to explore the narrow dangerous drift on the left (as you go in). Reportedly one must clamber over some rockfall and there are some narrow sections to fit through. The drift ends after a 100 feet or so.

After some lunch outside the adit, we plowed back downhill parallel to the creek, and bounced out on the old mine road. This was followed back to the good road. A few decided to cut straight downhill to take a "shortcut" and intersect the good road. We heard them shouting in the brush, and soon they appeared on the road, scratched up and miserable. One poor person was sobbing from the wounds - reinforcing the saying that the best way back is the known way.

References:

• Discovering Washington's Historic Mines - Oso Publishing. Index Bornite Mine information.
• Geology and Ore Deposits of the Index Mining District - Weaver. Index Bornite information.
• Mineral Properties in Snohomish County Washington - Broughton. Index Bornite information.