Chance City

"Leave nothing but footprints, Take nothing but  photos, Break nothing but silence."

Chance City is dying. It's alarming how rapidly the ruins are deteriorating.  Some of the deterioration can be attributed to the natural effects of weathering and time, however I attribute much of it to vandalism.   John Wayne is famously credited for having said “Life is tough, but it’s tougher when you’re stupid.” this could be amended to say "Life is tough, but it's tougher when others are stupid,"  For someone to journey out to such an isolated site in order to destroy something is the lowest form of stupidity.  Since my first visit in 1997, Chance City has been on my mind.  Like a rock  stuck in my shoe, I couldn't ignore it. I've made dozens of trips to the site, spending countless hours tramping up and down the slopes.  I've sat for hours on nearby hills studying the layout and connecting the dots.  It has taken a vast amount of research and effort to peel back the layers and understand what took place there.   With such an enormous amount of mining activity packed into a moderately sized area, this turned into a complicated project.  However I loved every minute of it, as The Victorio Mountains became my cathedral.  Four miles to the north, the community that grew around the train stop at Gage would survive.  The construction of U.S. Route 80 and the advent of automotive travel would give it new life.  A motel, diner and service station were built, all in a faux Californian mission style.  The place would thrive as an oasis in the desert on the human highway to California.  What finally did kill Gage was the same thing that had saved it, progress. Since it was located on the south side of the Southern Pacific Railroad (by rule all townsites were plotted south of the railroad tracks)  when I-10 was constructed, it left the townsite sandwiched between the tracks and the interstate.  A modern travel stop was built south of the interstate and it slowly drained commercial traffic away from Gage. By 1980 the abandoned buildings were in ruins, they would soon be razed and the site cleared

After pouring over topographical and satellite maps, I still found myself unable to identify most of the mines.  With so many mines concentrated in one area, it's difficult to pinpoint the exact location of certain mines. Starting from the north, the group of mines in the vicinity of a rock retaining wall include; the Parole mine and the Arizona Lode. Just above these mines there is a rock formation with a cave like opening that serves as habitat for both bats and owls. Further along the path is a draw that leads to an adit, this is the site of the tragic Hollenshead accident.  This adit has a natural draft flowing through it, the air temperature is always colder than the ambient temperature. During the summer months a strong barn yard smell emanates from the portal, indicating the presence of a large bat  colony.  It's a long adit (possibly as long as 500ft.) intersected by a deep vertical shaft that plunges to about 300 ft.  This adit, like the open stopes and shafts located just above and to the south, could be part of the Jessie Group. Slightly below that area is an adit of indeterminate length. There is no air flow, suggesting that it does not connect to any open shafts or stopes.  At about the same elevation further to the south there is a hopper, just behind that is a large mine opening, it's been back-filled so it's hard to tell if it was a vertical  or  inclined shaft. This site resembles a quarry more than a mine, it features  a jumble of boulders similar to those at  The City of Rocks State Park

Further to the south Chance City unfolds before us.   It never had the old west flavor of Shakespeare or the ghostly mystique of Cooks.  It did however, have a good run as a rough and tumble mining town. The buildings were sporadically spaced along the main street.  These adobe and rock dwellings  were built on the east side of the road, facing west.  They were basic and simple structures with dirt floors, wood frame windows and wooden doors. Judging from the trash piles that dot the hillside, many of the miners pitched tents along the avenue or further down the slope.  The trash piles consist of  lard buckets,coffee tins, tobacco tins, evaporated milk cans & sardine tins, the staples of life before refrigeration.  Water was a prized commodity, that was brought in by wagon from Gage. There was water to be found, today a windmill pumps the life giving liquid from the ground. It's hard to believe that the same wasn't done back then.  For many of the miners, Chance City was just another stop in their quest for Eldorado. They came and went suffering all hardships along the way, determined that the next shaft would bring their bonanza. Here, in the midst of the remnants and ruins, the trappings of the distant past remind us, that for some, the pageant of life came to a sudden and violent end at this site. Ripped from this mortal coil you sense that their spirits still linger about.

Beyond Chance City is a cluster of mines grouped along the road near the windmill.The mine with the head frame is either the Rover or the Sidewiper, The head frame leans at a 45 degree angle, however it once stood upright. It's hard to tell if this happened naturally or is the work of vandals. This mine is of an indeterminate depth with an unknown  number of working levels.  Elevated from ground level, The Rambler (300') is next to some concrete slabs that were part of a hoist system. The Excess (60' shaft w/150' drift) is lined with metal pipe anchored to the sides with poly foam.  At the southern end of the West Slope there was a system of inclined shafts, vertical shafts and open stopes that have been back-filled, with the exception of one shaft (60-80' deep) that is not sealed or has been breached. Just below this shaft there is a large area, bare of vegetation where fissures have occurred over open stopes that were back-filled. 

At the extreme southwestern edge of Mine Hill, the Helen and Josephine Lode mines string out along the lower edge of the hill wrapping around the slope. The head frame for the Helen Mine rises alongside the pipeline service road, amidst a scattering of debris.  The Helen shaft drops  appx. 200 feet down to the working levels.  A gated road connects the western side of the hill to the eastern slope, it forks off with one branch leading to the summit and another leading to the Chance Lode mines.  The Last Chance mine was owned and operated by George Hearst and his group of investors.  The 300' deep shaft, now secured with an impressive metal grate, leads to an extensive underground network of tunnels and shafts (est. 7,000' to 8,000' total length).  At their peak, the Hearst, Haggins & Tevis owned  Chance Lode and Jessie group mines were the most profitable and productive in the district.  One level below the Chance mine an imposing rock wall forms the foundation for the roadbed above.  The extent of the underground works is evident by the immense tailing dump below this level.

The southern slope of Mine Hill curves north between the Helen Mine and Mineral Hill.  The Daisy, November and December claims are a small cluster of mines located just short of the midway point.  This site consists of a small adit with two open shafts in the roof.  To the east is a large open stope that doesn't connect to the adit.  This stope drops about 50'-70' with a drift that cuts to the northwest at the bottom.  Above this site there are 3-4  shafts (The Star claim?) while to the east, at the same elevation, I found an opening into a narrow shaft that drops at least 100'.  The lack of tailing at the site would indicate that this is a natural shaft.  Mineral Hill, at the southeastern point of the mountain, was the site of ample activity.  The Advance, Independence & Crackerjack claims are located near the top of the hill.  An adit cuts into the hill for about 80', with a parallel drift of an unknown length located above it.  There is a winze that drops down 30' to 40', leading to a drift that runs northwest, also of an unknown length.  Both the adit and winze double as a home for a colony of bats, just inside the adit, I found a cluster of bats roosting on the roof. A larger variety of bats was swooping in and out of the winze as I approached.  West of Mineral Hill on the slope, there is a series of connecting open stopes ( Armistice claims?) and a deep inclined shaft (The Esperanza?) On the slope facing to the northeast there is a cluster of shafts that made up the Virginia Claim.   A washed out road that climbs to the northwest, leads to the Victorio and Southern Pacific prospect shafts, that were also part of the Hearst, Haggin & Tevis holdings.   On the northwestern slope, facing the quarry, there are some scattered prospect shafts and one aborted adit. (Tipton Lode or Verdun Claim?)

The Tungsten Hill prospects (including Quarry Hill) extend to the southwest over an area of appx. 1 sq. mile.  Directly west of Mine Hill, there is a group of prospect shafts of varying depth situated along the slopes of a craggy hill.  In the valley behind this hill, accessible by a bumpy service road is the Irish Rose mine.  This was the site of much activity and while it was never built up to the degree of Chance City, a small  camp was established.  There are a large number of prospect shafts, pits and trenches, The Irish Rose was the most productive, the 150' inclined shaft connected to a number of shafts and stopes.  The site is marked by an enormous debris field of tailing and trash, the Irish Rose mine is not secured, but entering it, is not recommended.  As the name would suggest, the miners dug for tungsten and beryllium in this area, well after the brief boom at Chance City had passed.