Tecopa Mines welcomes visitors for adventure tours
Tecopa Mines is officially reopening next week as temperatures begin to cool down after the Mojave Desert’s harsh summer heat.
“Our end goal is to preserve this site and eventually make it a long-lasting historical site, hopefully that outlasts me and the rest of us,” Ross Dykman told the Pahrump Valley Times.
Dykman is the owner of the Tecopa Mines. Two mines on the property are currently available to tour, with an additional pair in the process of being prepared for guests to experience.
“We have two of them available for the basic tours, which can accommodate anybody. They’re walk-in, walk-out, about half a mile each way, all flat and level,” Dykman explained. “Then we do some more adventure tours beyond that, where based on somebody’s skills and abilities we can go deeper into the mines.”
The mines were first opened in the late 1870s and operated on and off for approximately 82 years, eventually becoming dormant. Dykman then discovered the property about five years ago.
“[I] realized what was here, and decided this needs to be preserved and saved,” Dykman elaborated. “With a lot of people coming out to help, because there’s a lot of other people who care about this place too, we’ve managed to do a pretty good job of making it accessible and safe.”
A small museum has been recently built on the property, which houses artifacts from the mines’ rich history such as carbide lamps, old maps and drills. The centerpiece of the museum is a lit view through grates into a 120-foot mine shaft.
“It had subsequently collapsed in when I got here,” Dykman explained. “It was just a big hole in the ground with some very unstable sides. So we dug down, recollared that, cleaned it out and the museum is now built over it. So you can walk in the museum, you can look down through some grating in the floor and see down the shaft with lights and get a real look into the mine without going into the mine, if that’s all you want to do.”
Tecopa Mines, located at 237 Furnace Creek Road in Tecopa, California, will open again on Monday, Oct. 26. The property’s museum is free to visit. Tours are held every day at 10 a.m. While headlamps and hard hats are provided, closed-toe shoes are required. Tecopa Mines asks visitors to schedule tours beforehand through email at tecopamines@gmail.com or by contacting Dykman at (703) 919-5077.
“Mining, that’s part and parcel of the history of the West, especially in Nevada and this part of California,” Dykman said. “They didn’t call it the Silver State for nothing. These mines are some of the largest in the area, and they operated longer than most … This was a self-contained city at one time. There’s very little left now, but we’re doing our best to tell the story. If you care about Nevada history or Southern California history, this is a great spot to actually experience it as unaltered as we can preserve it.”
Tours are $60 for each person. The more advanced “adventure tours” are $120 per person and must be booked a few days in advance. Tecopa Mines is an all-volunteer effort. Funds from tours help support Tecopa Mines and its restorations.
For more information about the Tecopa Mines, visit its YouTube channel, Facebook page or Instagram all under its name.
Contact reporter Elijah Dulay at edulay@pvtimes.com
