Secret Tunnel Under The East Fork Road

[CrazyHermit]

While working on a mine website, I happened to find this awesome tunnel that runs under the East Fork Road. It's pristine on the inside, and I don't want it to get tagged, so I won't say exactly where this is, but it's a drainage tunnel that runs from a side canyon into the East Fork. When I discovered this a year ago it was about 25 feet above the East Fork riverbed. Now, after a year of heavy rainfall you can literally float a boat into it.
If you want to see some other interesting items in the East Fork, check out my website Lost Mines of Los Angeles County



Here's the same tunnel, less than a year later. I would estimate the water has risen 25 feet.



On the right side of the tunnel there's a long chute that leads all the way up to the road.



It's hard to make out the third letter, but I believe this reads B.C.G. 1946. The B.C. part will tell you the tunnel's location.



Here's the southern entrance. There's probably about a foot of water inside now.



Just inside the entrance swifts have built their mud nests into the ceiling.



I haven't measured the inside of the tunnel, but it goes all the way through the mountain, probably 500 feet or so.



On the north side there's a huge, well designed debris catcher.



When you exit through the north side, it's possible to climb back up to the road, if you don't mind bushwacking.



I never fail to find something new and interesting every time I hike the East Fork. This was a heavy gold mining area back in the 1800's and scores of people still try their luck at sluicing or panning the riverbed. Further up the road you'll find the Road To Nowhere and the Bridge To Nowhere.

Be sure to check out my website, I'll be adding more soon. Lost Mines of Los Angeles County

[dima]

Ooh, that's neat. You're one of the few to actually go down there, I bet. I looked through your site too. Good stuff! How do you got about finding the mine sites? Is there some resource, or is that secret?

[CrazyHermit]

Start with Hugh Blanchard's website. He was the king of finding these old mines.

http://www.lagoldmines.com/index.php?page=916662.txt

[Gene]

There was a 'mine' of sorts in that side canyon at one time. The first contractor to remove silt from the San Gabriel Dam reservoir had a gold separation system on the conveyor system that moved material into the fill area.

As I recall, there were at least two 15 or 20 foot deep test tunnels in the walls of that side canyon. They are now deep under the layers of filler sand from the reservoir.

I like your website too, lots of nostalgia there from my days in the San Gabriel Mountains.

Here are a few pictures of the Allison Mine in 1973: https://flic.kr/s/aHsk5jXeiH

[CrazyHermit]

Gene, Those are some incredible photos of the Allison Mine. A lot of that stuff is long gone, so it's great to see what I missed. Would you consider allowing me to use your shot of the cabin in my website? That's a beauty. You would get credit for that photo of course.

Here's a photo of an old wrecked ore cart I found recently that washed all the way down Allison Gulch.



Thanks for that link to your photos.

[Gene]

Gene, Those are some incredible photos of the Allison Mine. A lot of that stuff is long gone, so it's great to see what I missed. Would you consider allowing me to use your shot of the cabin in my website? That's a beauty. You would get credit for that photo of course.

Here's a photo of an old wrecked ore cart I found recently that washed all the way down Allison Gulch.




Thanks for that link to your photos.

Glad you liked them, it was a very foggy evening and morning we spent at the mine. Your use would be fine. I had visited a couple of years before and there were all sort of interesting artifacts there.

I found an ore cart wheel, likely from that cart, in Allison gulch. As I recall it may still be in a flowerbed at one of the dam operator houses at San Gabriel Dam.

[CrazyHermit]

Thank you Gene. If you want to PM me your last name I'll post a credit for your photo. Otherwise I'll just use your first name. I had a feeling there was another ore cart trapped behind one of the cave-ins, but I didn't want to chance climbing in there.