Taken as a normal "recent mine" this might be true, but I think that what your missing here is the history of the Josephine and the Glory hole. The 320 foot decent is really not much at all. Consider there are mines from the 1800s that are 1500 feet or more deep, and they werent on top of the viens, they were in them. The Spanish mining methods were not like anything that has been done in US history. They identified sites with flora and fauna growth, and would dig in the vien, not above or around it. Consider they also had slave labor working the mines so there were no issues of saftey or construction. Just pulling as much ore as possible in as little time as possible.
The Josephine and the Glory hole were connected according to more than one Spanish Waybill and verified by John Young in the early 1900s.
Just to paraphrase the history. Circa 1440 (according to Spanish exploration records) A spanish exploration party discovered the original site of the Josephine. The gold was thick and deep, they started "recruiting" natives to work the mine. The mine was expansive enough that it was worked for about 200 years, with two shipments a year going back down to "New Spain". It was in this time that the glory hole and the bear hole were opened up as air vents and to allow for ore to be moved more effieciently.
Around 1650 the Josephine was converted to more of a storage and refinement facility. All ore brought down to New Spain needed to be tax stamped and assayed. Here the spanish mining parties would bring their raw or processed ore to be refined or tax stamped. They would recieve a reciept for their "deposit" and return to thier workings. Mostly returning in the fall to "withdraw" thier processed ore (in the form of tax stamped bars) and make the trek down to New Spain with thier workings. In this respect the Josephine became a depository of sorts. Hense the security large wooden doors were built on the glory hole side, and the Josephine side, effectively making a vault inside the mine. Meanwhile there was a lot of refining going on in the numerous rooms including those in the glory hole, there are a lot of scorched walls and cielings in the glory hole rooms. These arent from candles, they are from years and years of torches and lighting being used in these rooms. The rooms were also cut to different specs.
I mean seriously. how many natural caves do you find that convienently have tunnels cut from room to room for access?
Anyway, in 1740 or so, there was a well documented revolt from the "natives" it started in the high mines up in the Uintahs..Word of this got down to the Josephine site and rather than wage a battle they determined it more astute to lock up the "vault". Blow the entrances and mark the site. All three entrances were collapsed, including the glory hole. And the group made thier way back to new spain to return in force to retake the site. However, the introduction of settlers and the agressive natives in the AZ strip and made this never happen.
In early 1900, John Young was sheepherding in the area when he came across a small hole that looked to be caved in. There had been many Spanish mines located by settlers (the Kennecott site is one of the best known) and as such, he became excited and set upon excavation. It took a few years but with help from his sons, they eventually re-opened the main Josephine site. In the time they were working the area, they also came upon a small collapsed air shaft, this was the Glory hole. They opened it up and explored that side as well. Numerous artifacts were found, including old mining tools, an arrasta, and bones, human and animal.
On both sides (Josephine and Glory hole) they found huge wooden doors, noted to be approximately 24-26 inches thick. They were locked with chains and locks, which were not a problem, but somewhere, the mine had shifted and the rock had come down on the door, rendering it unopenable, on both sides. However the Josephine side was larger, and more open, so they worked on that side. Johns two sons were sent off to WWI at this time so John was left to work his find by himself. He spent most of his time working in the area, documenting the trees, the markers and such in the area. And also tinkering about in the mine, chipping away around the sides of the door. It was this that turned to be his undoing. After chipping away at one side, he opened a big enough cranny that he could fit his arm in to feel around. Keep in mind that the door is about 2 ft wide, so thats how much movement he had to work with. He did feel something on the other side, as he described he felt a piece of dry cracking leather, and tried to pull it through, got a few scraps of the leather went back, this time he could feel what he described as "bars" he tried to pick one up but it was too heavy and he had no leverage. Understandabley this excited him. Just on the other side of this door were bars of some sort that were too heavy to be lifted one handed. This was his motherlode, he had hit the jackpot!!
In his excitement, he decided that some small blasts could destroy the door but not the mine, he drilled holes in the door and placed 2-5 sticks(story varies) of dynamite in the door. Ran the primer cord and boom...
Well, I think you know what happened, the entire opening collapsed, revealing the the three tunnels that were visible into the late 80s. Not giving up hope, John hit the glory hole side, noting the rock and sediment, he thought that this side was much better to blow the door, using much less explosives. He set a small charge in the door, and started to run the primer cord. On the way out he noticed some brick work in the wall outside the door, low on light, he noted that the bricks were loose and could be moved, he thought this might be a bricked up opening to another adit. He took two of the bricks and put them in his pocket to examine outside. Again he blasted, and again, the mountain proved to unstable for even small blasts, and the rock came tumbling down. The tunnel that shows on the map as connecting to the Josephine is where this door was.
Understandably John was crushed, his fortune was so close yet so far, and to make matters worse, when he examined the bricks in his pocket he found them to be solid silver, stamped with a Spanish Tax and assay mark. These bars are still in possesion of the Young family but have been photographed occasionally.
Anyway, John let the mine go for a while, continuing the claim and small maintainance but waiting for his sons to return to help him work the site. John in the meantime worked a few other areas, just east of the glory hole, there is a road that cuts south and east, its a campsite in a grove of trees now.. but there is also a noted dig in exposed rock, this was a mine that he started work on thanks to a "vision". However, before he got too far, one of his sons returned home from the war, if I remeber right, the other was killed in action.
John and his son worked the mine well into the 1940s, however, the damage done was far too much for them to recover. The claim was let to lapse and that may have been the end of it if not for Gale Rhoades and June Balaich.
In the late 70s, early 80s, Gale started searching the Hoyt peak area for one of the infamous Rhoades mines, not the church mines, but mines that he knew Caleb had worked or extracted from. First site he came on was the spring mine, at the time an 80?ft shaft that was timbered down to the waterline, he investigated two adits that cut off the main shaft under the water but lacked the resources to pump it. He continued on to Hoyt peak where he had information on a very rich mine. First he came upon the Bear hole, a small access shaft that was caved, (as noted in the overhead map) This shaft is in that grove of aspen trees just below the Glory Hole. Next up, was the Glory hole. Steve Shaffer, June and Gale began exploration, with June fronting the funding. This is where the maps came from. Note the details on the maps, there were arrows found in the hole along with the coin, tools smoke marks, names in the walls etc...
Anyway, Gale followed along the top of one of the caved shafts, where on his belly, he thought he found an opening.. he moved some rock around and thought he felt wood. this led him to think that there was another connection.
Meanwhile, June was working up top, finding trees and other such markers, that lead him to the present Josephine entrance (the three shafts as worked by John Young).
While getting the survey work done for the impending claim on the Josephine and the Glory hole, June was approached by some kids from the UofU who were researching an old spanish waybill, they overheard his locale and asked him if he was working the Lost Josephine mine that was on Hoyt peak. He didnt say much, but offered them the chance to come take a look at the Glory hole in return for a sharing of their information. They explored the glory hole in 1982 with June and Steve. creating the maps I provided. However, they stated that according to the map, this was not the main entrance to the mine. With no other information about the other holes, they inquired as to why they thought this. They showed that the map showed it on a northwest facing slope, and there were three entrances that were noted by trees and other markers in the area. June showed them the main Josephine adits which matched exactly to the waybill. It may also be of note that the map showed that the vault contained 30 some odd million in processed gold bullion. Anyway, the map also included the Glory hole access and the bear hole, all of which were supposed to be covered. The way bill is dated 1611 if my memory serves right.
cont...